Railroad Earth

Four Stars

The recipe for good bluegrass calls for more than just a banjo and a little bit of rhythm.

To generate the kind of foot-stomping and reckless dancing it takes to rock any bluegrass show, the music has to fall into a finite category -- both ultra-polished songs and sprawling jam sessions can make for a bored audience.

But Railroad Earth is onto the art of the matter, and it showed Thursday night as the band played two high-energy sets of diverse songs -- ranging in influences from country to Celtic to jazz. Though the crowd gathered at the Carrboro ArtsCenter was sparse, its enthusiasm compensated for its size.

Most of the songs were from the band's latest album, Bird In A House, and all had bluegrass undertones. But no two seemed identical because of the different instruments and influences incorporated into each one.

This was made possible largely by Andy Goessling, who often sat his backup guitar aside to spice up the steady bluegrass beats. He instead picked up his clarinet giving some songs a jazzy '20s feel, and his work on the flute and pennywhistle melded a Celtic sound into the first encore.

Goessling's most notable playing, however, was on the banjo, which of course was a key factor in the clinking, high-speed bluegrass jams that unified both sets. And lead singer/guitarist Todd Sheaffer's versatile singing voice easily conformed to whatever route the music took.

While the styles varied from song to song, heavy integration of John Skehan on the mandolin and Tim Carbone on violin gave the entire set a consistent, layered panorama.

Positioned at opposite sides of the stage, these two were undoubtedly the band's most striking musical talents. Their frequent solos were equally incredible. They both played so rapidly that they often seemed like robots, sure to fall apart at any moment.

Impressive as they were, the solos lost their appeal when they became like duels, drawing too much attention away from the rest of the band.

And even though the band had a knack for playing smoothly around individual musicians' spontaneity, at times the band couldn't quite keep up with these two dominant instruments.

But for the stomping, clapping and do-si-do-ing audience, these were mere technical difficulties. Railroad Earth might need to clean up its sound a bit before expecting mainstream success -- but with its evident energy and talent, success is only a matter of time.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.