Railroad Earth Shows
- Nearby Shows
- Sorry. There are no upcoming Railroad Earth shows near you.
- All Upcoming Shows
- Dec27
- Dec28
- Dec30
- Dec31
- Jan16
- Jan17
- Jan18
- Jan19
- Jan22
- Jan23
- Jan24
- Jan25
- Jan26
- Jan28
- Jan29
- Jan30
- Jan31
- Feb1
- Feb7
- Feb8
- Feb19
- Feb20
- Feb21
- Feb22
- Feb23
- Feb25
- Feb26
- Feb27
- Feb28
- Feb29
- Mar3
- Mar4
- Mar5
- Mar6
- Mar7
- Mar19
- Mar20
- Mar21
- Mar22
- Mar25
- Mar26
- Mar27
- Mar28
See Members of Railroad Earth
- Dec20
- Dec21
- Jan20
Latest Railroad Earth Articles
Latest Railroad Earth Setlist
Railroad Earth at Sherman Theater
- The Great Divide
- 420
- Happy Song
- The Hunting Song
- Came Up Smilin'
- The Cuckoo>Lonecroft Farewell>All That's Dead May Live Again>Only By the Light
Encore
- Way of the Buffalo
- Stillwater Getaway
- Raven's Child>Seven Story Mountain
- For Love
- Captain Nowhere>Berkeley Flash>Mighty River>Like A Buddha*
Encore
- Railroad Earth
About Railroad Earth
Railroad Earth’s music is driven by the remarkable songs of front-man, Todd Sheaffer, and is delivered with seamless arrangements and superb musicianship courtesy of all six band members. As mandolin/bouzouki player John Skehan points out, “Our M. O. has always been that we can improvise all day long, but we only do it in service to the song. There are a lot of songs that, when we play them live, we adhere to the arrangement from the record. And other songs, in the nature and the spirit of the song, everyone knows we can kind of take flight on them.” Sheaffer continues: “The songs are our focus, our focal point; it all starts right there. Anything else just comments on the songs and gives them color. Some songs are more open than others. They ‘want’ to be approached that way – where we can explore and trade musical ideas and open them up to different territories. But sometimes it is what the song is about.”
So: they can jam with the best of them and they have some bluegrass influences, but they use drums and amplifiers (somewhat taboo in the bluegrass world). What kind of music is it then? Mandolin/vocalist John Skehan offers this semi-descriptive term: “I always describe it as a string band, but an amplified string band with drums.” Tim Carbone takes a swing: “We’re a Country & Eastern band! ” Todd Sheaffer offers “A souped-up string band? I don’t know. I’m not good at this.” Or, as a great drummer/singer/mandolin player with an appreciation for Americana once said: “Rock & roll!”
Featured Articles
Advertisement
