Steep Canyon Rangers Bring Their Deep Take on Bluegrass to the Florida Theatre

The Steep Canyon Rangers will return to the Florida Theatre on Saturday, November 4. Over the course of two decades, the group has collaborated with banjo-playing comedy legend Steve Martin, singer-songwriter Edie Brickell and a whole host of others on their way to be being heralded as one of the finest bluegrass outfits working today.

And while the Rangers have carved out a niche in for themselves in the American-roots-music space, a successful career as a bluegrass band, especially in the years that coincided with their formation, was never a given.

In the year 2000, music was in an interesting place. The jarring popularity of alternative and grunge rock had belly-flopped into the predictable frat-boy rap metal while hip-hop and underground rock splintered into unpredictable developments. That same year, the Steep Canyon Rangers formed while still in college at UNC-Chapel Hill (a longstanding hotbed of indie rock) as a fully formed bluegrass ensemble. Fittingly, 2000 was also the year that the Coen Brothers’ released O Brother, Where Art Thou?, its soundtrack — stacked with rootsy performances of tunes from Appalachia — would go on to win a Grammy for Album of the Year.

In 2009, the band began their still-running association with comedy legend and banjo virtuoso: Steve Martin. And in 2013, their album Nobody Knows You was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. Since their inception, the band has released more than a dozen studio and live albums (including a 2014 release with Martin and Edie Brickell) and despite a few lineup changes, they have remained true to their vision and approach of fusing tradition and contemporary ideas into the bluegrass paradigm. No small feat for a band that stepped up to plate when Fred Durst was furiously rapping about, well, you know. 

Earlier this summer, the Rangers began releasing singles from a forthcoming full-length album, Morning Shift (due out September 8), their first to feature new member, mountain-music aficionado Aaron Burdett on guitar and lead vocals.

The Steep Canyon Rangers perform at the Florida Theatre on Saturday, November 4. Tickets are available here.