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
