Sailing to Philadelphia is the second solo studio album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on 25 September 2000^[1] by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States.^[2] 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,^[3] 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.

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Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Rolling Stone	[4]

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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."^[2] 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.^[4] Wild continued

Knopfler duets with James Taylor on the title track, which deftly explores the relationship between Mason and Dixon; Van Morrison trades lines on the soulful "The Last Laugh." With Sailing to Philadelphia, Knopfler has taken a break from the rootsy side projects and soundtrack work that have occupied him for the past 17 years, and has evoked some of the grandeur of prime Dire Straits.^[4]

By 2002, the album had sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide.^[5][6] In some territories—Western Europe for example—the album was released as an HDCD and a 5.1 Surround Sound DVD-A.

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).^[7]

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).^[7]

All songs were written by Mark Knopfler.

International version^{[Note 1]}

United States version
(including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other digital platforms)

• 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^[8]

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)^[8]

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