Railroad Earth have released their new album Will of the Water through Ineffable Records, adding a new chapter to the New Jersey roots band’s catalog as they continue celebrating 25 years together.
The 11-track album arrived September 18 and finds Railroad Earth continuing to work in the space they have occupied for much of their career, where progressive bluegrass, folk, Americana and the open-ended instincts of the jam world all meet.
More importantly, Will of the Water gives the band something new to build its anniversary year around.
Rather than treating 25 years as an excuse to look exclusively backward, Railroad Earth spent two weeks during the summer of 2025 recording at Fort Nonsense, the studio built by lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Todd Sheaffer. The resulting album captures another version of a group that has spent decades allowing its lineup and sound to evolve without losing the songwriting at the center of the project.
Greensky Bluegrass’ Paul Hoffman appears on album opener “Everything Keeps Changin’,” while guitarist Daniel Donato joins “Keep Your Eyes Open.” Lindsay Lou appears on “Cameras,” and Ronnie McCoury contributes to “Whiskey Train.”
Those collaborations were gradually introduced throughout the album’s rollout, giving listeners a series of different entry points into Will of the Water before the complete record arrived.
The band also released “Good Bones” and “Let the River Flow” ahead of the album, with the latter serving as the final piece of the pre-release campaign. Together, the songs showed how naturally Railroad Earth can bring outside musicians into its world without making the collaborations feel disconnected from the band’s larger identity.
Alongside the previously released material, the tracklist includes “Gravity,” “Waiting For You,” “Give Me the Gun,” “Birdzzz” and the closing title track, “Will of the Water.”
There is a fitting sense of motion to the record arriving during Railroad Earth’s 25th year. The band’s longevity has always been tied as much to live performance as recorded music, with songs regularly given room to stretch, change and develop once they make it to the stage.
Railroad Earth have continued their anniversary celebration with shows surrounding the album’s release and will head to Eureka Springs, Arkansas in October for Hillberry: The Harvest Moon Festival, which runs October 7 through 11 at The Farm. The band also has a run of western dates scheduled for November, followed by its annual Horn O’ Plenty shows at the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania on November 27 and 28.
After 25 years, the most interesting thing about Railroad Earth may be that the group still sounds interested in what comes next.
Will of the Water is out now through Ineffable Records.
