Steep canyon rangers biography of martin short

American band

Steep Canyon Rangers is an American bluegrass band based in Asheville and Brevard, North Carolina.^[1][2]

Originally formed in , the band has become widely known since 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.^[3]

Steep Canyon Rangers have recorded nine solo albums plus two collaborative albums with Steve Martin.

Martin plays banjo and has frequently collaborated with Grammy-winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers. The group and Jeff Babko will perform with both comedians this evening. p.m. th 7th St., Cultural District.

In , their collaboration with Steve Martin, Rare Bird Alert (), was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.^{[citation needed]}

In , the Steep Canyon Rangers' solo album Nobody Knows You won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.^[3]

In May , Steve Martin and SCR began performing with Edie Brickell after she and Martin co-wrote and recorded Love Has Come for You.^{[citation needed]}

Personnel

Current members

• Graham Sharp – banjo, electric banjo, harmonica, harmony & lead vocals (–present)
• Mike Guggino – mandolin, mandola, harmony vocals (–present)
• Nicky Sanders – fiddle, harmony vocals (–present)
• Mike Ashworth – drums, box kit,^[4]cajón, dobro, harmony vocals (–present)
• Barrett Smith - upright bass,^[5] harmony vocals (–present)
• Aaron Burdett - lead vocals, guitar (–present)

Former members

• Woody Platt – manage vocals, guitar ()
• Lizzie Hamilton – fiddle, vocals ()
• Charles Humphrey III – upright bass ()

History

Early years

Steep Canyon Rangers formed in while students at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

The core group consisted of Woody Platt (guitar), Graham Clear (banjo) and Charles R. Humphrey III (upright bass). Early on, Platt's childhood friend, Mike Guggino (mandolin), was asked to participate . 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 , the Rangers took first prize in Lyons, CO at the Rockygrass Festival band match earning the Rangers a main stage performance the following year.

Hamilton left the group in but heavy touring continued with a rotation of fiddlers foremost up to the eponymous CD Steep Canyon Rangers (released ) on Rebel Records.

Steep Canyon Rangers - Wikipedia: Steep Canyon Rangers is an American bluegrass band based in Asheville and Brevard, North Carolina. [1][2] Originally formed in , the band has become widely known since for collaborating with actor/banjoist Steve Martin.

The album contained a dozen more original songs and featured guest fiddlers including Josh Goforth.^{[citation needed]}

Fiddle commitment

In , 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 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.

Tracking the release of their fifth album in , the band received two more IBMA nominations for Best Album (Lovin' Cute Women) and Gospel Performance of the Year ("Be Still Moses").^[6]

In , Sanders's fiddle tune "Mourning Dove" was nominated for IBMA Instrumental Song of the Year.^{[citation needed]}

With Steve Martin

In May , 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 General Library:^[7] 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 team 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 melody TV show, Later with Jools Holland.^[8] On June 27, , 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.^[9] and Benaroya Hall in Seattle.^[10] Martin appeared with the Steep Canyon Rangers at the Bonnaroo Music Festival and then on Austin City Limits on November 6, On July 4, , Martin and SCR performed A Capitol Fourth celebration on the West Lawn of the US Capitol Building.^[11]

In the summer of , 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.

Granted, nowadays Martin is gracing the silver screen less than he used to, by option. At 72, and after decades in various spotlights, he could do pretty much whatever he pleases with his time, but Martin says that music is what comes most naturally to him. Click the video viewer for a specially curated selection of tunes by Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. The collaboration started almost by chance, says mandolin player Mike Guggino, a cofounder of the band.

The CD was released the following March, and then on September 29, , Martin and the Rangers were jointly named Entertainers of the Year at the IBMA Awards ceremony in Nashville, TN.^[12] In May , Martin and the Rangers played at the fifth annual DelFest as a headlining act.^[13]

In September Steep Canyon Rangers released The Long-Awaited Album with Steve Martin.^[14] A few months later, Out in the Open was released on January 26, , but without Steve Martin in the band.^[15]

Continued touring

In , Steep Canyon Rangers signed with Rounder Records with lead singer Woody Platt saying "[the Rangers] are honored to join Rounder Records and be a part of such a rich musical history."^[16] 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 and subsequently connected the Rangers as full-time member in the fall; Ashworth's performances feature a signature "box kit"^[4] consisting of multiple cajóns mixed with standard and modified drum hardware; it is sometimes referred to as a "cajón drum kit".^{[citation needed]}

In , the Steep Canyon Rangers' solo album Nobody Knows You won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.^[3] The previous year, their collaboration with Steve Martin, Rare Feathered Alert, was nominated for the same award.^{[citation needed]}

Personnel changes

On December 1, , Charles Humphrey III (bass) announced that he was leaving the band to "pursue other musical and non-musical passions aside from Steep Canyon Rangers".^[17] Humphrey now tours with Songs from the Road Band.^{[citation needed]}

In January , Barrett Smith connected Steep Canyon Rangers performing bass and vocals.^[5]

In April , founding band member and frontman Woody Platt announced his departure from SCR to spend more day with family.^[18] Later in , guitarist and vocalist Aaron Burdett joined the band.^[19] 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 ^[20]

Discography

Albums

Singles

• "Me and Paul Revere" (Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers) ()
• "Pretty Little One" (Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell)^[29] ()
• "Test Of Time" (Duet with Steep Canyon Rangers and Edie Brickell) ()
• "California" (Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers) ()

Music videos

References

External links