Sailing to Philadelphia is the second solo studio album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on 25 September 2000 by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album contains featured vocal performances by James Taylor, Van Morrison, and Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze.
The title track is drawn from Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon, a novel about Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, the two English surveyors who established the border separating Pennsylvania and Delaware from Maryland and Virginia in the 1760s. This border later became known as the Mason–Dixon line and has been used since the 1820s to denote the border between the Southern United States and the Northern United States.
Critical reception
In his review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann gave the album three out of five stars, writing that "in one song after another on this album, you get the feeling that he started out playing some familiar song in a specific genre and eventually extrapolated upon it enough to call it an original." In his review for Rolling Stone magazine, David Wild gave the album three and a half out of five stars, writing that the album is "a welcome flashback" to Knopfler's earlier work with Dire Straits. Wild continued
By 2002, the album had sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide. In some territories—Western Europe for example—the album was released as an HDCD and a 5.1 Surround Sound DVD-A.
Touring In 2001, Knopfler supported the release of the album with his Sailing to Philadelphia Tour, which started on 27 March 2001 in Mexico City, Mexico, included 80 concerts in 68 cities, and ended on 31 July 2001 in Moscow, Russia. The tour consisted of three legs: Mexico and South America, North America, and Europe and Russia. The tour lineup included Mark Knopfler (guitar, vocals), Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Richard Bennett (guitar), Glenn Worf (bass), Chad Cromwell (drums), Geraint Watkins (piano, accordion), and Mike Henderson (guitar, mandolin, violin, harmonica).
The Madrid concert on 2 July 2001 was filmed but never released. The Toronto concert at Massey Hall on 3 May 2001 was also recorded, but only four tracks were officially released: "Speedway At Nazareth" (the B-side of "Why Aye Man"), "Who's Your Baby Now" (the B-side of "Boom, Like That"), "Sailing to Philadelphia" and "Brothers in Arms" (both available on a limited-edition version of the album The Ragpicker's Dream).
Track listing All songs were written by Mark Knopfler. International version
United States version(including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other digital platforms)
Personnel Mark Knopfler – vocals, guitar Richard Bennett – guitar Jim Cox – piano, Hammond organ Guy Fletcher – keyboards, backing vocals Glenn Worf – bass guitar Chad Cromwell – drums Danny Cummings – percussion Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar Frank Ricotti – marimba Aubrey Haynie – violin (1,10) Jim Hoke – autoharp, harmonica Wayne Jackson – trumpet Mike Haynes – flugelhorn Harvey Thompson – tenor saxophone Jim Horn – baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone James Taylor – vocals (2) Van Morrison – vocals (5) Gillian Welch and David Rawlings – vocals (8,10) Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford – vocals (International 6) Duane Starling – vocals Gillian Welch – vocals Chris Willis – vocals
Production Mark Knopfler – producer Chuck Ainlay – producer, engineer, mixing Chubba Petocz – engineer Jon Bailey – assistant engineer Graham Lewis – assistant Mark Ralston – assistant Aaron Swihart – assistant Denny Purcell – mastering Jonathan Russell – mastering assistant Andrew Williams – portrait photography Eric Conn – editing Sandy Choron – art direction Harry Choron – design Jose Molina – photography (front cover) James Gritz – photography (back cover) Andrew Williams – photography (portrait) Ben Mikaelsen – photography (additional)
Charts Weekly Chart (2000)PeakpositionDanish Albums (Hitlisten)3Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)2
Chart (2025)Peakposition German Rock & Metal Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 12
Year-end Chart (2000)Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 100 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 46 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 44 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 57Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) 177 Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 14 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts) 10 European Albums (Music & Media)21 French Albums (SNEP) 29 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 26Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 11Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)18 Chart (2001)Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 98 Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 98 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts) 10 European Albums (Music & Media) 40 French Albums (SNEP) 125 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 62Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 93
Certifications
References Notes
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