Todd Sheaffer‘s voice and guitar-playing forms an incredible base for a band. Back in the day I saw From Good Homes on the H.O.R.D.E. tour and really enjoyed Todd’s performance. Railroad Earth is made up of musicians who do an even better job of playing with and pushing Todd. The phrasings and tones that came from Sheaffer’s guitar were unique and always kept me on my toes.
Contrary to what I had heard, the band isn’t straight-up bluegrass by any means: There were a few spacey jams, some tight improvisation, and even a few rockers. Each member of the band really pulled their weight. Drummer Carey Harmon not only kept a steady beat, he showed off his amazing vocal talents backing up Sheaffer. Tim Carbone dropped some crazy fiddle solos and added a nice layered sound to the mix when he wasn’t ripping those solos. Andy Goessling seemed to break out a new instrument for each song, which kept things interesting. Johnny Grubb is a solid upright bassman, and John Skehan adds great mando playing to the band’s sound.
Long Way To Go and Elko got incredible responses from the crowd. When the band launched into Head, a tune Sheaffer wrote for From Good Homes, the crowd went ballistic. I’ve seen about 40 concerts at Irving over the years, but nothing compared to the hoots and hollers that were coming from Railroad Earth’s audience during that song. I was downstairs by the band’s merch table and the amount of stomping going on upstairs made me worried the ceiling would come crumbling down. It also made me wonder how this band had flown under my radar for so long. Never again.
Ollabelle, featuring Levon Helm’s daughter Amy, opened the show. Amy and her bandmate Fiona McBain joined Railroad Earth for an incredible version of the Sensational Nightengale’s My Sisters and Brothers (you may know that tune from many a Jerry Garcia Band show). The tone coming from Sheaffer’s acoustic guitar reminded me of Garcia throughout the evening, so it was nice to hear his take on a song Jerry made famous.
At about 11pm Sheaffer announced that they had one song left. I was surprised, as the previous week TLG had just started their show around 11. After a quick encore I left the venue with a big smile on my face.
Try to go to a Railroad Earth gig and not smile, I dare you.
- Railroad Earth on the Live Music Archive
- Official recordings from livedownloads.com
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