Bad Religion frontman Greg Graffin has teamed up with a couple friends from Social Distortion to record a fresh version of Norman Blake’s “Lincoln’s Funeral Train (The Sad Journey to Springfield).”

We’ve heard Greg Graffin go folksy before with incredible results like Bad Religion’s “Sorrow” and Greg’s own Cold as the Clay solo album. For “Lincoln’s Funeral Train,” Graffin hit the studio with Social Distortion guitarist Jonny "2 Bags" Wickersham, bassist Brent Harding and drummer David Hidalgo, Jr.

Just in time for the election, Graffin was attracted to the song partially due to the dichotomy of Abraham Lincoln and today’s Republican Party. “This song is such a sorrowful piece of Americana and is deeply significant today,” says Graffin. “The vision of that black funeral train heading west forever into the sunset is symbolic of today's flickering Republican torch. The Great Emancipator's passing is once again relevant: Lincoln was the founding President of the Republican Party, a blip so distant on the horizon that it is hardly recognizable anymore."

As for his personal love for folk, Graffin spoke with the LA Times about his upbringing. “My family roots go back to Indiana and Wisconsin. The Indiana folks sang a cappella in the old country chapel at my grandma’s funeral,” Graffin shared. “Her children taught me to sing and the songs they chose came from the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and of course the folk revival tunes of the 1960s. This was the sound I brought forth to my own band starting in the 1980s. It's the only kind of lyrical style I know.”

Check out Greg Graffin’s cover of “Lincoln’s Funeral Train” above!

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