Bluegrass on the Grass
Railroad Earth & Yonder Mountain String Band
Sunday, August 16, 2026 | Quad City Botanical Center
The Culture Bright Summer Series begins at the Quad City Botanical Center.
Spend a summer evening beneath the open sky as Railroad Earth and Yonder Mountain String Band transform the gardens into one of the region's most memorable concert experiences. Surrounded by blooms, trees, and fellow music lovers, you'll experience an unforgettable night where nature, community, and live music come together in a setting unlike any other in the Quad Cities.
Featuring:
Railroad Earth
Yonder Mountain String Band
Special LOCAL Guest:
Logan Springer & The Wonderfully Wild
Doors Open: 6:00 PM
Show Begins: 7:00 PM
Ticket Information
Current QCBC Members: $31.50
Non-Members: $35
Single Ticket + New Individual Membership: $70
Two Tickets + New Couple Membership: $105
Not yet a member? Join the Quad City Botanical Center and gain access to this exclusive Culture Bright Summer Series experience while supporting the gardens, programs, and educational opportunities that serve our community year-round.
Capacity is limited to 250 guests. Advance purchase is strongly encouraged.
About the Artists:
Railroad Earth:
For over two decades, Railroad Earth has captivated audiences with gleefully unpredictable live shows and eloquent and elevated studio output. The group introduced its signature sound on 2001’s The Black Bear Sessions. Between selling out hallowed venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO, they’ve been responsible for launching signature festivals Hangtown Music Festival in Placerville, CA and Hillberry: The Harvest Moon Festival in Eureka Springs, AR. Sought after by legends, the John Denver Estate tapped them to put lyrics penned by the late John Denver to music on the 2019 vinyl EP, Railroad Earth: The John Denver Letters. Beyond tallying tens of millions of streams, the collective have earned widespread critical acclaim from David Fricke of Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, Glide Magazine, and NPR who assured, “Well-versed in rambling around, as you might expect from a band named after a Jack Kerouac poem, the New Jersey-built jam-grass engine Railroad Earth has let no moss grow under its rustic wheels.”
Yonder Mountain String Band:
Grammy-nominated Yonder Mountain String Band set the tone for a new way forward in acoustic music, carrying bluegrass into rooms and conversations it had never reached before. Nearly three decades later, that same spirit still guides them, alive and present on Good As True (2026), the band’s 12th studio album. The record captures Yonder in full stride. It’s unguarded and in motion, preserving the spark of musicians playing in real time and leaning into everything they have learned along the way.
Good As True digs into communication, the conversations that carry us forward and the ones that fall apart. The things we say, the things we mean, and what gets lost in between. “Brand New Heartache,” the album’s lead single, lives in that fragile moment after a breakup when heartbreak and forward motion exist at the same time. Built on rock-leaning verses and a bluegrass-lifted chorus, it turns loss into motion and sets the tone for the record. From the indelible guitar riff and selfreckoning at the heart of “Blind” to the sharp, sarcastic truth of “Long Ride,” the album stays rooted in real life, tracing personal and political fractures on “Nothing New” and “The Lie.” “One to One Another” and “Always Almost” linger in the struggle to connect.
“Barroom Feather” stands on its own. Recorded live in the studio, the song began with lyrics and drifted into a spontaneous jam that became one of the record’s most expansive moments, stretching past sixteen minutes. Anchored by a subtle drum track, it broadens the band’s rhythmic range without losing Yonder’s acoustic core.
Across eight original tracks co-written by Adam Aijala (guitar, vocals), Dave Johnston (banjo, vocals), Ben Kaufmann (bass vocals), and Nick Piccininni (mandolin, vocals), Good As True reflects a group writing from inside their own history, relationships, and the world around them. Brought to life by the full five-piece lineup, including fiddle player Coleman Smith, the album carries the interplay and identity of the band as it exists today.The songs move between drive, reflection, humor, and weight. It is forward-looking and fully alive, a reminder that Yonder Mountain String Band’s story is still unfolding.
