Steep Canyon Rangers

BIO

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What does North Carolina sound like?

In a state that’s also produced Doc Watson, James Taylor and the Avett Brothers, there’s hardly a more well-rounded answer than the Steep Canyon Rangers.

A bluegrass band at their core, the Steep Canyon Rangers effortlessly walk the line between festival favorite and sophisticated string orchestra. They’re as danceable as the most progressive, party-oriented string band, and equally comfortable translating their songs for accompaniment by a full symphony.

It’s that mix of serious chops and good-natured fun that earned the Steep Canyon Rangers the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album Grammy in 2013 (for Nobody Knows You), and that drew celebrated comedian/banjoist Steve Martin to them when he needed a backing band. The Rangers are world-class musicians who are just as at home taking the stage at Carnegie Hall as they are knee- deep in a mountain brook, fly rod in hand.

Fifteen years and nine studio albums since forming in Chapel Hill, the sextet—who resides in the western N.C. mountains of Brevard and Asheville—returned to their roots at Echo Mountain Recording for their staggering new collection, RADIO. Recorded over three four-day sessions as the deep, snowy winter of 2015 held fast in the Blue Ridge, the band took full advantage of producer Jerry Douglas, who contributes his distinctive Dobro playing throughout the album.

“Jerry has this ability to stay rooted in bluegrass but also stretch it out,” says Rangers guitarist and singer Woody Platt. “He’s the perfect guy to help us navigate those waters.”

Douglas fully immersed himself with the band, reworking song structures and vocal arrangements to craft a 12-song listening experience with a traditional A-side, B-side record mentality.

“They came in with the songs and arrangements...and I hacked and hewed and changed things around,” says Douglas. “I threw some curveballs at them, and they hit every one of them.”

The album’s title track, “Radio,” bats leadoff. Penned by banjoist Graham Sharp, the song recalls the days when hearing a favorite song required patiently waiting for a radio DJ to spin it, and the excitement of the Sunday afternoon Top 40 countdowns.

“I can recall all the spots where I first heard some of my favorite songs, from a fort in my bedroom to the backseat of my parents’ car on the way home from church,” Sharp recounts. “We trace our lives through music, and a song can take you right back to a place in time.”

Opening with a virtuosic fiddle riff from Nicky Sanders—the only classically trained musician in the band and a graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music—“Radio” also demonstrates the band’s team mentality—Sharp’s initial version of the tune jumped straight to the verses, but in the hands of Douglas and the band, it morphed into a multi-faceted, dynamic canvas.

“It’s really gratifying to play music with people you can trust, who hear something and pull what’s best out of it into something truly special,” says Sharp. “As a songwriter, my favorite part of the whole thing is watching the band bring these ideas to life.”

Although Sharp penned eight of RADIO’s songs, he’s hardly the band’s only bard. Mandolinist Mike Guggino—who studies, performs and creates Italian music and cuisine when he’s home from tour— contributed the rousing instrumental “Looking Glass” (a nod to a favorite waterfall in Pisgah National Forest near his home).

Likewise, “Blue Velvet Rain” best exemplifies the band’s beautifully haunting penchant for yearning, high harmonies. The song, along with “Diamonds in the Dust” and “When the Well Runs Dry,” was co-written by upright bassist Charles R. Humphrey III, who balances his musical passions with a passion for ultramarathon racing.

“He would run 15 or 20 miles every day, then take a shower, come in and record,” recalls Douglas. “Everything I asked him to do...he just blew it out of the water.”

Then there’s “Break,” a rollicking, banjo-driven duet between Platt and his wife, singer Shannon Whitworth. Featuring Douglas’s unmistakable Dobro accompaniment, “Break” delivers all of the exhilarating energy of a hit pop song, with plenty of flourishes, but no fluff.

Throughout RADIO, multi-instrumentalist and longtime friend Mike Ashworth (who joined the band officially after being recruited to play drums with the band while on tour with Steve Martin and Edie Brickell), lends tasteful rhythm from his cajón box kit. Ashworth’s presence is both subtle and necessary, rounding out the full sound of a band that’s already on the main stage, and poised to stay there for the long haul.

