Railroad Earth

A super-group of sorts consisting of jam band musicians from the Pennsylvania/New Jersey area that have headed into bluegrass territory (yes, they do have a genre name for this, jam-grass, I'm not making that up), Railroad Earth's first release through Sugar Hill is a strong debut for the independent country label even though at times it doesn't seem genuine. As great as the performances are on the disc, it's obvious these guys are all top-notch musicians, as it almost seems a little too slick at points. The bio material for the record compares the band to both New Grass Revival and the Grateful Dead, two bands that were definitely top of the heap in their musical worlds while together. I don't think this band has even a remote chance of ever being at the levels of success those bands managed, of course only time will tell about that. And although I do have reservations about the disc, I have found myself going back to it on repeated occasions for further listens. Hopefully that means they're only a few steps away from greatness. That or their next record will probably be way too slick and will totally fucking suck. Only time will tell.