(BOS Music)
Railroad Earth is one of the newest names to emerge from the flood of progressive bluegrass bands that has occurred since the mid-1990's. The band has been rising rapidly in the bluegrass scene'just months after making their first demo recording in early 2001, Railroad Earth played at the Telluride Bluegrass and High Sierra Music Festivals, and are now touring the country in support of their debut album, The Black Bear Sessions.
With guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bass and drums, Railroad Earth takes full advantage of its robust lineup. The Black Bear Sessions was recorded without any overdubs except backing vocals, and has a clean, hand-made sound. The group's musical style is clearly rooted in bluegrass, though it occasionally hints at celtic and jazz influences.??The noodly, nine-minute cut of The Black Bear Sessions reveals jam-band tendencies shining through the band's acoustic trappings.
Railroad Earth's instrumental work, though solid, is not particularly outstanding when compared to the plethora of similar sounding bands out there.
What sets them apart from fellow newgrass jammers, like Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident and Yonder Mountain String Band, is the one thing most often lacking in this genre: songwriting. Singer/songwriter Todd Sheaffer does a wonderful job of constructing themes from the mixture of joy and sorrow that pervades bluegrass, while infusing them with an intensely personal and honest warmth.??His style is reminiscent of Robert Hunter, Bob Dylan and the many other songwriters who have helped connect the American folksong tradition with modern life.
The album's songs cover a ranger of tones, beginning with the carefree \Head."" On the other side of the coin, the lyrics of ""Seven Story Mountain"" contemplate the difficulty in recognizing and accepting failure, a problem compounded by the confusion of living in a quickly changing world. ""Chains"" recounts childhood memories of love songs and abuse, noting the timelessness of inherited traditions, whether they be for better or for worse'""There are scars that are forgotten, there are scars that will remain / Events of long ago now somehow form a chain.""
For a debut album, Black Bear Sessions is remarkably mature in its songwriting and instrumentation. Railroad Earth is one of those rare bands that possesses talent in both areas, and this album probably contains enough of both to satisfy nearly all fans of modern folk music.
Railroad Earth plays at Caf?? Monmartre, 127 E. Mifflin St., tonight at 10:30 p.m.
