The Indigo Train takes its inspiration from trains (and PN-G’s school colors are purple – or indigo – and white) and was written for my high school band director, Gary Wells. Alex Wells, Gary’s son, is the head band director at PN-G and wanted me to write a piece for his Dad. I first started out researching all kinds of things, and through various conversations learned that Gary grew up around trains; his father worked at the train depot all throughout his childhood. Starting in 1964, Gary worked for four summers in places throughout Texas and made enough to pay for his college for the next nine months (minus his scholarships). At the time, his family enjoyed the benefit of free train passes and went on vacations and even visited Disneyland in California.

Trains inspire images of the deep south and the rich history of the blues, which was born there and eventually traveled up the Mississippi to Chicago. This piece begins with a few bluesy solos by the bass clarinet, saxophone, and euphonium, followed by an ominous depiction of a mysterious railyard. The piece gets moving with a bluesy A section that features three different melodies that are used throughout the piece. I imagined a person quickly traveling through railcars, experiencing a slightly different music in each. After a briefly-latin section, the piece moves into a sultry clarinet solo and then a ballad-like climax before rearing up to start moving again. Everyone gets together for one more last big chorus and a bluesy piccolo solo rips above the melodies heard before.