The Railroad Revival Tour was an annual music tour that featured popular roots, folk, country, rock, bluegrass and Americana acts that began in 2011.
The musicians travel between shows across the American Southwest in a dozen or so vintage train cars from the 1950s and 1960s. The outdoor concert locations, sometimes attracting over 10,000 fans, are often a stone's throw from the train. The bands eat, sleep and engage in impromptu jam sessions on the train between stops, giving them a chance to collaborate. On stage at night, they often join in on each other's sets, sometimes bringing around 30 musicians up to create a rare and rowdy performance. The organic American roots feeling of the tour also prompts participating musicians to honor U.S. railway history, like Mumford & Sons' tribute to Woody Guthrie in 2011.
The inaugural tour in 2011 included performances by Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show. A documentary of this first year, called Big Easy Express, directed by Emmett Malloy premiered at SXSW 2012 and won a Grammy Award in 2013. The film is currently available on iTunes and DVD/Blu-ray Disc.
In 2011, Railroad Revival Tour bands Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show together closed their shows at every stop with "This Train."
The 2012 tour was slated to include performances by Willie Nelson, Band of Horses, Jamey Johnson, and John Reilly and Friends. However, the tour was cancelled for 2012.
Railroad Revival Tour 2011
The tour included performances by Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show.
References
External links
- Railroad Revival Tour Official Site
