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Steep Canyon Rangers
Steep Canyon Rangers in 2022
Background information
Origin	Brevard, North Carolina, U.S.
Genres	Bluegrass
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Yep Roc
Members	Graham Sharp Mike Guggino Nicky Sanders Mike Ashworth Barrett Smith Aaron Burdett
Past members	Lizzie Hamilton Charles Humphrey Woody Platt
Website	steepcanyon.com

Steep Canyon Rangers is an American bluegrass band based in Asheville and Brevard, North Carolina.

Originally formed in 2000, the band has become widely known since 2009 for collaborating with actor/banjoist Steve Martin. SCR performed as a quintet for nearly a decade before intermittent touring began as a sextet with Steve Martin; the band still performs in both configurations.

Steep Canyon Rangers have recorded nine solo albums plus two collaborative albums with Steve Martin. In 2012, their collaboration with Steve Martin, Rare Bird Alert (2012), was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.

In 2013, the Steep Canyon Rangers' solo album Nobody Knows You won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.

In May 2013, Steve Martin and SCR began performing with Edie Brickell after she and Martin co-wrote and recorded Love Has Come for You.

Personnel

Current members

• Graham Sharp – banjo, electric banjo, harmonica, harmony & lead vocals (2000–present)
• Mike Guggino – mandolin, mandola, harmony vocals (2000–present)
• Nicky Sanders – fiddle, harmony vocals (2004–present)
• Mike Ashworth – drums, box kit, cajón, dobro, harmony vocals (2013–present)
• Barrett Smith - upright bass, harmony vocals (2018–present)
• Aaron Burdett - lead vocals, guitar (2022–present)

Former members

• Woody Platt – lead vocals, guitar (2000-2022)
• Lizzie Hamilton – fiddle, vocals (2000-2003)
• Charles Humphrey III – upright bass (2000-2017)

History

Early years

Steep Canyon Rangers formed in 2000 while students at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The core group consisted of Woody Platt (guitar), Graham Sharp (banjo) and Charles R. Humphrey III (upright bass). Early on, Platt's childhood friend, Mike Guggino (mandolin), was asked to join. With original fiddler, Lizzie Hamilton, completing the quintet, Steep Canyon Rangers garnered fans across the U.S. performing festivals from North Carolina to Colorado. Two albums of original music were recorded with the early lineup: Old Dreams and New Dreams and Mr. Taylor's New Home. In 2001, the Rangers took first prize in Lyons, CO at the Rockygrass Festival band competition earning the Rangers a main stage performance the following year. Hamilton left the group in 2003 but heavy touring continued with a rotation of fiddlers leading up to the eponymous CD Steep Canyon Rangers (released 2004) on Rebel Records. The album contained a dozen more original songs and featured guest fiddlers including Josh Goforth.

Fiddle commitment

In 2004, Nicky Sanders approached the band for the position of full-time fiddle player and subsequently joined in July. The Rangers recorded their fourth album, One Dime at a Time in 2005 with producer Mike Bub (Del McCoury Band). The next year the band won Emerging Artist of the Year at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards ceremony. Following the release of their fifth album in 2007, the band received two more IBMA nominations for Best Album (Lovin' Pretty Women) and Gospel Performance of the Year ("Be Still Moses").

In 2010, Sanders's fiddle tune "Mourning Dove" was nominated for IBMA Instrumental Song of the Year.

With Steve Martin

In May 2009, Steep Canyon Rangers were asked by banjoist/comedian Steve Martin to perform with him (as a sextet) in a benefit concert for the Los Angeles Public Library: featuring banjo and comedy. This first collaborative performance took place at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, CA and was met with much acclaim. Martin subsequently asked the Rangers to accompany him on a "world bluegrass tour" taking the group to venues such as Carnegie Hall (New York), Royal Festival Hall (London) and the Wang Center in Boston. While in England, the group also performed on the critically acclaimed music TV show, Later with Jools Holland. On June 27, 2009, Steve Martin and SCR were featured on a broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. Soon after, Martin played with the band at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco. and Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Martin appeared with the Steep Canyon Rangers at the 2010 Bonnaroo Music Festival and then on Austin City Limits on November 6, 2010. On July 4, 2011, Martin and SCR performed A Capitol Fourth celebration on the West Lawn of the US Capitol Building.

In the summer of 2010, Steve Martin and SCR recorded their first collaborative album, Rare Bird Alert at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, NC. The album contained tracks primarily composed by Martin and featured guest vocal appearances by Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks. The CD was released the following March, and then on September 29, 2011, Martin and the Rangers were jointly named Entertainers of the Year at the IBMA Awards ceremony in Nashville, TN. In May 2012, Martin and the Rangers played at the fifth annual DelFest as a headlining act.

In September 2017 Steep Canyon Rangers released The Long-Awaited Album with Steve Martin. A few months later, Out in the Open was released on January 26, 2018, but without Steve Martin in the band.

Continued touring

In 2011, Steep Canyon Rangers signed with Rounder Records with lead singer Woody Platt saying " are honored to join Rounder Records and be a part of such a rich musical history." The band has recorded three records on the label as well as two collaborations with Steve Martin. A percussionist, Michael Ashworth, was added to the tour in 2013 and subsequently joined the Rangers as full-time member in the fall; Ashworth's performances feature a signature "box kit" consisting of multiple cajóns mixed with standard and modified drum hardware; it is sometimes referred to as a "cajón drum kit".

