In this vintage 1953 photograph, we see Robert DeCormier leading the Camp Woodland choral group featuring tenors Robert Glaberson, Charles Gelfand III and baritone E.J. Gold in Millard Lampell's cantata, "The Lonesome Train", about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, only a few days after the end of the American Civil War. Louise DeCormier accompanies on piano, just barely visible on the lower right of photo.

The original cast included Woody Guthrie, Earl Robinson, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Raymond Edward Johnson and others.

"The long war was over," the narrator states, "...and the tall man with the sad eyes and stooping shoulders was tired; and so, one night, he did what everybody likes to do when they're tired. He went to a show down to Ford's Theater in Washington town... "...along about the middle of the evening, something happened that wasn't on the program. Guess you all know what that was. The news spread pretty fast..."

This was a very new artform when it was introduced in the mid-1930's during its Great Depression and the WPA was behind it, and so were the labor unions.

Produced by Norman Corwin, it was first performed at the Hollywood Bowl as reported by the Los Angeles Times, which says of it, "...so reverent and free...that it is probable (it) will become another "Ballad for Americans".

Since then, it has been performed countless times across the nation, although it is now all-but-forgotten in the haste and low-attention-span of our times.