Warren Haynes and Railroad Earth @ Gratwick Park, North Tonawanda, New York Friday, August 7, 2015

In the last show of the Rockin’ on the Rover concert series for 2015, Warren Haynes and Railroad Earth played for one of the biggest crowds of the summer. Warren Haynes and Railroad Earth just came out with an album together called “Ashes & Dust” late last month. It would only be natural to tour together in support of this project wouldn’t it?

Railroad Earth opened the show and played about an hour or so before Warren Haynes joined them to finish their set. Many longtime fans of Warren Haynes were going around asking themselves if this combination would work live. By the crowd reaction, I’m thinking it was a resounding yes! They played for about two hours, including the first four songs of the set dedicated to “Ashes & Dust.” Haynes handled most of the vocal duties except on the Neil Young cover “Comes a Time” where Railroad Earth vocalist Todd Sheaffer took that lead.

On the album, Grace Potter does an impeccable job singing Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman.” For this show, Haynes handled it as best as he could. Vocals were somewhat low and just blended in with the music. Haynes was solid on guitar and played more with a bluegrass feel than with the blues feel that he is known for.

Again, this worked very well and blended in with the backing band, Railroad Earth, who primarily plays Americana and bluegrass. Jam banders alike were very happy with the outcome of the show and the players got along really well. We will see what this leads to for future endeavors between both acts.

Setlist:

Is It Me Or You
Beat Down The Dust
Wanderlust
Word On The Wind
Come On in My Kitchen (Robert Johnson cover)
Comes a Time (Neil Young cover)
Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Company Man
Patchwork Quilt (Phil Lesh & Friends song)
Coal Tattoo
Stranded in Self Pity
Dusk Till Dawn (The Allman Brothers Band song)
Blue Sky (The Allman Brothers Band song)
Spots of Time (The Allman Brothers Band song)