In 2013, the Steep Canyon Rangers' solo album Nobody Knows You won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. The previous year, their 2012 collaboration with Steve Martin, Rare Bird Alert, was nominated for the same award.

Personnel changes

On December 1, 2017, Charles Humphrey III (bass) announced that he was leaving the band to "pursue other musical and non-musical passions aside from Steep Canyon Rangers". Humphrey now tours with Songs from the Road Band.

In January 2018, Barrett Smith joined Steep Canyon Rangers performing bass and vocals.

In April 2022, founding band member and frontman Woody Platt announced his departure from SCR to spend more time with family. Later in 2022, guitarist and vocalist Aaron Burdett joined the band. The band's new lineup and producer Darrell Scott set up a makeshift studio at a mountaintop inn in Bat Cave, North Carolina to record Morning Shift, released in 2023.

Discography

Albums

Singles

• "Me and Paul Revere" (Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers) (2011)
• "Pretty Little One" (Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell) (2014)
• "Test Of Time" (Duet with Steep Canyon Rangers and Edie Brickell) (2015)
• "California" (Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers) (2020)

Music videos

References

1. "Steep Canyon Rangers benefit concert". The Telegraph. 2009-02-01. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
2. Staton, John (2009-03-10). "The Music Column: Steep Canyon Rangers play venues from bars to churches". The Star-News. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
3. ^ "Grammys: Steep Canyon Rangers Win Best Bluegrass Album..." 2013-02-09. Retrieved 2015-08-05.
4. ^ "Video: Michael Ashworth & the Box Kit cajon drum kit". Moravian Percussion. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2015-08-05.
5. ^ Rifkin, Carol (12 Jan 2018). "Steep Canyon Rangers announce new bass player". Citizen Times. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
6. Resch, Jamie (2009-03-12). "Longtime heroes stay fresh by touring and remaining true to traditional bluegrass". The Post and Courier. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
7. Bluegrass Today (2009-05-04). "Steep Canyon Rangers back Steve Martin". Retrieved 2015-08-05.
8. "Steve Martin @ Jools Live : Videos : Steve Martin & Steep Canyon Rangers perform Saga of the Old West and Jubilation Day". Later With Jools Holland. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
9. Madison, Tjames. Livedaily.com, August 4, 2009. "Steve Martin and his banjo map fall tour." Retrieved on October 4, 2009,
10. http://www.seattlesymphony.org/benaroya/browse/eventdetail.aspx?id=2211 Archived June 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
11. "Watch Steve Martin Sizzle : Videos". PBS.org. 2011-07-04. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
12. "Steve Martin wins top trophy at Bluegrass awards". BBC News. 29 Sep 2011.
13. "DelFest website". Retrieved 2012-06-06.
14. Randy Lewis (2017-09-19). "Steve Martin having serious fun with his banjo on 'The Long-Awaited Album'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
15. Tunis, Walter (2018-01-23). "'Steve Martin's backup band' steps 'Out in the Open' to declare independence". Lexington Herald Leader.
16. "The Steep Canyon Rangers Sign to Rounder Records". Rounder Records. 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
17. "Charles Humphrey III splits with Steep Canyon Rangers". Citizen Times. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
18. "Steep Canyon Rangers' Woody Platt talks about leaving the band". The Asheville Citizen Times.
19. Lawless, John (2022-08-30). "Aaron Burdett joins Steep Canyon Rangers". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
20. Himes, Geoffrey (September 20, 2023). "Darrell Scott and the Ghost of Hank Williams". Paste Magazine. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
21. "Steep Canyon Rangers Chart History (Bluegrass Albums)". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 28, 2019.
22. "Steep Canyon Rangers Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 13, 2018.
23. "Steep Canyon Rangers Chart History (Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 28, 2019.
24. "Steep Canyon Rangers Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 28, 2019.
25. Bjorke, Matt (June 1, 2011). "This Is Country Music And We Dominate The Charts This Week". Roughstock.
26. Bjorke, Matt (May 14, 2018). "Top 10 Country Albums Sales Chart: May 14, 2018". Roughstock.
27. "Top 10 Country Album Sales Chart: February 19, 2018". BCMA. February 20, 2015.
28. Bjorke, Matt (February 25, 2020). "Top 10 Country Albums Chart in Pure Sales: February 24, 2020". Roughstock. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
29. "Future Releases on Triple A (AAA) Radio Stations". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 2014-07-27.
30. "CMT : Videos : Steve Martin : Jubilation Day". Country Music Television. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
31. "YouTube : Videos : Steep Canyon Rangers : Long Shot]". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2015-08-05.
32. "YouTube : Videos : Steep Canyon Rangers : Tell the Ones I Love]". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2015-08-05.

External links

• Official website
• Nashville Review Interview with Steep Canyon Rangers

• 2000 establishments in North Carolina
• American bluegrass music groups
• Musical groups established in 2000
• Musical groups from Asheville, North Carolina
• Musical groups from North Carolina