Steep Canyon Rangers

Steep Canyon Rangers
Steep Canyon Rangers by David McClister Steep Canyon Rangers 2013, photography by David McClister
Background information
Origin	Brevard, North Carolina
Genres	Bluegrass
Labels	Rounder Records
Website	SteepCanyon.com
Members	Woody Platt Graham Sharp Mike Guggino Charles R. Humphrey III Nicky Sanders Mike Ashworth
Past members	Lizzie Hamilton

The Steep Canyon Rangers are an American bluegrass band from Brevard, North Carolina.^[1][2]

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

The International Bluegrass Music Association awarded Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers Entertainer of the Year in 2011.

In 2008, the band received a nomination from International Bluegrass Music Association for "Album and Gospel Performance of the Year".^[3]

The band were featured performers on the June 27, 2009 broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, with the addition of Steve Martin on the banjo.

It was announced on June 13, 2011 that the Steep Canyon Rangers signed with Rounder Records, with SCR’s lead singer Woody Platt saying the Rangers “are honored to join Rounder Records and be a part of such a rich musical history."^[4]

Read full Tell The Ones I Love bio online at SteepCanyon.com.

The Steep Canyon Rangers feature:

• Woody Platt — guitar, lead vocals
• Graham Sharp — banjo, lead/harmony vocals
• Mike Guggino — mandolin, harmony vocals
• Charles R. Humphrey III — bass
• Nicky Sanders — fiddle
• Mike Ashworth — cajon drums

With Steve Martin

Steve Martin played banjo along with the Steep Canyon Rangers on the June 27, 2009 broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, and continued playing with the band on selected dates as part of U.S. tours with the Rangers in the fall of 2009, and spring of 2010. Martin played with the band at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco, Carnegie Hall in New York,^[5] and Benaroya Hall in Seattle.^[6] Martin also travelled with the band to the UK, to perform on the critically acclaimed music show, Later with Jools Holland. Martin appeared with the Steep Canyon Rangers at the 2010 Bonnaroo Music Festival, on Austin City Limits on November 6, 2010, and at the July 4, 2011 A Capitol Fourth celebration on the West Lawn of the US Capitol Building.^[7] The group and Martin together recorded the 2011 album, Rare Bird Alert, on which Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks also appear.

On September 29, 2011, Martin and the Rangers jointly won the Entertainers of the Year award at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards.^[8]

Martin and the Rangers played at the 5th annual DelFest in May 2012 as a headlining act.^[9]

Discography

Steve Martin playing with the Steep Canyon Rangers in Seattle.

Albums

Singles

• "Pretty Little One" (Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell)^[10]

• "Test Of Time" (Duet with Steep Canyon Rangers and Edie Brickell)

Music videos

Awards and nominations

"Steve Canyon Rangers"

The phonemic similarity of "Steep" to "Steve" and the association of Steve Martin with the band (and perhaps the three-decades-defunct 20th-century commando-style comic strip Steve Canyon) sometimes support impressions of a "Steve Canyon Rangers" band.^{[13][14][15][16]}

References

External links

• Official website
• Steep Canyon Rangers on Myspace
• Nashville Review Interview with Steep Canyon Rangers