Greensky Bluegrass Welcomes Railroad Earth Members, Holly Bowling In Oakland

Watch Bowling show off her keytar skills and Todd Sheaffer lead GSBG through “The Hunting Song.”

By Scott Bernstein Jan 21, 2025 1:23 pm PST

Greensky Bluegrass and Railroad Earth crossed paths on Saturday night in Oakland for a joint concert at the Fox Theater. The two jamgrass bands swapped sit ins with Greensky’s set also featuring a surprise guest appearance from Holly Bowling on keytar.

Railroad Earth took the stage first at the Bay Area venue. The feel-good acoustic ensemble opened with a run of staples “Black Elk Speaks,” “Mighty River” and “Chasin’ A Rainbow.” More favorites followed in “Bird In A House,” “Dandelion Wine,” “Captain Nowhere” and “Where Songs Begin.”

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Dobro player Anders Beck of Greensky Bluegrass joined the New Jersey-based band for the subsequent “Elko.” Railroad Earth then paid tribute to late Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh by delivering a set-closing cover of “Box Of Rain.”

Greensky Bluegrass treated fans to one long set at the Fox on Saturday night. The quintet chose “Demons” to get their performance underway and then worked “Reasons To Stay” into the traditional “Little Maggie.” Next, Railroad Earth frontman Todd Sheaffer emerged to lead GSBG through “The Hunting Song,” which he co-wrote with Patrick Fitzsimmons and Brady Rymer.

The Michigan-bred jamgrass act went it alone as the set continued with “Run Or Die” and “200 Miles From Montana.” Greensky then jammed the instrumental “Broke Mountain Breakdown” into “Worry For You,” which gave way to a cover of the Allman Brothers Band-popularized “One Way Out.”

Bay Area-based musician Holly Bowling resumed her long musical friendship with GSBG in Oakland as she took a riveting keytar solo on “Solstice.” The song is one of four Bowling and Greensky Bluegrass recorded for the 2024 EP The Iceland Sessions. After the ensuing “Fixin’ To Ruin,” Railroad Earth fiddler Tim Carbone and mandolin player John Skehan came out for the exploratory “Don’t Lie” closer. Greensky Bluegrass capped the evening with a “Burn Them” encore.

Watch fan-shot video from Saturday’s Greensky Bluegrass/Railroad Earth show below:


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Max Berde (See 128 videos)
Greensky Bluegrass (See 595 videos) and Todd Sheaffer (See 3 videos)

00:00:00
Max Berde (See 128 videos)
Greensky Bluegrass (See 595 videos) and holly bowling

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Max Berde (See 128 videos)
Railroad Earth (See 142 videos)

Stream an official recording of Greensky Bluegrass’ performance below via nugs.net:

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Setlists

Railroad Earth (via RRE Facebook)

Set: Black Elk Speaks > Mighty River > Chasin’ a Rainbow, Bird in a House, Dandelion Wine, Captain Nowhere > Where Songs Begin, Elko [1], Box of Rain

[1] – w/ Anders Beck (dobro)


Greensky Bluegrass (via PT GSBG)

Set: Demons, Reasons to Stay, Little Maggie, Room Without a Roof, The Hunting Song [1], Run or Die, 200 Miles from Montana, Broke Mountain Breakdown > Worry for You > One Way Out, Solstice [2], Fixin To Ruin, Don’t Lie [3]

Encore: Burn Them

  • [1] – w/ Todd Sheaffer (guitar, vocals)
  • [2] – w/ Holly Bowling (keytar) #6reensky
  • [3] – w/ Tim Carbone (fiddle), John Skehan (mando)

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