Steep Canyon Rangers Have It Made With Shade
When the Steep Canyon Rangers tell stories to their future grandchildren, they'll probably start spinning yarns with, "Back in October 2009 ..." The bluegrass band started out the month with the IBMA Awards at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, followed by an after-hours gig at the Station Inn with Steve Martin. Within a week's time, they joined Martin at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco, then flew to New York City for Carnegie Hall and The Late Show With David Letterman. Along with backing Martin in a dozen major markets, they also played a handful of festival dates and released a sturdy new album, Deep in the Shade, which has climbed to No. 3 on Billboard's bluegrass chart and helped them secure the cover of Bluegrass Unlimited's November issue. And somewhere in the madness, I managed to catch up with them for a few minutes in Nashville during one of their many visits here lately.
The friendly five-piece band hails from Asheville, N.C., which banjo player/songwriter Graham Sharp refers to as "a place where anything goes. There are all sorts of music and all types of people." Their idyllic surroundings inspired several of my favorite tracks on the album, like "The Mountain's Gonna Sing" and "Turn Up the Bottle." They also cover a Merle Haggard tune, "I Must Be Someone Else You've Known," once sung by Gram Parsons. "That is an example of our varying tastes within the band and our record collections being shared," says fiddler Nicky Sanders, who says he didn't know much about Parsons before joining the band. "We play our favorites for each other all the time."
Of course more miles lay ahead: After several U.S. dates in November, bluegrass fans in Germany can look forward to a visit from the Rangers in December.
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Randy says:
A great new CC which could/should be the top new CD of the year. These young men continue to just get better and better. The CD has any number of potential # 1 songs including “The Mountains Gonna Sing”, “Turn Up The Bottle”,
“Shades of Gray” and “Have Mercy”. Among the many things that make this group so outstanding are that they write most of their own music (Graham Sharpe and Charles Humphrey - “The Bearded Bard of Bluegrass” are two of the very best writers in bluegrass!), they have been together as a group longer than almost all the current bluegrass bands and this shows in their tight harmonies and outstanding instrumentation (Mike and Nicky are clearly two of the very best on mandolin and fiddle, respectively and should soon be recognized as such by the IBMA!!)and Woody Platt hass NEVER sounded better than on “The Mountains Gonna Sing”! In addition,it is HARD to find a more fan friendly group tahn The Steep Canyon Rangers.
Bev says:
Woody Platt’s voice on Mountains Gonna Sing is the best ever, his true southern voice can he heard when in one of the lines he sings “clay”, (soil in the South)
Howard says:
While visiting friends in LaGrange, GA in 2007, my wife and I joined our friends at Hoofers Gospel & Bluegrass Barn. One of the first groups to open the day’s entertainment was the Steep Canyon Rangers. What a fortunate find for us. Later in the day I got a chance to visit with some of the members at the table where they had gathered to receive questions from the curious, admirers and well-wishers. What a great bunch of guys. If their music had not won us over their friendly approachability would have. At one point Nicky had dropped to one knee to be on the same height as a very young boy who had his fiddle with him to help him with a riff. We have been fans ever since and have been eagerly waiting their next release after Lovin Pretty Women. Deep in the Shade is on my iPod and the CD is my wife’s car. What great music these guys make – hope they keep making the mountain sing.