A large State Theatre audience got to go back in time without quite losing sight of the present when the Dave Rawlings Machine took the stage on Friday night.

The Machine’s music spans several eras and genres. Bluegrass, country, folk, rock and Americana all figure in. By keeping it all pretty close to the source material, they tend to project a timeless sound that went down well before a multigenerational crowd that was enthusiastically responding throughout the two-hour-plus performance.

A five-member string band in its current configuration, the group is headed by longtime musical partners Dave Rawlings, on vocals, guitar and banjo, and Gillian Welch on vocals and guitar.

Songs of love, loss and being lost were tempered with some good old-fashioned stompers that periodically lightened the mood.

Original tunes from the group’s new CD, “Nashville Obsolete,” figured prominently, with “Weekend” giving the crowd the first taste of the fine vocal harmonies that would fill the air all evening. “Body Snatchers” followed, telling a strange, haunting story that was dramatized by long drawn fiddle lines.

“Sweet Tooth” lessened the lyrical load with its infectious declarations while “Pilgrim (You Can’t Go Home)” went in a different direction with its lonely theme enhanced by a chamberlike interlude featuring Rawlings’ guitar over two fiddles and bowed bass. “Short Haired Woman Blues” warned of the dangers of one-sided love with a telling alt-country refrain. “Bells of Harlem” was an inspirational folk anthem.

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The all-star band included Paul Kowert, of the Punch Brothers, on bass and vocals; Brittany Haas, of Crooked Still, on fiddle; and Willie Watson, formerly of The Old Crow Medicine Show, on guitar, banjo, fiddle and vocals.

Rawlings, playing his standard 1935 Epiphone guitar, was a wizard at emphatic soloing throughout. He often enacted a sort of sonic ballet, partnering effectively with Haas’ fiddle. His vocals gave hints of Neil Young and Bob Dylan, but settled into a comfortable middle ground, leaving room for Welch’s rich harmonies.

Welch stepped forward on two of her well-known songs. “Wayside/Back in Time,” a lovelorn lament, showcased her distinctive folk/country-attuned voice, while “Look at Miss Ohio” engendered a sing-along from the crowd on the classic line “She says I wanna do right but not right now.”

Willie Watson’s vocals on classic country gems “Keep It Clean” and “Stewball” all but transformed the State into the Grand Ole Opry as the young veteran galloped through the good-time lyrics. Kowert, in addition to showing some slap-bass mastery, sang bottom on a rousing take of the traditional “He Will Set Your Fields on Fire.”

Fans of a certain age and demeanor responded audibly when the band segued from Bob Dylan’s “Dear Landlord” into the Grateful Dead’s “Candyman.” Similar shouts of approval could be heard during a version of Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately” that also had Rawlings double-picking like a demon.

A five-part a cappella encore of the traditional “Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby” from the “O Brother, Where Art Thou” movie soundtrack was followed by a take of The Band’s monumental “The Weight,” making for a strong finish to a fine evening of music.

Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.


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