[.ca] Bird In A House

remember old and in the way?:
If you liked that (or if you even remember it) you may be turned on by railroad earth. While Old and In the Way was a product of accomplished, capable well-known musicians, this is the outpouring of accomplished, capable, but lesser-known musicians. That doesn't drag this album down, however. In fact, it provides a fresh perspective on a style of music that deserves more attention. The songs are upbeat, the band is tight and the tunes tend to stick in your head. take my advice, don't skip this one.

pure smokin' honey heat moonshine harmonies!:
I was turned on to these guys at Telluride, where they absolutely turned it out in the Fly Me to The Moon Saloon one post-festival evening. I've seen them again since in San Francisco and they seemed to have gotten twice as nice! This band is really cruising right now -- churning out beautiful new material, blowing up show after show. I can agree with the other reviewers in that they are not easily classified into any single genre of music: rock, bluegrass, folk, whatever. Instead, they offer something that has such amazing range that it can touch many different styles and sounds at once -- watch how easily they segue into a New Orleans brass sound at the end of "Came Up Smilin." Bluegrass may or may not continue to attract mainstream attention but Railroad Earth will succeed either way because they offer something so incredibly unique and wonderful. Prepare yourself for the unstoppable urge to leap around your living room until you crash through the coffee table . . . also, check out the Black Bear Sessions and Shaeffer's Solo Work. Godspeed!

Mighty kind music:
Boy, do I like these guys. It's not as though there hasn't been plenty of good acoustic music. Even before "O Brother Where Art Thou?" made bluegrass popular again, there was good jamgrass around: the late great Jerry Garcia (not only with the Dead but also with Old & In The Way), the New Grass Revival, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Tony Rice, David Grisman, and so on have been making that kind of music since long before it was fashionable. More recently there have been the String Cheese Incident, Leftover Salmon, the Yonder Mountain String Band, and a handful of other fine bands. But as fine as these bands are (and I especially like SCI), I've just had a faint sense that something has been missing, something that had perhaps died with Jerry Garcia. Then I put this CD into my player. I thought "Drag Him Down" was pretty good, but I wasn't too excited yet. (I hadn't listened very closely.) Then the title track started up. And then "Like A Buddha" came on. And I said to myself, "Aha -- _that's_ what was missing." I still don't know exactly what "that" is. But it has something to do with the musical sensibilities of the group's primary songwriter Todd Sheaffer (formerly of From Good Homes) and the tremendous array of acoustic talent in this six-person combo. Lots of listeners have compared these guys to the Dead of the _Workingman's Dead_/_American Beauty_ period, and also to Garcia's aforementioned Old & In The Way. (And not just because From Good Homes used to open occasionally for Ratdog.) Oddly, Railroad Earth doesn't sound like either of those bands at all, and yet there's quite a lot to the comparison. Take _Workingman's Dead_, for example. It sounds, on the surface, like more or less traditional American acoustic music. And yet, when you listen more closely, you realize that's deceptive: sure, it borrows from American tradition, but before Garcia and Hunter, nobody, but nobody, had written tunes like that. Something like that is at work with Railroad Earth as well. Casual listeners will think they're playing bluegrass, or something close to it. But check again; this isn't bluegrass at all. It's -- what should we call it? -- hippie jamband music played on acoustic instruments. And Sheaffer's taut, otherworldly lyrics, wrapped around what sound like but are not old-timey melodies, are every bit as idiosyncratic -- and engaging -- as Robert Hunter's. (Not to mention that _voice_. He _doesn't_ really sound like Jerry . . . but then again . . . ) I don't at all mean to slight the contributions of the rest of the band; I just really like Sheaffer's songwriting. The other members -- John Skehan (mandolin and piano), Carey Harmon (drums and percussion), Dave Von Dollen (bass), Tim Carbone (violin), and Andy Goessling (guitars of various sorts, banjo, and a few other instruments as needed) -- are tremendously talented, and they do contribute to writing some of the songs. ("Peace On Earth," by Von Dollen and Carbone, is a great tune; so is "Lois Ann," a lovely instrumental piece largely written by Skehan.) But to me, at least, Sheaffer's songwriting is what really drives this CD and this group. Can I say _anything_ bad about this CD? Well, sure; it sounds as though they were rushing a bit to complete it, and a couple of the songs seem slightly overarranged/overproduced. There are a couple of spots where I'd have wanted things to be a little less busy (the opening bars, for example, of the otherwise delightful "Came Up Smilin'," where there's just a little too much going on for my taste). But that's the level of picayune-ness I have to reach in order to find something to criticize. Just don't make the mistake of expecting it to be (traditional) bluegrass, or you'll be disappointed. This here is barefoot-hippie hoedown music of the very finest kind. Check out their debut CD as well. It's called _The Black Bear Sessions_ and it consists of a bunch of material originally recorded as demos. I won't review it separately but it's as good as this one.

Just a hair less exciting than the Black Bear Sessions:
What can one say about this CD. This band has the magic - the ability to pull so many varying aspects of music together that it should please everyone at the same time. I count it mainly towards Todd Sheaffer's incredible songwriting and his incredibly smooth voice. For example, Peace on Earth is a good song on this album, but he does not sing it and it shows. It is just not the same. Who else could come up with such an enchanting diddy - a song so simple yet so sweet like "Came Up Smilin'". I can listen to that song all day and smile from ear to ear each time. I saw these guys yesterday and it was a riot to see Todd dressed as a cow with everyone wanting to pull on his utter! It was Halloween of course. The point is that they are better live and that is why I'll say the first album is just a fraction better for me. I agree with the above comment about this perhaps being rushed a hair and overproduced in a few small spots, but this nitpicking overall. This cd should be in every persons collection who has made so far as to be reading this review. This band will reach at least cult status if they never hit the mainstream. of course, I like having room to move when I see them live, so I could care less if they sell out MSG someday or not.

Great!:
I had drifted awya from bluegrass after listening to the same old tired songs performed in the same way by too many different bands, but this group has brought me back. It's uplifting, danceable and different enough to deserve to be a whole new genre...it's like the next generation of "new"grass.

• Drag Him Down
• Bird In A House
• Like A Buddha
• Pack A Day
• Mountain Time
• Give That Boy A Hand
• Peace On Earth
• Walk On By
• Mighty River
• Lois Ann
• Came Up Smilin'
• Dandelion Wine
• Saddle Of The Sun