by Kate Langenburg

Created on: December 03, 2008   Last Updated: January 11, 2012

Bluegrass jam band Railroad Earth returned to the Sherman Theater last Sunday night for their annual performance. They have played the venue multiple nights around Thanksgiving four years in a row now, and they don't appear to be stopping anytime soon.

The band has always been welcome at the Sherman Theater. Even though the band is not yet well-known, their fans - who call themselves hobos - travel from all over the tri-state area and farther just to see them.

To compliment the main act, Sunday night's show offered Hoots and Hellmouth, an extremely energetic bluegrass band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The five-piece opening band was more like hardcore, head-banging bluegrass than anything else - definitely not your mama's old time hootenanny music. The lead singer's afro-like hair bounced wildly all over the stage as he tried to get fans up and dancing.

Compared to last year's Railroad Earth shows, this one was bigger and brighter. As soon as they took the stage, a relaxed, psychedelic vibe took over the theater. Tie-dyed leaves and swirling lights accompanied the band's performance, along with smaller lights on podiums all around the stage that projected spinning, whirling dervish-like designs onto the ceiling.

The band played songs off of their new CD, entitled Amen Corner, as well as older songs. "Peace on Earth", always a crowd pleaser, was played while fans jumped and danced all around the venue, stuck in their own little happy worlds, yelling the lyrics to themselves and each other. Let me just point out that there were no sad faces found.

The crowd this year was moderate at first, and then grew to fill the venue as more fans showed up for the concert. However, the makeup of the crowd differed from last year. The age gap between fans was vast, including people from about 16 to 70. On the whole, the majority of the fans were over 30. Of course, this just goes to show that different groups of people are often brought together by incredible talent.

While the group seemed to play shorter set lists than last year, there was no decline in music quality. Mandolin player John Skehan seemed to have gotten a new mandolin, which he used to pluck and pick his way through each song. Lead singer and guitarist Todd Scheaffer, along with guitarist Andy Goessling, proved they still have the skills to create incredible jams that make the audience shriek with delight and beg for more.

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