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Railroad Earth: Railroad Earth

One Haven Music

The members of Railroad Earth prefer not to have their music categorized, and on their latest album, they’ve made that prospect exceedingly unlikely. Within the general sphere of bluegrass and roots music, this nine-track sojourn takes too many progressive turns to easily fit with a single label. The easy stride of opener “Long Walk Home” eavesdrops on lead vocalist Todd Sheaffer as he questions love and its many hardships, ultimately deducing the simplest answers while softly crooning, “take my hand, it’s a long walk home.” These folk-influenced reflections sound surprisingly comfortable alongside the elaborate instrumental passages of songs ready-made for jamming (“The Jupiter & The 119,” “Spring-Heeled Jack”). But the album’s many moods are always tied together by the romantic sounds of Americana—mandolin, banjo, violin—which Railroad Earth nimbly reinvents with a modern flair that is compelling for today’s listeners.