Railroad Jerk “The Third Rail” 1996. Matador Records. We bought this, their fourth release, and previous releases after seeing Railroad Jerk open for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at the Barrymore Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin in either 1996 or 1997. Great show! (I cannot remember if we met the members of RJ when we went backstage after the show to chat with Judah from JSBX.)

I was in grad school for history at the time and many of my classmates were in the library science program.  I got a few of them into this band because of this album’s last track, “Sweet Librarian.”

Sweet librarian, what good books can you recommend?

Sweet librarian, do you think that we could still be friends

After everything that we’ve been through, 

Your books on time and mine overdue?

I can’t help it if I have a cough.

What days do you have off?

This is probably the first time I’ve listened to Railroad Jerk in over 15 years and I’m enjoying the sparse sound, clever and often hilarious lyrics as well as its funkin’ bluesy power pop vibe.  The Third Rail was Railroad Jerk’s last official release and they broke up in the late 90’s.