…I Am A Tree

Archive for the ‘Railroad Earth’ Category

long overdue
got the sun in a shoe
out of breath
everything in the gutter

lost how it goes
pickin’ at the bones
shadowed moon
everything under the weather

oh that smile on his face (and sometimes smile on us Grace)
and it all falls into place
and with ease
light as a feather
oh smile on his face
and it all falls into place
ain’t it sweet
when everything comes together?

why is it dark
in my head, in my heart
have I lostÂ
everything that I’ve found?

we’ve been down here before
where it’s dark and it’s cold
and you’re lost
just bangin’ on through the weather

oh that smile on his face
and it all falls into place
and with ease
light as a feather
oh smile on his face
and it all falls into place
ain’t it sweet
when everything comes together?

oh that smile on his face
and it all falls into place
and with ease
light as a feather
oh smile on his face
and it all falls into place
ain’t it sweet
when everything comes together?

oh that smile on his face
and it all falls into place
and with ease
light as a feather
oh smile on his face
and it all falls into place
ain’t it sweet
when everything comes together?
——————–

One of my favorite Todd Sheaffer songs, this really speaks to me of facing adversity with a smile on your face, and that with perseverance, you’ll get past it. Things may be dark now, but that will pass.

Sort of been feeling this way all week, so hearing this live this weekend would be a Good Thing.

Here’s Railroad Earth performing it in 2004.

http://www.archive.org/download/rre2004-10-02.matrix.flac/rre2004-10-02d1t01_vbr.mp3

I was updating my spreadsheet and decided to add a column showing song title and the amount of times we’ve seen it performed.  Show count is now at 62, and 141 different songs. I realize the stats pale compared to some, but it’s interesting to see those songs that have been played 10 or more times.