“We’re just getting started,” Platt exudes. “It’s almost daunting, to think about how much more there is that we want to accomplish as the Steep Canyon Rangers. Each time I get off stage, I ask myself, ‘Was that fun? Did that feed your soul?’ That’s how we go about it, and more times than not, the answer is a rounding ‘Yes.’ We’re totally committed.”

By Stratton Lawrence

PRESS RELEASE

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For Immediate Release
June 16, 2015

STEEP CANYON RANGERS’ NEW ALBUM RADIO TO BE RELEASED AUGUST 28 ON ROUNDER RECORDS

TITLE TRACK PREMIERES TODAY AT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

CURRENTLY ON TOUR, NEW U.S. DATES ANNOUNCED

“One of the most expressive bluegrass bands you’ll find…” – CMT Edge

“…holding fast to bluegrass roots but refusing to do what some hard-liners maintain passes for tradition: aping the sounds and styles of first-generation bluegrassers Bill Monroe

and Flatt & Scruggs.” – The Tennessean

“Meaningful and engaging.” – PopMatters

“Virtuosic playing…witty, honest, songwriting.” – Charleston City Paper 

Grammy Award-winning Steep Canyon Rangers’ highly anticipated new album, RADIO, will be released August 28 on Rounder Records and can now be pre-ordered via Amazon. Produced by Jerry Douglas (John Oates, Alison Krauss, Béla Fleck), the album’s title track premieres today on The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog. Of the track, The Wall Street Journal comments, "Led by bright fiddle and tight, interlocking harmony vocals, the track is a wide-eyed tribute to the magic of discovering music over the airwaves, with sly references to other songs salted into the lyrics." Stream the song and read the piece here: http://on.wsj.com/1GLaTft. In addition, the band is currently in the midst of a widespread U.S. tour including dates in Telluride, CO, Boulder, CO, Charleston, SC, Raleigh, NC, New York City and Washington, DC. See below for complete details.

The Steep Canyon Rangers are Woody Platt (guitar), Graham Sharp (banjo), Charles R. Humphrey III (bass), Mike Guggino (mandolin), Nicky Sanders (fiddle) and Mike Ashworth (box kit). Known for touring extensively and widely praised for their performances, the acclaimed bluegrass band performs between 125 and 150 dates per year, including tours they share with actor/comedian and respected banjo player Steve Martin and esteemed singer-songwriter Edie Brickell.

RADIO is Steep Canyon Rangers’ ninth studio album and was recorded with Douglas at Asheville, NC’s Echo Mountain Recording Studio. The album comprises twelve all-original bluegrass/ Americana tracks written by Sharp, Humphrey, Platt and Guggino in varying degrees, including a few co-writes with fellow musicians from the folk world such as Phil Barker of the Carolina bluegrass band Town Mountain.

RADIO follows Steep Canyon Rangers’ 2013 release, Tell The Ones I Love, which Bluegrass Today praised as “…a great mixture of today’s bluegrass styles, excellent harmonies, and a few surprises…an excellent album…The Steep Canyon Rangers have delivered another winner, and their fans are sure to be pleased.” Ed Helms’ The Bluegrass Situation asserted, “It’s an exquisite recording, a wonderful marriage of their talent and work ethic, and Larry Campbell’s remarkable intuition.” Previously, their 2012 release, Nobody Knows You, was presented the Grammy Award for “Best Bluegrass Album.” The band has also been nominated for and won multiple awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association, including Entertainers of the Year in 2011 for their work with Steve Martin.

Continuously involved with the community and charitable organizations, Steep Canyon Rangers’ annual Mountain Song Festival, which benefits the Boys and Girls Club of Transylvania County, will celebrate its 10th Anniversary this year, kicking off with an inaugural Steep Canyon 50 K & Relay Ultra Run on September 10th. Additionally, the band has entered a partnership with Oskar Blues Brewery and their CAN’d Aid Foundation as well as SevenBar Aviation and their affiliated hospital foundations.

RADIO TRACK LIST

1. Radio
2. Diamonds In The Dust
3. Simple Is Me
4. Blow Me Away
5. Blue Velvet Rain
6. Looking Glass
7. Down That Road Again
8. Break
9. Wasted
10. Long Summer
11. When The Well Runs Dry
12. Monumental Fool

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