Finding Beauty in Tragedy: Gayle Skidmore Unveils Neoclassical Album Honoring the Ashtabula Railroad Disaster
In her most haunting and historically resonant work to date, San Diego-based artist Gayle Skidmore returns with The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster — a solo piano album that transforms grief, legacy, and personal history into a stirring eleven-track tribute.
Cover art for The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster
Out April 4, 2025, the album is a deeply emotional exploration of the 1876 Ashtabula, Ohio, railroad bridge collapse — one of the deadliest train disasters in American history, which claimed 92 lives. Among the victims was Philip P. Bliss, a famed hymn writer and a direct relative of Skidmore. Known for her emotive compositions and storytelling across genres, Skidmore turns inward with this neoclassical project, weaving her family’s past into the folds of minimalist, cinematic piano.
“I grew up singing Bliss’s hymns,” Skidmore shares. “But it wasn’t until the pandemic that I learned how he died. The deeper I looked into the tragedy, the more emotionally affected I became.”
Photo taken by @anastasyaphotography
Each track on The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster acts like a window into the event — some serene, others shrouded in tension — as Skidmore channels both the horror of the collapse and the resilience that followed. The album’s second single, “The Last Farewell of Charles Collins and Amasa Stone,” is a chilling standout, named after two of the disaster’s most controversial figures. The composition captures both personal sorrow and historical tension, striking a balance that few instrumental albums manage to achieve.
The album also serves as a tribute to Skidmore’s late grandmother, who passed away in 2019 and was proud of their family’s connection to Bliss. “This album is for her as much as it is for me,” Skidmore says. After nearly a decade in the Netherlands, where isolation and artistic experimentation shaped her creative practice, Skidmore returned to her roots in San Diego. “Being away was tough, but it gave me the space to find new sounds. Coming back, I’ve found that my community still believes in what I do.”
Photo taken by @anastasyaphotography
Skidmore’s fanbase on Patreon played a pivotal role in the project’s development. She tested early versions of pieces on her patrons, and their feedback helped shape the final tracklist. “They kept me going,” she says. “It gave me the confidence to finish something so different.”
Unlike her previous indie-pop releases, The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster is entirely instrumental. Written, produced, and recorded in her home studio, it is a bold step into a neoclassical lane, drawing sonic comparisons to Ludovico Einaudi, Yann Tiersen, and Chad Lawson, while retaining Skidmore’s signature emotional vulnerability.
The album is being released alongside sheet music, a nod to her fans who’ve long requested the ability to play her pieces themselves. “It’s another layer of connection,” Skidmore explains. “The idea of someone sitting down to play these songs and learn the story through sound — that means everything to me.”
With its evocative textures and personal depth, The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster is more than an album — it's a living memorial. A bridge between past and present. A study in how music can carry the weight of history without losing its soul.
