An Evening with Railroad Earth at The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA on May 9, 2026
Railroad Earth has been playing their authentic Americana music (a multi-genre mix of bluegrass, folk, country, Jamband, Celtic, roots, and rock) for 25 years, and in that time, they have learned how to masterfully create, cultivate, and build a dynamic live performance, as they proved at Great Barrington’s historic Mahaiwe Theatre on Saturday May 9, 2026.
Railroad Earth consists of Todd Sheaffer (lead vocals, acoustic guitars), Tim Carbone (violin, electric guitar, vocals), John Skehan (mandolin, Bouzouki, piano, vocals), George Guthrie (banjo, acoustic guitar), Matt Slocum (keys, organ, piano), Andrew Ryan (upright and electric bass), and Carey Harmon (drums, hand percussion, vocals). The band has embarked on a tour celebrating their quatercentennial this year, and seeing these learned musicians culminating their talents together is certainly cause for celebration.
The concert was billed as “An Evening with Railroad Earth,” and consisted of two sets with no opener, with only a quick 15-20 minute intermission in between. The band eased the crowd into the night’s performance, setting a mellow mood with “Across the Great Divide,” each band member taking a solo, which provided the front-of-house sound guys time to fine tune the PA with the all the bodies in attendance. The band segued that song into “Running Wild Again,” which had an intriguing interlude with Guthrie and Harmon producing a pensive yet precise drum-and-banjo outro that built dynamically until it brought the band back into the refrain to end the song full circle.
Todd addressed the crowd, reminiscing about the band’s early days, their first album, and how within a short about of time, they “somehow managed to get a slot at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, which is what this song is about” before playing “Colorado,” which had Skehan taking an extended and dexterous mandolin solo, and then Carbone and Slocum squaring off in a violin-keys complimentary tango, trading licks before joining together. Sheaffer channeled Bob Dylan during the vocals on “Chains,” as he sang, “There are things that aren’t forgotten / There are things that will remain / Events of long ago / Somehow form a chain.” The Celtic-tinged “Crossing the Gap” and the instrumental “Farewell to Isinglass” that followed had the crowd in the aisles, clapping along without provocation, letting the vibe the band continued to purvey and curate permeate their bodies and uplift their spirits.
The extended opus “Grandfather Mountain” began with a sparse fluttering of instruments, which then morphed into a collective melodic whole, building to an all-out jam, then slowly drifting away leaving Ryan on his upright bass and Slocum on piano to end the song on a gradual rolling stop. The upbeat and groovy “Hard Livin’” – with Carbone’s fiery electric guitar solo – ended the set on a high note.
After intermission, the band humbly strolled on stage as the lights were still dimming. Harmon began a beat that slowly ushered in the song “Everything Keeps Changin’,” with Sheaffer once again providing a Dylaneque vocal performance. “Day on the Sand” began, but then abruptly halted, with Sheaffer modestly admitting, “I screwed that up. It works better when I play in the right key. You see, I was playing it in one key, while the band was playing it in the right key.” The encouraging crowd cheered him on, while Sheaffer affixed his capo on his guitar, and they began again, with this one notable human hiccup, Sheaffer’s light-hearted honesty, and the crowd’s collective support seemingly enhancing a new energy to the collective of the room. By the time they arrived at the fan favorite “The Jupiter & the 119,” the audience was right there with Sheaffer. When he sang the lyric “Raise a mighty cheer!” they collectively hollered “Hey!” and with the line “It’s toasting time!” they let out a resounding “Woo-Hoo!” that had Sheaffer commenting afterward, “I’m feeling churchy now,” as Slocum gently eased in his moody B3 organ for “My Favorite Spot,” with the “Living in a world gone mad” refrain hitting a bit too hard in our present day.
The band weaved one song into the next, broke out into an impressive improvisational jam “1759” (a progressive hypnotic pulsing thrum reminiscent of Santana’s “Gypsy Queen” outro from “Black magic Woman,” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Third Stone from the Sun” and ended with a melody similar to The Spencer Davis Group’s “I’m a Man”), with Skehan wielding a Bouzouki guitar. As the band’s musicality intensified in tandem with the lights, which fluttered more frantically until the final chord sounded. They performed The Waterboy’s “Fisherman’s Blues” and another fan favorite “Seven Story Mountain” before waving and walking off. The enchanted and energized audience cheered and applauded until they returned to the stage moments later. “We’ve been doing this for 25 years, and want to thank you all so much,” Carbone announced, and Sheaffer cheekily quipped, “Thank you very much, we are here every Saturday, so please come back to see us” and then added, “We had a few requests for this, so here it is–” before the band launched into “Adding My Voice,” ending the night on a poignant note with the lyrics: “I’m adding my voice to the voice of the people who are filled with disgust / I’m adding my voice to the voicе of the people who havе had enough” and asking “Old Man Justice, where have you gone?”
More tour information at: https://railroad.earth/tour/
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: Music Reviews: The Rolling Stones’ ‘El Mocambo 1977,’ plus Neurotic Outsiders, Railroad Earth, and Asleep at the Wheel
SETLIST:
SET 1:
Across the Great Divide
Running Wild Again
Colorado
Chains
Crossing the Gap
Farewell to Isinglass
Grandfather Mountain
Hard Livin’
SET 2:
Everything Keeps Changin’
Day on the Sand
For Love (Robert Earl Keen cover)
The Jupiter & the 119
My Favorite Spot
Just So You Know
Right in Tune
1759
Fisherman’s Blues (The Waterboys cover)
Seven Story Mountain
ENCORE:
Adding My Voice