Railroad Earth, Leftover Salmon & Yonder Mountain String Band Join Forces For Collaborative Encore At Wolf Trap

Railroad Earth closed out the first leg of a joint summer tour with Leftover Salmon and Yonder Mountain String Band at the idyllic Wolf Trap near Washington D.C. on Saturday night. Members of LoS and YMSB sat in with RRE on their two-song encore.

Saturday’s concert saw Railroad Earth perform last after full sets from Yonder Mountain String Band and Leftover Salmon. RRE frontman Todd Sheaffer was back in action this month an undisclosed health issue led him to miss a series of May tour dates. Michael Bellar has been holding down Matt Slocum‘s spot in the band while the keyboardist recovers from back surgery and attends to previous commitments.

Yonder Mountain String Band kicked off the night at the Vienna, Virginia venue. The jamgrass act fit several tributes to late co-founding member Jeff Austin into their set including the Austin-penned original “What The Night Brings” and covers of two songs Jeff frequently sung — “Two Hits And The Joint Turned Brown” and “No Expectations.”

Leftover Salmon took the stage next and played such favorites as “Down In The Hollow,” “Gulf Of Mexico” and “Aquaticc Hitchhiker.” The band led by Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt closed their set with “Euphoria,” the title track to their 1997 studio album.

Railroad Earth went heavy on beloved staples at Wolf Trap including “Mighty River,” “Long Way To Go” and “Head.” The 15-minute “Head” was followed by a take on Bob McDill’s “Catfish John,” a song frequently covered by the Jerry Garcia Band. Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt helped out on “Catfish John” with Herman and Sheaffer trading off lead vocal duties. RRE was then joined on the “Dandelion Wine” closer by LoS’ Herman and Emmitt as well as Yonder Mountain String Band fiddler Coleman Smith and mandolinist Nick Piccininni.

Watch fan-shot video of the “Dandelion Wine” closer and stream ph_2k’s audience recording of Railroad Earth’s full set from Saturday night at Wolf Trap below: