User:LeahAuck

The Railroad Revival Tour is a music festival that travels by vintage rail car, carrying multiple bands to different towns, stopping to perform in outdoor venues erected along the train tracks. Conceived of in 2002 by Dave Conway  of Little Radio, the first tour happened in April, 2011. The featured performers of that year were Mumford and Sons, |Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show. Playing to crowds of between 2,000 and 10,000 people, the three bands traveled exclusively aboard a California Zephyr-led train with 15 vintage rail cars.

Stops Along The 2011 Route

 * Oakland, CA,


 * San Pedro, CA,


 * Tempe, AZ,


 * Marfa, TX,


 * Austin, TX,


 * New Orleans, LA,

The Big Easy Express
A documentary was filmed during the 2011 tour: Big Easy Express, by Emmett Malloy. Premiered at SXSW Festival, 2012, this film captures the life on the train as well as the performances and fan experiences.

Inspiration
In 2002, while working with Film Director Francis Lawrence on a music video, Dave Conway began outlining the plans for a traveling music event. Lawrences video called for a freight train. Conway, who's father was a train enthusiast, worked for several weeks with the San Juaquin Valley Railroad in Exeter, CA learning the ins and outs of train operation and what it takes to charter a private train. In the end, Conway chartered a 6 car train for 60 miles into downtown Fresno stopping along the way next to farms and fields while the video was filmed.

New Articles
“As soon as we stepped on the train, the magic began.”
 * http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mumford-sons-play-high-spirited-show-in-marfa-texas-20110426

Photos: Railroad Revival Tour Kick Off
 * http://www.rollingstone.com/music/photos/photos-railroad-revival-tour-kick-off-20110422

“The idea of this train tour is to make stories to tell our kids about it, and even though it’s for only a short time, I think it’s going to feel a lot longer than those seven days.”
 * http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mumford-sons-reveal-what-to-expect-from-railroad-revival-tour-20110310

"Simply put, this was the most ingenious tour idea since Peter & the Wolf’s East Coast sailing trip, right down to the holographic tickets that looked like something from The Polar Express 3D."
 * http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mumford-sons-reveal-what-to-expect-from-railroad-revival-tour-20110310#ixzz1nDaWViSc

"The bands get off the train, walk a few feet to the venue, do the show, and then get back on the same train to start the process all over again."
 * http://www.spin.com/articles/train-mumford-edward-sharpe-tour

"Woody rode with his fellow drifters around North America; we get to do it with a bunch of other musicians, although not strangers, from different corners of the world,"
 * http://www.spin.com/articles/mumford-edward-sharpe-plot-spring-train-tour

"After enjoying a breakout year and performing at the Grammys,Mumford & Sons will take their victory lap on a rustic railroad alongside Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show."
 * http://www.billboard.com/events/mumford-sons-to-jump-on-railroad-revival-1005061292.story#/events/mumford-sons-to-jump-on-railroad-revival-1005061292.story

"I was there for the last two days, and I don't know how they did it all on so little sleep."
 * http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rita-houston/ritas-railroad-revival_b_855638.html

"I was scanning the San Francisco skyline through a chain-link fence and swigging wine from a plastic cup when I realized I was at one of the cooler shows I'd ever been to."
 * http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justin-cox/railroad-revival_b_854751.html

"The tour seems like it's built to capture that long-forgotten romance of the rails—the bands will be riding in vintage cars from the 1950s and 1960s, traveling through the great desolation of the American Southwest, eating, sleeping, and recording on the train all the while."
 * http://www.good.is/post/railroad-revival-tour-mumford-sons-edward-sharpe-and-the-magnetic-zeroes-and-old-crow-medicine-show-embark-on-epic-train-tour-of-american-southwest/

"It's beautiful! And, like, psychotic." (a friend travelling on the train)
 * http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2011/04/railroad_revival_live_review.php

"Here are some shots I took at the Railroad Revival Tour stop in Austin, TX on April 26, 2011."
 * http://talent.adweek.com/gallery/Railroad-Revival-Tour-Austin-TX/1467831

"The Railroad Revival Tour is something very special, and completely different from anything else happening in music, a throwback to the way musicians used to travel."
 * http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Concert-Review-Railroad-Revival-Tour-Rocks-1355791.php

"Railroad Revival was all it had promised to be, not just another concert but an experience."
 * http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/140753-railroad-revival-tour-26-apr-2011-austin-tx

http://www.buffaloathome.com/dct/62/id/573057/mid/1752/Railroad-Revival-Tour-Promises--Silly-Good-Time-.aspx "The train is at the core of the American music experience. It's really great that's going to come again."

