Railbird may have been canceled, but we can still enjoy the acts, virtually that is
This weekend was to have been Act Two for Railbird, the two-day music festival at Keeneland. The event made national headlines with its debut last year by bringing in scores of acclaimed national acts to share billing with local and regional favorites in a manner similar to such regionally noteworthy music summits as Louisville’s Forecastle and Cincinnati’s Bunbury.
Of course, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic wiped out Railbird’s sophomore outing along with every other major outdoor music festival of the summer. But in honor of the artist lineup that won’t be performing in Lexington this weekend, as well as in anticipation of what will be likely be heading our way for Railbird’s already confirmed return in 2021, we offer the menu for a kind virtual, at-home festival.
Here is a collection of recent performance videos by 12 of the acts that were to have been featured at this year’s Railbird. Obviously, it’s not the same as being in the fields of Keeneland soaking up these sounds as they happen. But this will at least let us appreciate the momentum the festival had earned going into its second year as well as the level of songcraft and musicianship Lexington can hopefully look forward to in a safer, less COVID-ridden summer in 2021.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Festivals don’t seem to be on Isbell’s side. His concluding set at the 2019 Master Musicians Festival in Somerset had to be scrubbed due to storms. Here, this year’s Railbird headliner and the rest of his 400 Unit band offer an unaired, Zoom-style performance of the Neil Young-esque “Overseas” for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Watch the performance online at bit.ly/2EidRiR
Tanya Tucker
This was certain to be one of Railbird’s greater curiosities – the return of country music veteran Tanya Tucker, seen here in a clip from last winter’s Grammy Awards with 2019 Railbird show-stealer Brandi Carlile helping out. Carlile co-produced Tucker’s Grammy-winning 2019 comeback album, “While I’m Livin.’” Watch the performance online at bit.ly/2YePHwV
The Head and the Heart
This 2019 clip of folk-pop troupe The Head and the Heart was featured on the popular Chris Thile-hosted public radio series “Live From Here.” A footnote: The show ceased production over the summer. Its cancellation was reportedly due to a lack of funding triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak. Watch the performance online at bit.ly/2Yda8KV
The Decemberists
Performing “We All Die Young” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” just after the release of their 2018 album, “I’ll Be Your Girl,” The Decemberists would have been making their first Lexington appearance in over a decade at Railbird. Its only other visit was a dynamic 2009 performance at the Singletary Center for the Arts. Watch the performance online at bit.ly/3ha0gca
Cat Power
If you think Railbird would have been an uncomplimentary setting for the often darkly meditative music of Cat Power, then you should have heard how the Georgia songstress transformed a 2019 opening set for Mumford and Sons at Rupp Arena into a seance. This clip of “In Your Face” comes from a live 2018 set in the Los Angeles studios of KCRW. Watch the performance online at bit.ly/3g5Gcq9
Shovels & Rope
In one of the more novel online performance responses to the pandemic, the unaccompanied husband-and-wife duo of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst, better known as Shovels & Rope, serve up this fine, unaccompanied acoustic performance of its entire 2012 album “O’ Be Joyful.” Watch the performance online at bit.ly/2FERJjL
Young the Giant
Young the Giant takes us back to 2018 when the California pop merchants were previewing “Simplify” off of the then-unreleased “Mirror Master” album from the electric and very audience friendly home of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theatre. Watch the performance online at bit.ly/2FBcDjE
The War and Treaty
This one will get you going – a new recasting of John Lennon’s “Power to the People” as a gospel-soul rave by The War and Treaty. Hearing Lennon’s words and the group’s spiritual vibe meshing within the stained-glass surroundings of Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium without an audience translates into serious testimony. Watch the performance online at bit.ly/316dwsA
John Moreland
In its full band arrangement on the wonderful 2020 album “LP5,” John Moreland’s masterful “East October” conjures the Americana essence of The Band. Within the leaner acoustic setting of this homemade performance video, Moreland’s folk imagery emerges with even bolder, more ageless imagery. Watch the performance online at bit.ly/34ajUB0
Sarah Jarosz
Jarosz would have been one of Railbird’s very few returnee artists, having played last year as one-third of the acoustic folk trio I’m With Her. Since then she has issued a sublime solo album, “World on the Ground.” On this recent home video, though, she covers Kacey Musgraves’ “Love is a Wild Thing.” Watch the performance online at bit.ly/3g2XCDK
Magnolia Boulevard
Railbird would have allowed Lexington’s own Magnolia Boulevard to highlight music from its debut EP recording, “New Illusion.” You can still sample some of its treats in this Radio Woodstock/Sofa Sessions set with a pared down acoustic trio version of the band — Gregg Erwin, Maggie Noelle and Todd Copeland. Watch the performance online at bit.ly/31Yp9Be
Town Mountain
Asheville’s Town Mountain knows its way around Lexington having headlined the Festival of the Bluegrass in recent years. With its Railbird debut now derailed, the band sings of this summer’s isolation era in a new performance video for “Daydream Quarantina” with Steep Canyon Rangers bassist Barrett Smith sitting in. Watch the performance online at bit.ly/3heaDf2
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 6:00 AM.