The date was Saturday, June 27th and the weather in Foxborough, MA was horrible as it was pouring rain outside. Inside of Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill was a different story though as The Railers brought the heat to the venue with an amazing night of music. The band is made up of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Lawson, Tyler Oban and Jonathan’s wife, Cassandra Lawson. We here at New England Country Music had already pegged the group as one of our Top 15 Artists to Watch in 2015, so to say we were excited for this show would be an understatement.
Right around 11:00pm, the lights on the stage turned off and you could feel the excitement in the crowd building as The Railers took the stage. They had the audience in the palm of their hands from the very first chord of, ‘Ray Bans.’ The group brings such a great energy to this song and it just so happened to be written by our good friend Brad Tursi of Old Dominion. Jonathan then took a moment to address the packed house and intro the next song, ‘Lessons I Don’t Wanna Learn,’ “We’re happy to be here in New England as it’s about 100 degrees in Nashville right now. This next song is about making bad decisions. ones that you make and don’t regret. Like being in Toby Keith’s, being blackout drunk and going home with someone you don’t know. Wait… you might regret that.”
They kept the energy flowing as they had the crowd dancing along to a great cover of Rod Stewart’s (when he was singer for The Faces), ‘Ooh La La.’ The beginning of this song gave Cassandra a chance to take over the lead vocals and she didn’t disappoint as she has an amazing voice! Jonathan stopped things to introduce his brother Jordan before the band broke into, ‘These Hands.’ This was one of the first songs that the brothers had written together when the group signed their first major record deal with Warner Music Nashville. The song was easily one of the best performances of the evening and showed off the incredible chemistry that The Railers have onstage together. Next up was a new song which had a great vibe to it and even featured a semi-rap halfway through it from Cassandra, ‘High On The Sunshine.’ The crowd was really feeling the new tune which is about Summertime, feeling good and getting high.
‘Kumba Y’all,’ had a great story to it which Jonathan told the crowd about, “Cassandra and I were writing with a couple of guys in Nashville amd had an idea going on. One of them goes, ‘Can’t we all just get along in this country?’ The other guy chimes in and says, ‘We don’t sing Kumbaya in the South, we sing Kumba Y’all.” The Railers, as a band, like to take some songs that everyone knows and make it their own by just adding some country instruments to it and making it a country song. This was apparent when they did a cover of Andy Grammer’s, ‘Honey I’m Good.’ Their version was met with resounding approval from the crowd who sang a long to every word. The next few songs really showed the full talent of the group as they performed, ‘Wide Open,’ ‘Mugshots’ (which Cassandra dedicated to a bride to be in the front row) and ‘She Got Me’ which had the crowd clapping along.
You don’t get more country than a Steve Earle song and that’s just what we got next. “Y’all wanna hear a good country song?” Jonathan asked the audience before playing, ‘Galway Girl.’ It featured a great jam session by the group and also an incredible fiddle solo by Jordan. One of the biggest highlights of any Railers show is the high energy of, ‘Irish Song.’ The quartet have no idea what the real name of the song is so they made up their own. Their was no argument at all from the fans as the song brought the energy inside Toby Keith’s to it’s highest point of the evening… so far. Jonathan then took another minute to intro the next song and comment on New England, “Today we drove up here as we played Mohegan Sun last night. Driving through New England, we have to say it might kick Arizona’s ass as the most beautiful state! This next song is about talking a road trip with the person you love.” This song was aptly titled, ‘Seeing the World.’ Now it’s not too often that you go to a country show and hear a Jackson 5 song covered but this is no ordinary country show! ‘I Want You Back’, was a great cover choice and gave Jordan a chance to flex his vocal muscles as he took the lead and did a fantastic job. Following this up was a cover of Imagine Dragons, ‘It’s Time.’
The night was starting to wind down but the crowd wasn’t ready to leave just yet and The Railers still had some more bullets in the chamber. “You guys are amazing and thank you for having us come play for you tonight. We’ve been working on a new album for almost two years and hope this song that we wrote will be a single for us one day,” Jonathan told us. This song, ‘I Don’t Love You’ is overall such a beautiful song and could be a breakout hit for the band if released as a single off the upcoming album. When the crowd was given a cover of Walk the Moons, ‘Shut Up and Dance,’ they responded by blowing the roof off the building with their explosion of energy. It was only fair that the band returned the favor and poured all their remaining energy into their first song on country radio, ‘Kinda Dig the Feeling.’ Jonathan was right on point when he said, “This is our shake and bake song so get ready to shake your little asses off!” You could feel the emotion and passion pouring out from the stage as the band put everything they had left in the tank into this performance.
Going to a Railers show is a totally different experience from any other country show. They bring such a unique and enchanting sound to the country music scene through their use of the mandolin, fiddle, resonator, acoustic guitar and the squeezebox. These instruments bring a perfect harmony when mixed with the bands tremendous vocals and makes their live shows a must see. This was easily one of the best shows I’ve seen this year and encourage you to get out and see The Railers when they come to your town. We here at New England Country Music are already awaiting their next trip to New England!
This concert review was done by NECM contributing writer, Mike Sullivan.
