Features

In the wake of the surprising success of the "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, bluegrass music has experienced a recent revival. A sound that was once hidden within traditional festivals and particular geographic scenes is now sprouting up everywhere and gaining new admirers and listeners. Progressing from the traditional songs reflecting life on the farm and in the hills and being stigmatized as "mountain music" or "country music," bluegrass is now, dare I say, trendy and hip. Allison Krauss and Ralph Stanley are becoming mainstream names in this genre. Recently, bluegrass pioneers Old &the Way, have created a modern reunion tour called Old &the Grey. The sounds of this "new grass", featuring the likes of the Jazz Mandolin Project, Bela Fleck, and the Yonder Mountain String Band, has only helped to solidify this sound as an exciting, adventurous infusion, rather than yesterday's dusty record.

New Jersey's Railroad Earth has been capturing the sound of their eclectic influences, and creating an upbeat modern mix of rock and bluegrass that blends the artistic flexibility of various genres. The six-piece band is led by guitarist/singer Todd Sheaffer, and inlcludes John Skehan, mandolin and piano; Carey Harmon, drums; Dave Van Dollen, bass; Tim Carbone on violin; and the multi-talented Andy Goessling on banjo and almost anything else he can get his hands on. Sheaffer's stint with From Good Homes provided ten solid years of music; however the group disbanded in 1999. From Good Homes gained widespread acclaim within the live music scene and even had the privilege of having The Dave Matthews Band, Hootie and the Blowfish and Blues Traveler open for them. Sheaffer formed Railroad Earth as a new musical outlet around two years ago, and things have only been on the rise for the band. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Sheaffer about Railroad Earth and his second tour of duty building a band from the ground up.

Railroad Earth burst upon the music scene out of nowhere and has earned only positive feedback. What do you attribute this to?

Well, I certainly think there is a lot of experience with the band. I was obviously on the scene with From Good Homes for years, so that certainly helped. People knew me, people knew Tim and Andy from The Sparks which helped in getting people's ears and after that they just responded to the music; they listened to our demo and people got excited about our sound. It was pretty cool to have some of our very first gigs be such high profile. One of our first gigs was The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Fortunately there was experience in the band, so that when we stepped out there, we had some confidence that we could pull it off right from the get go.

Was there a lot of pressure in that gig?

Oh yeah, (laughs) No pressure other than the pressure we put on ourselves.

So, that was only your tenth gig as Railroad Earth, right?

Yeah, something like that

And all the legends of bluegrass were sharing the same stage as you?

Leftover Salmon was there the same day we played, yeah the lineup was just great out there, as it always is.

Do you feel Railroad Earth is filling in a void perhaps in the music scene with its brand of celebratory music?

I wouldn't say there is a void, but I think people are finding alternatives to what is force fed to them on mainstream radio and that kind of stuff. I think there is actually a growing alternative to the scene like the festival circuit. Just since my days in From Good Homes, you kind of like to get out there and play again and see how many festivals have sprouted up all around the country. I think the Bonnaroo festival is a good example; it's not actually a void but a growing underground scene.

Bluegrass music has the power to make you think of life in a simpler context and in today's society I don't think it could be more poignant. What are you thoughts?

When you talk about a celebratory spirit I think you can appreciate how maybe sometimes in our culture you take a lot of things for granted. When someone tells you to run out and get duct tape and plastic, you sort of take another look and go, "whoa". I think it's one of the joys of life to share good uplifting music with friends. I also love it, a lot of the bluegrass music has a bit of a gospel foundation and I think that's an uplifting experience. For example, if you ever get down to the jazz heritage festival, make sure you stop by the gospel tent; that's been some of my most amazing musical experiences hearing a big ol’ gospel choir, it just gives you chills and makes you feel alive! I feel there is a bit of that spirit in our music.

Absolutely, I would agree. You've been doing an enormous amount of touring the past couple years with this band doing 200+ shows a year. How is this round of touring been different than the first time when you toured with From Good Homes, any differences?

Well it's been different because From Good Homes is more tended towards the rock and pop veins and this band is a little more in the country and bluegrass sounds. I find myself riding down some dirt roads and areas that I never thought I'd imagine ending up playing music. There are a lot more outdoor shows.

So, it's obviously more of an outdoor show vibe than a club vibe?

Well we end up in everything from very traditional bluegrass festivals to full on hippie festivals; we are pretty comfortable in either one of those settings. It's been fun seeing the country though, there's a lot of places I never thought I'd see before.

Do you prefer Railroad Earth to be described as a bluegrass band, jamband or rock band?

Well hopefully we don't have to be labeled and people can find out about us and accept us on our own terms. There are elements of bluegrass and jam within our sound and we don't find either one of those words offensive. It's hard to describe what we are up to, as there is a lot going on with six players in the band each. One is free to bring their own world into the mix, everybody has their own wide variety of interests. This band is also multi-generational, with young to old so there is a lot going on.

