In Cecil’s column, he stated that Phoebe Snow was a creation for the Lakawana Railroad. That is true, but there was also a jazz/blues/folk singer of the same name back in the 1960s 1970s who was know for singing various ballads.
There’s not much info on the Intertubes. There is one reference on railfan to a 1919 play called “The Ballad of Phoebe Snow”. The poster stated that the Alvin Ailey Dance company performed it in the last 20 years. The post is from 2002.
The original column stated the handbill said that the piece was created in the late 1960s. In that case, it might not be in reference to the Broadway play, but to the ballad singer herself.
Or, it could have been a mixture of the two. It would be very interesting to see this handbill.
Ah! The dance performance was called The Road of Phoebe Snow. Found it on the Alvin Ailey website. According to the website:
The Phoebe Snow was a train of the Lackawanna Railroad Line which passed through the mid-western section of the United States. Legend has it that its name came from a meticulous lady named Phoebe Snow who traveled the line dressed in white satin and lace and looked out on the surrounding countryside with disdain. The Road of the Phoebe Snow explores first abstractly, then dramatically the incidents that may have occurred on or near these railroad tracks.
It’s not all Conrail, nowadays. Our particular branch here in Chatham, New Jersey, for example, the Morris & Essex (1838), later (1868) the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, then (1960) the Erie Lackawanna, then (1976) Conrail, has been New Jersey Transit since 1983. That’s not the historic Road of Anthracite, though.
Phoebe Snow the singer was born in 1952. She was discovered in 1972 and her first album came out in 1974.
As you discovered, the piece was created in 1959. The Alley company often preforms pieces from throughout its history. Any standard tour might contain a mixture of pieces from a variety of dates, just as a rock tour or classical concert might.