Long Way To Go, 25

Elko, 24

Bird in a House, 23

Head, 22

Like a Buddha, 22

Old Man and the Land, 21

Peace on Earth, 21

Seven Story Mountain, 21

Mourning Flies, 20

Crossing the Gap, 19

Mighty River, 19

Warhead Boogie, 19

Storms, 18

Waterfountain Quicksand, 18

420, 16

Dandelion Wine, 16

Little Rabbit, 16

Magic Foot, 16

Railroad Earth, 16

Saddle of the Sun, 16

Stillwater Getaway, 15

Colorado, 14

Luxury Liner, 14

Ragtime Annie Lee, 14

Reuben’s Train, 14

Fiddlee, 13

Old Dangerfield, 13

Sing for Me, 13

I’m a Mess, 12

Mission Man, 12

The Cuckoo Bird, 12

The Good Life, 12

Everything Comes Together, 11

For Love, 11

Hunting Song, 11

Lordy Lordy, 11

Shockenaw Mountain Breakdown, 11

1759, 10

Black Bear, 10

Bread and Water, 10

Cold Water, 10

Dance Around Molly, 10

Loving You, 10

New Lee Highway Blues, 10

Butterfly & The Tree, 9

Came Up Smilin’, 9

Give That Boy a Hand, 9

Goat, 9

Raindance, 9

Carrying Coal to Newcastle, 8

Cuckoo Medley, 8

Dover to Dunkirk, 8

Hard Livin’, 8

Just So You Know, 8

The Forecast, 8

Happy Song, 7

Lonecroft Ramble, 7

Acadian Driftwood, 6

Been Down This Road, 6

Bringin’ My Baby Back Home, 6

Chains, 6

Donkey for Sale, 6

Drag Him Down, 6

Little Bit O’ Me, 6

Mountain Time, 6

My Sisters and Brothers, 6

Right in Tune, 6

Walk Beside Me, 6

Daddy-o, 5

John’s Jig, 5

The Wheel, 5

Where Songs Begin, 5

Any Road, 4

El Cumbancharo>St. Anne’s Reel, 4

Fire on the Mountain, 4

Fisherman’s Blues, 4

Keep Moving On, 4

Lois Ann, 4

Mississippi Half Step, 4

Moonshiner, 4

RV, 4

Said What You Mean, 4

Soul of a Man, 4

The Green Roofs of Eirann, 4

Wayfaring Stranger, 4

All Alone, 3

Birds of America, 3

Chapel Waltz, 3

Dixieland, 3

Fruitful Acre, 3

New Jam (SHJ), 3

Real Love, 3

A Day on the Sand, 2

Bowling Green, 2

Brown County Breakdown, 2

Duncan & Brady, 2

Genesis, 2

Gone to the Fields, 2

Hobo Song, 2

Jerusalem Ridge, 2

Peggy-O, 2

Waggin’ the Dog, 2

Walk on By, 2

You Never Know, 2

All You Need is Love, 1

Because, 1

Big River, 1

Big Sciota, 1

Black Clouds, 1

Bluegrass Breakdown, 1

Bonaparte’s Retreat, 1

Cakewalk, 1

Carrick Fertus, 1

Catfish John, 1

Cocaine Blues, 1

Desolation Row, 1

Do the Dog, 1

Down to New Orleans, 1

Flowers Between the Stones, 1

Hardwick Road, 1

Harvest Moon, 1

How Sweet It Is, 1

I Still Want Her, 1

Jellyfish, 1

Josephine’s Waltz, 1

Juliet, 1

Melodius Thunk, 1

Midnight on the Water, 1

Missouri Waters, 1

Old Plank Road, 1

Pack a Day, 1

Powderfinger, 1

Rocky Road Blues, 1

Shine On, 1

Standing on the Corner, 1

This Blue Earth, 1

Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You, 1

Wade in the Water, 1

Walls of Time, 1

Way Downtown, 1

Whiskey River, 1

Hackensaw/Earth, Cocaine Blues, originally uploaded by Kyrion.

The Hackensaw Boys joined Railroad Earth onstage for a rollicking version of Cocaine Blues, which can be heard here.

12.31.06, The Trocadero, Philly. 

And yes, it’s an old photo. ;P

Railroad Earth, 2.01.08, originally uploaded by Kyrion.

Simply the coolest damned instrument in the world.

I was lamenting the lack of new music up on archive.org and that the west coast often seems to come forget about taping shows, when I came across this “new” old tape from waaaay early on in the band’s career.  Not sure if it’s pre-Telluride 2001 or shortly thereafter, but it’s fun (and a soundboard, to boot).

The band has come a long, long way since that time.  Yes, you can hear the spark there, but nine years down the road, they’ve fulfilled the early promise of greatness many folks predicted.

Enjoy!

 Railroad Earth
 6/28/01
 Half Moon Saloon
 Vail, CO

Taped by Dave McKearney

SBD - DAP1 - UA5 - WaveLab - CDWave

    Set 1:
01  Chains
02 Stillwater Getaway
03 Luxury Liner
04 Sing For Me
05 Colorado
06 New Camptown Races
07 Bird In a House
08 Cold Water

    Set 2:
09 Lordy Lordy
10 Birds Of America
11 Dandelion Wine
12 Came up Smilin'
13 Ragtime Annie Lee
14 Head
15 Black Bear
16 Bowling Green
17 I Am a Mess
18 Whiskey Medley
E:
19 Seven Story Mountain
20 Everything Comes Together
21 Old Home Place

Railroad Earth, 12.31.07, originally uploaded by Kyrion.

Snapped this at the Barn on NYE, 2007.  Probably during Moonshiner, which he insisted wasn’t going to happen, but then the band started playing it. Hehehe.

Can’t believe we’ve been riding the rails for five years now.

Prompted by a twitter discussion this morning about the merits of Barry Sless over Fake Jerry of DSO, I offer up this show from 2005, the day after Railroad Earth played with Phil Lesh and Friends. Phil was supposed to sit in this night with Railroad, but bailed due to sickness. Barry stepped up to the plate for pretty much the entire first set, both electric and pedal steel.

Everything is worth listening to here, but be warned that the streaming player’s tracklisting gets messed up.

Railroad Earth
2/13/05
Mystic Theater
Petaluma, CA

KM 254's
Taped/transfered by Sandy A.

CD 1

Set I:

Magic Foot>
Luxury Liner*
Storms*
Head*
Railroad Earth*
Black Bear*
I'm A Mess* 

CD 2

Set II:

Waterfountain
Quicksand
Mourning Flies
Sing For Me
Saddle of the Sun>
Elko
Carrying Coal to Newcastle
Mighty River

CD 3

Raindance
Peace on Earth 

Encores:

Smilin' Like a Buddha
Catfish John
Little Rabbit 

Notes:  * with Barry Sless on pedal Steel & guitar

I was updating my Railroad Earth statistics just now and found some interesting things. First, we’ve now seen Railroad sixty one times. Sure, that’s nothing compared to the Brothers Ronquillo or Sapia or other Old School folks, but that isn’t too shabby for five years.

Among the stats, we’ve seen 141 different songs played, and a total of 981 songs. We average a little over 16 songs per show, with the longest being a couple shows clocking in with 22 songs, and the shortest being 5 songs in length (one, opening for Hot Tuna at the House of Blues in Atlantic City – the band didn’t really get a soundcheck, and the other at the Beacon, also opening for Tuna).

Below is the list of songs played, in order of the most-played to the least. Times played is after the song title. A whole bunch of those tunes in the single digits are ones I’d love to hear a whole lot more…  And missing from the list: In the Basement and ‘Neath the Stars. One of these days…

Long Way To Go, 25
Bird in a House, 23
Elko, 23
Head, 21
Like a Buddha, 21
Peace on Earth, 21
Seven Story Mountain, 21
Mourning Flies, 20
Old Man and the Land, 20
Crossing the Gap, 19
Warhead Boogie, 19
Mighty River, 18
Storms, 18
Waterfountain Quicksand, 18
420, 16
Dandelion Wine, 16
Little Rabbit, 16
Magic Foot, 16
Railroad Earth, 16
Saddle of the Sun, 16
Stillwater Getaway, 15
Colorado, 14
Luxury Liner, 14
Ragtime Annie Lee, 14
Reuben’s Train, 14
Old Dangerfield, 13
Sing for Me, 13
Fiddlee, 12
I’m a Mess, 12
Mission Man, 12
The Cuckoo Bird, 12
The Good Life, 12
Everything Comes Together, 11
For Love, 11
Lordy Lordy, 11
Shockenaw Mountain Breakdown, 11
1759, 10
Bread and Water, 10
Dance Around Molly, 10
Hunting Song, 10
Loving You, 10
Black Bear, 9
Butterfly & The Tree, 9
Came Up Smilin’, 9
Cold Water, 9
Give That Boy a Hand, 9
Goat, 9
New Lee Highway Blues, 9
Raindance, 9
Carrying Coal to Newcastle, 8
Cuckoo Medley, 8
Dover to Dunkirk, 8
Just So You Know, 8
The Forecast, 8
Happy Song, 7
Hard Livin’, 7
Acadian Driftwood, 6
Chains, 6
Donkey for Sale, 6
Little Bit O’ Me, 6
Lonecroft Ramble, 6
Mountain Time, 6
My Sisters and Brothers, 6
Right in Tune, 6
Been Down This Road, 5
Bringin’ My Baby Back Home, 5
Daddy-o, 5
Drag Him Down, 5
John’s Jig, 5
The Wheel, 5
Walk Beside Me, 5
Where Songs Begin, 5
Any Road, 4
El Cumbancharo>St. Anne’s Reel, 4
Fire on the Mountain, 4
Fisherman’s Blues, 4
Keep Moving On, 4
Lois Ann, 4
Mississippi Half Step, 4
Moonshiner, 4
RV, 4
Said What You Mean, 4
Soul of a Man, 4
The Green Roofs of Eirann, 4
Wayfaring Stranger, 4
All Alone, 3
Birds of America, 3
Chapel Waltz, 3
Dixieland, 3
Fruitful Acre, 3
Real Love, 3
A Day on the Sand, 2
Bowling Green, 2
Brown County Breakdown, 2
Duncan & Brady, 2
Genesis, 2
Gone to the Fields, 2
Hobo Song, 2
Jerusalem Ridge, 2
New Jam, 2
Peggy-O, 2
Waggin’ the Dog, 2
Walk on By, 2
You Never Know, 2
All You Need is Love, 1
Because, 1
Big River, 1
Big Sciota, 1
Black Clouds, 1
Bluegrass Breakdown, 1
Bonaparte’s Retreat, 1
Cakewalk, 1
Carrick Fertus, 1
Catfish John, 1
Cocaine Blues, 1
Desolation Row, 1
Do the Dog, 1
Down to New Orleans, 1
Flowers Between the Stones, 1
Hardwick Road, 1
Harvest Moon, 1
How Sweet It Is, 1
I Still Want Her, 1
Jellyfish, 1
Josephine’s Waltz, 1
Juliet, 1
Melodius Thunk, 1
Midnight on the Water, 1
Missouri Waters, 1
Old Plank Road, 1
Pack a Day, 1
Powderfinger, 1
Rocky Road Blues, 1
Shine On, 1
Standing on the Corner, 1
This Blue Earth, 1
Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You, 1
Wade in the Water, 1
Walls of Time, 1
Way Downtown, 1
Whiskey River, 1

I’ve had in the back of my head a series of CDs culled from Railroad Earth’s archive.org catalog called, “Essential Covers.”  Over time, I’d add a CD to it including various covers the band has done over the years, so there would be a Volume I, Volume II, etc.

This will be very objective subjective [Ed. - thanks, Grubb] — my favorite versions of songs.  Folks are more than welcome to suggest things, as I’m by no means exhaustive in my knowledge of every version of every song the band has played since 2001.  Some caveats, though: no songs from the From Good Homes era, so that means no Head, no Hunting Song, no Old Man, and even no Warhead.  But I will take songs like Gretna Green, since Todd didn’t write them.

So here’s an incomplete list of songs from the top of my head:

Magic Foot (Russ Barenberg)
Luxury Liner (Gram Parsons)
For Love (Robert Earl Keen)
Jerusalem Ridge (Bill Monroe)
Bluegrass Breakdown (Bill Monroe)
Old Dangerfield (Bill Monroe)
The Cuckoo (Peter Rowan)
Catfish John
Cold Water (Tom Waits)
Walk Beside Me (Tim O’Brien)
Fisherman’s Blues (The Waterboys)
My Sisters and Brothers
Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodle-oo
The Wheel
Terrapin Station
Bowling Green (Everly Brothers)
Fire on the Mountain (Bill Monroe)
Brown County Breakdown (guessing this is a cover)
Ophelia (The Band)
Acadian Driftwood (The Band)
Desolation Row (Bob Dylan)
Dover to Dunkirk (Jack Hardy)
Gretna Green (Jack Hardy)

If you have others, feel free to add them in comments here. I know I have probably twenty-plus more lurking in my head that I’m not recalling at the moment.

Wow, this year’s Hallowe’en show is a smoker. Traditionally, Railroad pulls out the stops for Hallowe’en, and this year’s was no exception. The first set contains a number of gems, including two songs broken into separate sections with the inclusion of different songs within them. Fantastic stuff.  I love Kid on the Mountain, too, I must say.  Coupled with Through the Gates, debuted earlier in the week, and there are even more Celtic fiddle tunes making their way into the sets. I hope both stay.

Oh, and Gretna Green.  This is another Jack Hardy tune — Dover to Dunkirk is also his. I definitely hope this one stays in rotation.

Also here are recordings of the post-show picking that happened out in the crowd and in the lobby. Haven’t gotten to that yet, but it’s nice to see it being done.

Railroad Earth
October 31, 2009
Royal Oak Music Theatre
Royal Oak, Michigan

Support:

Wayward Roots

Ragbirds

Railroad Earth:

Set 1:

01 crowd
02 Elko
03 Happy Song
04 The Cuckoo
05 Mess Intro –>
06 Stillwater Getaway –>
07 bass solo
08 I Am A Mess
09 Little Bit O’ Me *
10 Like a Buddha –>
11 Kid on The Mountain –>
12 Like a Buddha

Set 2:

01 crowd
02 Dance Around Molly –>
03 Dandelion Wine
04 The Forecast
05 Black Bear
06 Crossing the Gap
07 Mighty River
08 1759
09 Lovin’ You
10 Long Way To Go

Encore:

11 Gretna Green
12 Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleoo
13 crowd
14 announcement
15 pickin’ song #1 – theatre main floor @
16 pickin’ song #2 – theatre main floor @
17 party moves to theatre lobby @
18 pickin’ song #3 – theatre lobby @

* with Erin Zindle (Ragbirds) on violin

@ post encore pickin’ with John Skehan, Andy Goessling,
  TJ Zindle (Ragbirds) and members of Wayward Roots