There is a hint from your prior work with From Good Homes that bluegrass is a large influence on you, and now with Railroad Earth it's very obvious. Who are these bluegrass influences?

Well, it was a little before my time to hear the originators like the Bill Monroe’s, but I came from the next generation thing and got turned onto bluegrass by David Bromberg, and John Hartford. Those are the guys I used to love as they used to stop by this little roadhouse in Sussex County which believe it or not is "Country Jersey" (laughs). But they used to stop by and play shows and I would see them. Those are the first guys to turn me onto bluegrass. As a songwriter, I love Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Robert Hunter. I think that's the kind of thing, in the jamband world the obvious icon, focal point and reference point is the Grateful Dead, but I think a lot people miss the great songwriting of Garcia and Robert Hunter. Hopefully we can bring a bit of that songwriting to the stage.

I think you have a unique voice, it stands apart, how do use that to your advantage?

I never really saw myself as a vocalist. I have songs that I sing and I'm just trying to get my songs across. I'm not the type of singer who can sing the phonebook and make it sound good. I'm really just trying to put my heart and soul into the songs, that's all I'm trying to do, although over the years I've spent more attention to actual phrasing and singing and how people play where they are on the beat. That's the kind of thing I've started to pay more attention to, especially when we're recording the CDs.

Any particular reasons why you added some of the older From Good Homes tunes to your recordings like "Walk On By" and "Head"?

Well, "Head" was one of the first songs when we first got together at a picking session over at Andy's. I think that we are just throwing out some traditional bluegrass songs, you know just growing around the table type of thing and it was my turn. I played "Head" just for the fun of it and it clicked right away and it was a lot of fun to play, so that's why we are playing that one. "Walk On By" came about, well really...it's a song I wrote in the aftermath of a personal tragedy and a sad time in my life and kind of a shocking moment when I lost my brother. I wrote it in the aftermath of that. There are times where I just feel like playing a tune and right after September 11th, I just felt like playing it. So you feel those feelings, and by touching them and by playing a song it heals you and makes you feel better. So, we started working on the album after that and it seemed to fit the flow of the record and fit in the context of the other songs and really took the CD to another place. We really don't play it a lot, you have to be in the right mood for that as it's an intense thing and you don't want to go there all the time.

"Bird in a House" is a crowd favorite, do you find that song to be a jam vehicle?

Yeah, it's a great song. I love singing it, playing it; it's a great song to solo on and have a band jam on. It's kind of workhouse.

Are there any challenges of being a Bluegrass band from New Jersey?

Well you got to bear in mind, it's the home of the great bluegrass artist Bon Jovi (laughs). It's like people have a strange perception of Jersey and I have been everywhere in the country the past year or two and I'm calling it home officially. It's beautiful there...it's really nice. Actually it has more of an Appalachian vibe than a lot of places in North Carolina and Kentucky.

Yeah, well New Jersey has always gotten an unfair bad rep cause of the highways.

Exactly, there has been quite a few great bluegrass stories out of New Jersey. David Grisman is from there originally and Tony Trishka. I heard a great bluegrass band from one of our festival bills and they were from Yugoslavia, and we heard another one from Czechoslovakia and they were just ripping it up. The singer sounded like Allison Krauss when she sang, but when she talked between songs, you couldn't understand a word she said.

Have you been able to play with anybody that you hadn't had the chance to play with before you formed Railroad Earth?

Oh yeah, a whole lot of people, and it was a thrill for me a couple weeks ago...I was down in Asheville and got together with Tim O'Brien, which was a real thrill because I'm a big fan of his. As a band there's a whole lot of people that we are pretty thrilled about having played with and met that I'm not even sure where to start. Emmlyou Harris is one. Next month we are going to be playing down in Florida with the Del McCoury Band

Any new records in the works, Black Bear and Bird in a House came out one year after another. Any desire to keep up that pace?

We're gonna keep on making records, we're committed to six records with Sugar Hill, we love the label, we think it's a great label for the band, and they are in it for the long haul. It's not the kind of label where if we don't have a single up there with Britney (Spears), they are going to drop the band. It's always a work in progress and we are always working on new tunes. We don't plan on hitting the studio right now cause like you said, we put out two records pretty quickly and we're gonna play this summer. Maybe towards the end of the summer, we'll think about getting in the studio again.

Is it easier to write new music on the road?

No, hopefully we can allow more time for that type of thing; for writing and rehearsing. We kind of got all excited because everybody kept inviting us to play. We'll keep on touring, but on a pace that's not going to kill us.

So you have something great going, what are the long term goals of the band, still constant touring?

Well, last year was a lot of work. I don' think we will be playing quite that much. We'll go the places we want to go and do it in more of a planned fashion. Last year we felt like we were becoming a hometown band of every town in the country. I'm not sure we can keep that up.

All photos courtesy of Erin Mills.