It's about 2,100 miles from Graham Sharp's home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina to the bright lights, incessant noise and chaos of humanity along the Las Vegas Strip. Tonight, Sharp and his band, the Steep Canyon Rangers, will take the stage in front of a packed house at the Encore Theater at the Wynn.
“It doesn't seem strange to me – we ate everything one bite at a time,” says the banjoist and de facto frontman. Rolling rock behind the scenes. “One little thing led to another and we were always trying to get better, one show, one month, one year to the next.”
“It” refers to many things in the Rangers' trajectory as one of the most sought-after groups in Americana, bluegrass and indie-folk. He refers to the nearly 25 years with them from humble beginnings in a college dorm. to a Grammy win and three nominations, and to increasingly sold out audiences from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
And it also refers to a long-term partnership with comedy masterminds Steve Martin and Martin Short. The Rangers are in Vegas to support the duo for a two-day run of their famous vaudeville-inspired showcase, which originally took place when Martin met the Rangers some 15 years ago.
“I have to commend their comedy skills. It's not easy to do what they do comically, which is basically being there. No mug? that would be a disaster,” Martin says in his dressing room tucked deep inside the Wynn. “We've developed over the years this kind of relationship where I'm the big egomaniac and they put up with me – and that's played out well.”
“Being a musician, I never thought I'd be playing the Vegas Strip,” says mandolinist Mike Guggino.
Formed on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000, the Steep Canyon Rangers were, at least early on, just a bunch of random musicians trying to pull old bluegrass standards, maybe even book a gig or two . .
The original lineup was Sharp, guitarist Woody Platt and bassist Charles Humphrey, who would get together at pickin' parties in the dorms. Soon after, Platt, a native of Brevard, North Carolina, called on Guggino, his childhood best friend, to round out the band. Four years later, fiddler Nicky Sanders joined the fold.
Out of the gate, the Rangers were happily absorbed into the world of bluegrass, a space where many purists in the scene felt the group could be the torchbearers of the next generation. The Rangers won New Artist of the Year at the 2006 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards.
But the more the music industry tried to locate the Rangers, the more the band resisted pigeonholing. What started out as bluegrass eventually evolved into a bona fide acoustic ensemble that could seemingly play ball on any stage, at any festival, and across a wide range of genres.
Around 2009, the Rangers crossed paths with Martin, the iconic comedian/actor who was always close to his trusty banjo. While vacationing in Brevard, Martin came into contact with the Rangers during a house party where the band was invited to come and pick a few songs.
“I was kind of knocked out [by their] playing,” Martin recalls. “And then I kept thinking I could make a banjo record. I had written these songs and realized I have enough to record.”
This album became the 2011 release Rare bird alert. With the Rangers as the anchor for the project, the record also featured Paul McCartney and the Chicks. It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass album and Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers were named Entertainer of the Year at the 2011 IBMAs.
With his unexpected success Rare bird alertMartin's agent encouraged him to form a band and hit the road.
“I said, 'What? I haven't been on the road since [1970s].' He said, 'You're going to need a band,'” Martin says. “Well, I only know one band – the Steep Canyon Rangers. So I asked them if they wanted to do it.”
At the time, Martin was making something at the same time as Martin Short. After an acclaimed performance at the 2011 Just for Laughs festival in Chicago, where the two comedic mainstays were interviewed onstage, Martin wanted to continue the partnership with some kind of tour — part sketch comedy, part standup, part live music performance.
“[When] I worked with Marty, he had developed this whole show and I had leftover material I did with the Rangers,” says Martin. “I realized I'm not contributing much to this show. I have to bring the band. And that's when our show really changed. It became a much more complete entertainment show.”
“What I love about the show is its variety,” says Short. “It's got clever jokes, big jokes, schtick, a naked suit and the Steep Canyon Rangers. That's what makes it such an exciting show.”
Over the past decade or so, there have been a few changes to the Rangers lineup. Humphrey left and was replaced by another Chapel Hill colleague, Barrett Smith. Percussionist Mike Ashworth came on board to expand the sonic palette. And, perhaps a shock to the band itself, Platt bowed out in 2022.
Steve Martin on stage with the Steep Canyon Rangers in 2019. Photo: Ryan Miller/WireImage/Getty
With Platt stepping away from the spotlight to spend more time with family and pursue other passions, a creative vacuum emerged where the Rangers momentarily lost their balance, focus and determination to figure out their next move.
“As it was before, we learned this music together, so it was this thing where we all knew exactly where all the pieces were going every time,” says Sharp. “Then take a piece of it, bring Aaron in, [and] we're still learning how to deal with that.”
That would be Aaron Burdett, a local contractor and longtime singer-songwriter on the Southern Appalachian circuit who calls Saluda, North Carolina, home. He was offered towards the end of the Rangers' audition period to take Platt's place.
By default, Platt was the gravitational core of Rangers, lyrically and musically. The team revolved around him. But with this current line-up, Rangers have taken a few pages from the likes of The Band and are playing in a circular setup to spread the burden of songs and performances equally and give opportunities to members who might not have been in the spotlight. previously.
In a tentative move, Burdett was recruited and transferred to the Rangers. For an aspiring DIY musician playing tiny gigs around the Blue Ridge Mountains, Burdett suddenly found himself hopping on a fancy tour bus to play big stages.
“It was all very natural, in a way,” says Burdett. “Of course, there are still moments where — as someone who has a day job, has never stopped writing and putting out music — I've dreamed of doing this since I was a kid, doing it at this level.”
Now an established unit, the Rangers rented a mountain home last year in the backwoods of Bat Cave, North Carolina. Using singer-songwriter Darrell Scott as producer, the band stayed for a week at home to capture what became their final album, last year's Morning shift.
The record is as elusive and varied as the Rangers themselves, the tunes spanning the entire musical spectrum – raucous Americana numbers, explosive folk ballads and an intricate bluegrass orchestration.
Gathering their gear and stage costumes, the Steep Canyon Rangers head to the Wynn's tailgate, en route to the airport for red-eye flights back home to North Carolina. Plans are being made for a few more songwriting sessions to see what they come up with.
“Everyone has this desire to be better and do more,” Guggino says. “It feels murkier than ever, and that's a good thing. We needed a little blur.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/steep-canyon-rangers-steve-martin-bluegrass-1234971358/