By: David Schultz

Bluegrass music has always had a tight grip on the heart of rural America, suburban as well. Even though it traces its origins back to the traditional music of European countries, bluegrass joins jazz as a distinctively American form of music. For all its historical weight though, bluegrass has been a genre slow to adapt and incorporate elements of other forms of music. While bluegrass has made inroads into certain areas of rock, pop and even rap, it has been slow to reciprocate. Until recently, that is.

Over the last decade, a "newgrass" movement seems to be afoot, challenging many of bluegrass music's preconceived notions. Keeping the focus on acoustic instruments and using folk and bluegrass rhythms as a springboard, newgrass bands like Yonder Mountain String Band and Railroad Earth are pushing the boundaries of the time-tested genre while retaining a healthy respect for it. This past weekend, Railroad Earth, one of the bands leading the charge of this expansive trend, came to New York City this past Saturday, playing Irving Plaza, soon to be known as Fillmore New York.

Steeped in Americana and folk, Railroad Earth's sound takes as much from old-timey O Brother Where Art Thou bluegrass as it does from the Grateful Dead, a link that became quite pronounced when they were joined by Amy Helm and Fiona McBain of Ollabelle for a cover of the Jerry Garcia Band's "My Sisters and Brothers." Railroad Earth's willingness to deviate from the norm kept the pacing of the set fresh. One of the drawbacks to Mike Gordon's Ramble Dove bluegrass marathon last May was the lack of variation, a trap Railroad Earth avoided by continuously changing tempos. The evocative Eighties-era imagery of "Warhead Boogie" drew a great response as did the loping, bouncy gaits of "Long Way To Go" and "Elko," but slower, more traditional numbers like "Mountain Time" and "Walk Beside Me" failed to enthrall. The night's heaviest and most interesting passage occurred during the locomotive intro "Head" with violinist Tim Carbone and the rest of the band "making the train sing" before breaking into the rambunctious ode to mind expansion.

Carbone, who looks like he may have been separated at birth from Robert Plant's younger brother, gives Railroad Earth its traditional country flair. During the Irving Plaza show, Carbone demonstrated how entwined he is with the band's sound. When not engaging in instrumental duels with mandolinist John Skehan, Carbone gave a sense of playfulness to songs like "Elko," a homespun twang to "Old Man And The Land" and a true authenticity to the foot-stomping "Fiddlee."

Anchored at center stage for the entire show, guitarist Todd Sheaffer led the band through a set that touched on many of the high points of their 2006 live album Elko. Sheaffer handled all of the lead vocals with the soft touch of a folk storyteller, never rushing his delivery. Sheaffer kept his banter with the audience relatively brief, if not slightly misguided. Having heard that Irving Plaza will soon be renamed Fillmore New York, Sheaffer acknowledged that they were playing one of the last true Irving Plaza shows. Expressing a benign ignorance of the Live Nation corporate presence now lurking behind Bill Graham's creation, Sheaffer playfully decried the hippies he believed to be taking over the venue.

With Sheaffer, Skehan and Carbone putting on quite a show, Andy Goessling rotated through an impressive array of instruments with quiet aplomb. With an acoustic arsenal at his disposal, Goessling moved from banjo to lap steel to a Dobro showing a deft skill on whatever he touched. Drummer Carey Harmon on drums and standup bassist Johnny Grubb provided an understated rhythm, remaining unobtrusively in the background causing some of Grubb's strong bass lines sometimes getting lost.

Railroad Earth hails from New Jersey, a State more likely to breed rootsy rockers like Bruce Springsteen or rowdy hard rockers in the mold of Bon Jovi. Perhaps it's the logistical and ideological distance from bluegrass and country's origins that provide the proper perspective to challenge the traditional sound. Using solely acoustic instruments, Railroad Earth derives a rich, full sound, achieving the oftentimes difficult task of getting a resonant sound from an amplified acoustic guitar. Although able, Railroad Earth never let the evening devolve into a simple hoedown: it would have been too simple, and any band that takes their name from a Jack Kerouac poem isn't a band looking to take the easy path.

Labels: Live Reviews, Railroad Earth