b. 26 October 1926, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Ohrlin’s father was a Swedish immigrant, and his mother’s parents were from Norway. Apart from learning basic tunes and songs, and guitar technique, Ohrlin wanted to be a horse rider. At the age of 14, his family moved to California, and two years later he left home to go to Nevada to work in rodeo. He also worked on ranches throughout the West, and served in the US Army from 1945-46. After World War II, Ohrlin continued to absorb musical influences, including Flamenco guitar style, and traditional songs, learned from Mexican cowboys. He continued riding, both bareback and saddle, and, in September 1954, he and his wife moved to Mountain View, Arkansas to raise cattle. Later still, in 1960, having realized that some of the songs he was singing were important from a historical perspective, he began to collect songs from his friends and relations. Many of these were recorded in the field during the mid-60s. In April 1963, Ohrlin played at a Mountain View Festival, organized by the Rackensack Folklore Society. In September of the same year, Ohrlin travelled to Memphis, Tennessee, to play on the coffee house circuit. This, however, did not inspire any great reaction on the part of the music listening public at the time. He made his last rodeo ride in October 1963, at Andalusia, Alabama, and in less than three months made his debut recording, Glenn Ohrlin, in Illinois, in December 1963. It appeared on the University of Illinois Campus Folk Song Club Records label. The recording featured some of the songs performed at the University Folk Song Club on 14 December 1963, with other tracks taken from recordings made between 13 December and 16 March 1964. Ohrlin had already been recorded by Bruce Jackson during the summer of 1964. Between 1965-66, Ohrlin collected and recorded a number of performers throughout the states of Arkansas, Minnesota, and North Dakota. The material ranged from unaccompanied works (some with guitar and fiddle), to material sung in Swedish and Norwegian. The Hell-Bound Train contained tracks from the concert recorded in 1963-64, at the Campus Folksong Club.