"...the traveling festival, which features bluegrass revivalists Old Crow Medicine Show, the soulful Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and London's Grammy-winning Mumford & Sons, went off without a hitch, leaving the sold-out crowd breathless for more."
 * http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/music/articles/2011/04/24/20110424mumford-sons-railroad-revival-review-phoenix.html

"Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros commented, 'From hobos to the wild west, trains have always been a fascination of mine. This tour is going to be rad.'"
 * http://www.millavenue.com/do/the-railroad-revival-tour

"...this show was a family reunion of sorts, a musical bond forged on the steel rails."
 * http://www.buzzinemusic.com/reviews/music-review-railroad-revival-tour-edward-sharpe-mumford-sons-old-crow-04282011

http://www.7x7.com/music-nightlife/edward-sharpe-mumford-sons-and-old-crow-medicine-show-railroad-revival-tour-kickoff- "It'll be a hip swinging', fist pumpin', feet stomping' good time."

"All three acts, Old Crow Medicine Show, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Mumford and Sons gave incredible performances, and the night oozed of 1930′s nostalgia."
 * http://www.desertlivingtoday.com/2011/04/25/this-train-was-bound-for-glory-railroad-revival-tour-photos/

"An amazing party atmosphere end to a wonderful collection of musicians playing a rather unique mini tour of southwestern U.S.A."
 * http://www.state.ie/27555-live-reviews/railroad-revival-tour-marfa-texas

"If nothing else, the tour proves one thing: Music is alive and well, and people, young and old, drunk and sober, will stay standing for five hours just to be a part of that glory."
 * http://dailytrojan.com/2011/04/24/railroad-revival-tour-stops-in-san-pedro/

"The brotherhood between the members of these bands was easily felt by the crowd, and by the end of the show I was left thinking, 'Man, I really want to party with all of those guys.'"
 * http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2011/04/last_night_railroad_revival_to.php

"...the band pulled a Fleetwood Mac and invited Austin High’s marching band to join, jamming the stage with drums, horns and lots of feathered caps."
 * http://www.uncommonmusic.org/2011/concert/railroad-revival-tour-austin-tx/

It was like an inspirational and spiritually uplifting jam session, full of mistakes, cursing, and laughter.
 * http://indigomusicaustin.com/?tag=railroad-revival-tour

"The tour was not so much inspired by some insane push for high-speed rail but it was actually a push for the opposite. ...to try and capture the somehow forgotten romance on the rails."
 * http://bostontoat.blogspot.com/2011/06/mumford-and-sons-take-america-by-train.html

"This show took me to a place I’ve always been looking for but in reality have always been, if only I just noticed and gave thanks—the place of love and God and friendship and freedom."
 * http://www.interference.com/tag/railroad-revival-tour/

"Here's an idea: Get three great bands together on a sparkly train, haul across the country for a half-dozen shows in unusual outdoor venues, and play your asses off as twilight bathes 8,000-10,000 live-music junkies in a rosy glow."
 * http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2011/04/railroad_revival_tour_brings_m.php

"Well jealz, this sounds spectacular so stop slouching and pounce on a ticket when they go on sale this Wednesday."
 * http://www.mumfordandsons.com/blog/railroad-revival-tour-announcement-american-southwest

"It was like a big family event, just set to music that everyone happens to love." "It was one of the most refreshing concerts I’ve been to in a long while. The entire premise for the show set it up for being a memorable event."
 * http://www.statepress.com/2011/04/26/railroad-revival-tour-a-duo-review/

"If this sounds like an indie-rock reality show, footage from the train and the tour will fittingly be used for an upcoming documentary."
 * http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/railroad-revival-tour/Content?oid=1699804

"Mumford & Sons is bound for glory."
 * http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/03/07/mumford-sons-railroad-revival-tour/

"The entire experience of traveling, living and performing over the course of the six day trip was documented by a film crew, and is now being released as a documentary entitled the Big Easy Express"
 * http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/category/railroad-revival-tour/

"What a great concept: music and musicians traveling through the great American landscape on a train. Kind of like the circus rolling in to town."
 * http://www.lostateminor.com/2011/12/27/mumford-and-sons-part-of-railroad-revival-tour-2011/

"When not performing live, the bands ate, slept, and recorded music on some 15 vintage railcars."
 * https://consequence.net/2012/02/ideo-trailer-for-railroad-revival-tour-documentary-big-easy-expres/

"Mumford and Sons have unveiled the trailer for their new tour film Big Easy Express."
 * http://www.nme.com/news/mumford-and-sons/61872

"Yesterday, the trailer for the film was released and gives us a glimpse at just how awesome that tour really was."
 * http://kroq.radio.com/2012/02/07/watch-the-trailer-for-the-railroad-revival-tour-film-big-easy-express-with-mumford-sons-edward-sharpe-the-magnetic-zeros/