By Dan Hirshberg

For 10 straight years Railroad Earth’s Horn o’ Plenty shows at the Sherman Theater Thanksgiving Weekend were a staple get-together for the band and their fans. Then COVID hit and other factors, putting a crimp in scheduling. But on Friday and Saturday Nov. 25 and 26, Railroad Earth, a longtime Northwest Jersey favorite, is finally returning to Stroudsburg, Pa. after a 3-year hiatus.

“It’s like a reunion for our New Jersey contingent, for sure,” said Tim Carbone, the band’s violinist and someone who has deep roots to the Warren County music scene and dates back to the Blue Sparks from Hell and Kings in Disguise. “I love doing these shows. It’s a homecoming of sorts. A lot of family members from out of town. It’s cool.”

Railroad Earth begins its 22nd year as a national act next May. Carbone has been with the band from the start and he says performing with RRE has allowed him to let loose at times so he can take solos to another level. Todd Schaefer, the group’s lead guitarist and vocalist, writes most of the band’s music and his style of arrangements gives Carbone that chance. 

“I’ve always has the opportunity to improvise (with RRE),” said Carbone, who joined the band along with his good friend and fellow musician Andy Goessling, who passed away a few years ago. “I’ve discovered that I can stop thinking sometimes and just let something go through me. I can just let it happen. It’s part of my evolution as a musician. It may sound like New Age gobble-de-gook but it allows me to explore. I mean, I’m not going crazy, but it makes every show a little unique. Some songs I’ve been playing 100 or more times but each time it’s a little different fingerprint.”

Railroad Earth is a huge favorite in the mountain states and on the west coast. The band regularly sells out multiple shows at the Fillmore West in San Francisco and when they play in Chicago.

“They really seem to appreciate our style of music out there,” said Carbone. The tri-state does, as well, but appropriate venues for Railroad Earth are hard to come by in this region, which makes shows in the area that much more special.

With the pandemic slowed down, the band has been a lot more active. This year they had their first “bus tour” in quite a while. They remain a staple on the festival circuit and most recently, have begun playing large breweries in the south and elsewhere.

When he’s not touring, Carbone, who comes from a musical family (his dad was a dance instructor at Roseland Ballroom in NYC and his mom was a trombone player), is involved in other projects, including producing records at his Delaware Water Gap studio. He just finished working with Boris Garcia on his fourth album and most recently he’s working with Lenny Kaye on a Christmas song. He also plays with a side project band, the Shawnee Mountain Boys, that also features Mike Robinson and John Skeahan from Railroad Earth, and Johnny Grubb, former bassist with RRE.

When you get Carbone into a room he’s got loads of stories to tell. Many of those stories will come to life in the memoir he is working on.

“Things are just falling out of me (as I write),” said Carbone, who is also involved with the Shawnee Preservation Society. “I’ve got a lot of things to say.”

He promises a lot of good ones going back to Blue Sparks and Kings, and earlier – and later.

Of his musical career, Carbone says with a smile, “I’ve been lucky – and I make a modest living doing it.”

Tickets for the Sherman shows on Nov. 25 and 26 are available at shermantheater.com.

Photo Credits: Top, from an earlier Sherman Theater show, Jay Strausser Visuals, and Tim Carbone portrait, by Alan Sheckter.