Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s new bluegrass musical Bright Star is now playing on Broadway. Recently, Edie Brickell opened up about the show’s origins, which involve the real life story a baby from from a train on the Iron Mountain railway.
Recently, Edie Brickell spoke to Playbill about the origins of Bright Star:
“Steve sent me a composition, and there was one particular part where I heard myself singing, ‘Wooo! Wooo!’ in the melody--you know, like a train--and I thought, ‘Bluegrass train! I’ll give it a shot.’”
Brickell went on to search for southern trains where discovered the story of the Iron Mountain Baby. The Iron Mountain Baby, was a five-day-old child who was thrown from a train and badly injured. The child was found by civil war vet, William Helms while walking the Iron Mountain railway. The baby was named William Moses Gould Helms after his rescue, the owner of the railroad and the Biblical prophet found floating in a river as an infant.
Brickell was intrigued by this tale, as she went to explain:
“The very first one that caught my eye was the Iron Mountain, and, when you click on Iron Mountain, it offers the story of the Iron Mountain baby. I thought, ‘What a miracle!’ and then I thought, ‘What a musical!’”
Bright Star is currently playing at the Cort Theatre, located 138 W 48th St, New York, NY.
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