Acoustic Guitar Central: Steep Canyon Rangers, One Dime at a Time

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Steep Canyon Rangers, One Dime at a Time

By Kenny Berkowitz

In the deeply conservative world of bluegrass music, North Carolina’s Steep Canyon Rangers stand slightly to the left of center, writing almost all their own material and incorporating elements of honky-tonk and country-rock. Like many in this current wave of young pickers, Mike Guggino (mandolin), Charles Humphrey III (bass), Woody Platt (guitar, lead vocals), Nicky Sanders (fiddle), and Graham Sharp (banjo, guitar) were raised outside the tradition, finding their way to bluegrass through acoustic jams. One Dime at a Time is their fourth album in five years, and though they can play pretty darned fast (“Big Cypoophus”), their greatest strengths are Sharp’s smart, emotionally rich country songs (“Slow Burn,” “Waiting to Hear You Call My Name”); gently unconventional vocal harmonies (on Wade Mainer’s “I Can’t Sit Down,” for instance); and a willingness to stretch the tradition (by including Robbie Robertson’s “Evangeline”). Berklee-trained Sanders pushes the furthest, taking an occasional cue from jazz and swing, while the rest of the quintet follows closely behind, with Humphrey, Platt, and Sharp finding fresh ways to accent the upbeat and shift the tempo. The results are sweet, warm, and enormously satisfying, gently pushing bluegrass into the new century. (Rebel, www.rebelrecords.com)

This article also appears in Acoustic Guitar, Issue #157

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