Modern bluegrass stars Steep Canyon Rangers make return to Savannah Music Festival

The Grammy-award winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers are making a welcome return to the Savannah Music Festival with an appearance at Victory North.

The Steep Canyon Rangers were formed by a group of friends in 2000 at UNC-Chapel Hill, and currently features the talents of Graham Sharp (banjo, vocals), Mike Guggino (mandolin, mandola, vocals), Nicky sanders (fiddle, vocals), Barrett Smith (bass, guitar, vocals), Mike Ashworth (drums, vocals), and Aaron Burdett (guitar, vocals).

Line-up changes and additions over the years have not diluted the band’s infectious modern bluegrass sound. Ashworth, for example joined ten years ago, but his addition to the band seemed inevitable.

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“I have always been around the band,” said Ashworth, who grew up with Guggino and founding member Woody Platt. “We all grew up in a little town up here in the mountains of North Carolina. Mike and I had bands in high school. I think I did my first tour with the Rangers 18- or 19-years ago and filled in for the bass player back then. Just being close the guys, they were my friends before they were my bandmates.”

When the band were invited to tour with comedian and banjo player Steve Martin and singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, they called upon Ashworth to be their permanent percussionist.

“It just clicked,” said Ashworth. “When we weren’t laying Steve and Edie shows they asked if I would like to come out and play with them, as well. It feels like it was bound to happen at some point.”

Growing up in the mountains of North Carolina, Ashworth and his bandmates were steeped in bluegrass music and culture, although it took him a while to appreciate string band music.

“As a kid you’re not really drawn to the sound of an old man playing banjo,” said Ashworth. “It’s something you kind of run from or laugh at. We had square dances in town—and still do—in the summer. They’d block of the street and have square dances and I remember that as a child. I remember being surrounded by the music growing up in this community, but it didn’t really click with me until I was twenty years old. I spent a lot of time learning classical and jazz and rock music, and hitting the road and combining all those things. It wasn’t until I was twenty that I stopped running from it and embraced it.”

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Somehow during our conversation we got on a tangent about mad electronic music genius Aphex Twin, and Ashworth (who is a fan of 90s electronic music) was able to point out some similarities between techno and bluegrass.

“We were raised with this organic [music],” recalled Ashworth. “My mom played folk music in the house on a nylon guitar finger style. And growing up here with the mountain music, its that combination of intense rhythm and focus and channeling this repetition that becomes trance-y. I was really drawn to it. Electronic music, especially the trance variant is a lot like playing in an old-time string band.

“There’s this thing that happens in a barn dance. I used to play guitar in an old-time string band and all that means is you’re kind of like the drummer. To be a dance band, the goal is to do the same thing for 8 or 10 minutes. Just the same thing, no solos, no nothing. It can seem boring, but there is some unique meditation thing that happens, and watching people move and pounding out the same rhythm for 8 or 10 minutes. It’s pretty cool, so there’s a parallel there.”

Steep Canyon Rangers got their biggest break when they were invited to collaborate with Steve Martin. They have toured with Martin for over a decade and recorded several albums with him including the Grammy Award nominated “Rare Bird Alert.” The fruitful collaboration has earned Steep Canyon Rangers countless new fans.

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“The biggest question I get is, ‘What is he like?’ because I think people picture him as sort of nutty, but he is a very serious and very devoted to his stage craft,” Ashworth said of working with Steve Martin. “We have a learned a large amount of performance secrets from Steve. The way he reads a room is just incredible. His gift is understanding timing to an audience. We’ve learned just through performing with him how to go up and down with a crowd. It gives you a line of communication that maybe somebody in the audience maybe wouldn’t understand. To be in tune with the sounds of the room and the faces. That is one significant thing I enjoy about working with Steve is watching him do his craft. And he is without a doubt one of my favorite banjo players of all time.”

Steep Canyon Rangers had their biggest shake up when founding member Woody Platt announced he was leaving the band. His bandmates were incredibly understanding, and decided to continue on without him rather than break up the band.

“All of us wanted to carry on in any number of ways,” said Ashworth. “And that’s when the stress came in, trying to figure out what that meant and what that looked like.”

After touring for a while as a five-piece, the Rangers held auditions for a new member and discovered singer-songwriter Aaron Burdett.

“It was like the feeling of completing a puzzle,” said Ashworth. “The final piece fell into place. I saw the whole right there. This is our guy and everything is going to be fine. Within three weeks he was on stage at the Hollywood Bowl with us. I expected him to be freaking out and he didn’t.”

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With Burdett embraced into the band, Steep Canyon Rangers decided to begin work on their next album. The Rangers moved into an inn in a mountain community, built a studio, and recruited producer Darrell Scott to help them find their new sound. They just recently finished recording the new record and expect to release in in the fall.

Like their last album, "Arm in Arm," the Rangers expect this one to be an evolution of their music with a further departure from a typical string band sound to a fuller live scope.

“It’s more of a discovery now,” said Ashworth. “When you lose a member like Woody you lose a commanding presence who is very easy to lean against.ßWhen there’s a shake up like that, it’s nice to have a place that’s not a studio, like that inn up there. The pressure was lower, and you bring in a good producer and a good engineer. It was more like a retreat than a recording session. We needed that time to stitch together, figure out what we do together. While the show is just as dynamic as it ever was, we’ve never made a record without Woody. I think it’s going to be solid. It’s going to be a powerful record.”

IF YOU GO

What: Steep Canyon Rangers w/ Jon Stickley Trio

When: Saturday at 8 p.m.

Where: Victory North Savannah, 2603 Whitaker St.

Cost: $35, $125 VIP

Info: savannahmusicfestival.org

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA concerts: Savannah Music Festival - Steep Canyon Rangers