Bonnawho's Who - Railroad Earth

Official Bio:

There’s a great scene in The Last Waltz – the documentary about The Band’s final concert – where director Martin Scorsese is discussing music with drummer/singer/mandolin player Levon Helm. Helm says, “If it mixes with rhythm, and if it dances, then you’ve got a great combination of all those different kinds of music: country, bluegrass, blues music, show music…”

To which Scorsese, the inquisitive interviewer, asks, “What’s it called, then?”

“Rock & roll!”

Clearly looking for a more specific answer, but realizing that he isn’t going to get one, Marty laughs. “Rock & roll…”

Well, that’s the way it is sometimes: musicians play music, and don’t necessarily worry about where it gets filed. It’s the writers, record labels, managers, etc., who tend to fret about what “kind” of music it is.

And like The Band, the members of Railroad Earth aren’t losing sleep about what “kind” of music they play – they just play it. When they started out in 2001, they were a bunch of guys interested in playing acoustic instruments together. As Railroad Earth violin/vocalist Tim Carbone recalls, “All of us had been playing in various projects for years, and many of us had played together in different projects. But this time, we found ourselves all available at the same time.”

Acoustic guitar/lead vocalist Todd Sheaffer continues, “When we started, we only loosely had the idea of getting together and playing some music. It started that informally; just getting together and doing some picking and playing. Over a six month period, we started working on some original songs, as well as playing some covers that we thought would be fun to play.” Shortly after, they took five songs from their budding repertoire into a studio and knocked out a demo. Their manager sent that demo to a number of festivals, and – to the band’s surprise – they were soon booked at the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival. They quickly recorded five more songs; the ten combined tracks made up their debut album, The Black Bear Sessions.

That was the beginning of Railroad Earth’s journey: since then, they’ve released two more studio albums on the largely bluegrass imprint Sugar Hill Records (2002’s Bird In A House and 2004’s The Good Life). They’ve also amassed a fan base that follows them from show to show, taking advantage of the band’s liberal taping policy. But RRE bristle about being lumped into any one “scene.” Not out of animosity for any other artists: it’s just that they don’t find the labels very useful. As Carbone points out, “We use unique acoustic instrumentation, but we’re definitely not a bluegrass band – so that doesn’t fit. And I think the term ‘jam bands’ probably refers more to the fans than to the bands. I think these fans just like live music.”

Railroad Earth certainly thrives in a live setting – their new live album Elko is easy proof of that – and they can, in fact, jam. Improvisation is certainly one of the RRE’s big strengths, no doubt about it. But what really sets them apart is the strength of their songwriting – it was the strength of their first five songs that got them on the bill at Telluride. And they’ve only gotten better since then.

Indeed, Railroad Earth’s music is driven by the remarkable songs of front-man, Todd Sheaffer, and it’s delivered with seamless arrangements and superb musicianship courtesy of all six band members. As mandolin player John Skehan points out, “Our M.O. has always been that we can improvise all day long, but we only do it in service to the song. There are a lot of songs that, when we play them live, we adhere to the arrangement from the record. And other songs, in the nature and the spirit of the song, everyone knows we can kind of take flight on them.” Sheaffer continues: “The songs are our focus, our focal point, they give the improvisation a starting point. The jams sort of ‘comment’ on the songs, and give them color. Some songs lend themselves to improvisation. They ‘want’ to be approached that way - where we can explore and trade musical ideas and open them up to different territories. But sometimes it is what the song is about.”

When the band does elect to “comment” on a song via an extended improvisation, they really cook – and have received the approval of no less than Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh, who knows a thing or two about jamming. In fact, Mr. Lesh has invited the band to open for him, and even used the RRE members as the “Friends” in his Phil & Friends band. To top that off, Lesh learned to play some of RRE’s repertoire, blowing the group’s collective mind.

So: they can jam with the best of them, but they’re not a jam band. They’re bluegrass influenced, but they use drums and amplifiers (somewhat taboo in the bluegrass world). What kind of music is it then? Mandolin/vocalist John Skehan offers this semi-descriptive term: “I always describe it as a string band, but an amplified string band with drums.” Tim Carbone takes a swing: “We’re a Country & Eastern band! ” Todd Sheaffer offers “A souped-up string band? I don’t know. I’m not good at this.” Or, as a great drummer/singer/mandolin player with an appreciation for Americana once said: “Rock & roll!”

Live On Stage:

New Jersey is more known for producing Bon Jovi and big hair then a roots/Americana bands, but Railroad Earth is looking to change that. Sure they're one of those proto-typical jamband festival bands, but that's not a bad thing at all they deliver the goods live. Here they are with "Elko" from a show in Philly from 2005.....



Few shows to check out....

Railroad Earth - 2007-04-13 - Crystal Ballroom - Portland, OR

Railroad Earth - 2007-03-31 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY

Railroad Earth - 2006-06-29 - High Sierra Music Fest - Grandstand Stage - Quincy, CA

These guys have opened and performed with Phil & Friends and have always had an affinity for Jerry's tunes. Some out there was nice enough to put together this compilation of Dead, Old & In The Way and JGB songs they've done....

Railroad Jerry

Since everyone gets excited about potential sit-ins at Bonnaroo I'll leave you with this collaboration between Railroad and Bill Nershi's band Honkytonk Homeslice doing Willie Nelson's "Whiskey River"....



For more on Railroad Earth make your way over to their official website.

Set time: 6/16, The Other Tent, 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM