Railroad Earth Ready To Show Us What We've Been Missing Saturday

PORT CHESTER, NY — An ideal concert leaves the audience in an entirely different place than they started. The celebrated jam-grass band Railroad Earth promises to remind us all of the power of live music to move in sometimes unexpected ways when they take the stage at the Capitol Theatre on Saturday.

Characterizing Railroad Earth by a single genre would be foolhardy. Listening to live performances at times feels like a magic moment at a small bluegrass festival, at other times the music more closely resembles the Southern Blues mournful harmonic notes of a longing, but contented hound. Moments later, infectious rock-and-roll rhythms defy you to remain still.

Their best moments on stage can weave all these experiences into a single song. Check out the "Railroad Earth: Live At Red Rocks" concert DVD if you don't believe me.

The show will also give music fans of all genres a chance to preview the craftsmanship behind the group's highly anticipated new album "All For The Song," due to be released on April 22.

Much like that elusive perfect concert, the group's upcoming fourth full length album takes the audiences on a journey through both time and space.

The band's description of the new project sounds more like a treatment for the best HBO original series ever than a jam-grass album. A brother leaves this world too soon. A trip down U.S. Highway 61 ends in a deluge of Biblical proportions. A retreat to the Big Easy results in its own flood of inspiration. A new chapter begins. The moments and many more fade in and out of focus.

The New Jersey quintet of Todd Sheaffer (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Tim Carbone (violins, electric guitar, vocals), John Skehan (mandolin, bouzouki, piano, vocals), Carey Harmon (drums, percussion, vocals) and Andrew Altman (upright and electric bass) chronicle the twists and turns of this musical journey with a bluegrass soul and rock ‘n’ roll spirit, according to early reviews.

Railroad Earth has built a reputation for unpredictable live shows for more than 20 years. The group introduced its signature sound on 2001’s "The Black Bear Sessions." Between selling out hallowed venues such as Red Rocks, they’ve launched the longstanding annual Hangtown Music Festival in Placerville, California and Hillberry: The Harvest Moon Festival in Ozark, Arkansas —both running for more than a decade.

The John Denver Estate tapped them to put lyrics penned by the late John Denver to music on the 2018 vinyl EP, Railroad Earth: The John Denver Letters.

"Well-versed in rambling around, as you might expect from a band named after a Jack Kerouac poem, the New Jersey-built jam-grass engine Railroad Earth has let no moss grow under its rustic wheels," Rolling Stone magazines David Fricke said of the band.

Railroad Earth will perform at the historic Capitol Theatre on March 19, at 8p.m. Tickets are available through the Capitol Theatre online box office. The upcoming album "All For The Song" is due to be released next month and will be available on the band's online merchandise shop.