Steel Train

  • Trampoline
    Trampoline
    Available at: Amazon
  • Twilight Tales from the Prairies of the Sun
    Twilight Tales from the Prairies of the Sun
    Outside of being the debut effort of New York quintet Steel Train, Twilight Tales from the Prairies of the Sun also has the distinction of being the first creative collaboration between guest mandolinist David Grisman and producer Stephen Barncard since the Grateful Dead opus American Beauty. Whether the effect or cause of that fact, the band happens to channel the pastoral grace and paired down acoustic song orientation of the primitive Dead with impressive competency, a comparison that reveals both the strength of its musicianship and relative weakness of its song writing. Fortunately it's not the the only comparison to be made. Bolstered by the additional help of lap steel maestro Gene Parsons, the band's sound also manages to travel through the shaman urgency of early Santana ("Gypsy Wave's, Lee Baby Simms Show"), the loping front porch intimacy of Grisman and Garcia's dalliances ("Dig"), and even more unpredictably, a hint of Radiohead in the ghostly, creeping melodies of "Grace", voices through which Steel Train anounces itself as a worthy entity in its own right. - Brent Gladstone, Relix Magazine
    Available at: Amazon
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