Railroad Earth made its first stop in Wilkes-Barre, PA with Donna the Buffalo, and loaded up with new songs to test upon the crowd. Being a ‘musical guinea pig’ is great – having new material tested on the crowd is always interesting and, when it’s good, it’s great.
Railroad Earth opened up their set with a standard opener, Tim O’Brien’s "Walk Beside Me," sending us off to the races with Andrew Altman’s piercing bass line attack. "Drag Him Down" followed, picking up the pace with this great original song and lighting up the room in the process. While it was rather early placement wise, "Like A Buddha" pushed a 14 minute euphoric rush in a manner of majestic instrumentation and feeding energy to the crowd.
It was now time for some new material from the upcoming Railroad Earth self-titled release (due out October 12th). "Lonecroft Farewell" is an interesting medium-tempo piece. Andy Goessling pulled out a slide-guitar, adding to the numerous other instruments he plays with the band. The lyrics to this song were enchanting in both the vocals and the words, clearly relating to songwriter Todd Sheaffer’s old house in Stillwater, NJ. This was the first time "Lonecroft Farewell" had been played live (The Americana Music Awards surprise show the night prior featured several new songs from the album, but this was not one of them).
Next was John Skehan’s "Spring Heeled Jack" formerly known as "Super Hetty Jam" or "New Jam," a personal Railroad Earth-jam favorite, because of the pure bliss that erupts from this song during its peak. The nature of this song hits the nail on the head for the jam-lovers, while still providing solid structure for the song-lovers.
"Black Elk Speaks," a new song off of the album, but also previous work of Sheaffer’s past; From Good Homes, ripped apart the building. The heavy weight this song carries, is a prime example of diversity and contrast in this group as you look at the songs played earlier in the set. Almost all prior songs were lighter in nature (except for “Spring Heeled Jack”), but this song is almost “grunge” in nature, mostly from the distortion guitar work. The song sounded a bit sloppy in certain spots, but this tune will eventually become one of the band’s premier numbers.
In honor of 9/11, "Walk On By" was gentle, dark, orchestral and emotional. The lyrics clearly reflect what happened on this tragic day, and as Sheaffer so graciously, artistically, and humbly tends to paint pictures with words, he continues to do so with this track from the 2006 release, “Bird In A House.”
To uplift the moods once again, (as Railroad Earth does so well), they busted into "Peace On Earth" a wonderful bluegrass song with a worldwide theme. Following "Peace On Earth" was another new song, "Jupiter and the 119." Sheaffer introduced the new piece explaining that it was a song about the coming together of the trans-continental railroad, where the Jupiter, and the 119 trains met. It opens up with a dream-sequence type of mandolin/fiddle fidgeting, leading into Sheaffer’s vocals and eventually picking up steam, chugging along with a train type of tempo. When you hear "Jupiter and the 119" you may assume it’s going to be a four or five minute track. Surprisingly, this eight minute tune is filled with some great improvisation that this band is known for.
The last song of the set was also off of the new album, but was one of the few tracks leaked to the public, "Long Walk Home." It opens with Sheaffer and Tim Carbone introducing the melody, and then the band joining in a few bars after. In only its second live performance, (it was pulled out the previous night in Tennessee) it sounded young, lacking a little confidence.
All throughout the night a section of the crowd was chanting "Bird In A House." So for the encore, Railroad Earth gave the crowd what they wanted. Carbone and Skehan stole the spotlight, shining all throughout the crowd favorite, making for a lovely night of experimentation.
