![]() ![]() Jacob Groopman of the band Front Country joins us along the way, and we get a word from Steve Martin as well. In this episode, you will hear conversations from members of Steep Canyon Rangers as well as plenty of their latest music, including a live performance from Woody Platt and Graham Sharp of their song “Honey On My Tongue” on WNCW. Twenty years into their run, they have already won two IBMA awards and a Grammy, and unless things go even more sideways and the sky goes from blue to green in 2021, expect more hardware to come their way for these recordings. Beginning with their live album North Carolina Songbook, continuing with a surprise collaboration with Boyz II Men on the remake of their song “Be Still Moses”, and finishing with their studio album Arm in Arm, the western North Carolina six piece band has been fully en fuego despite all of the cold water thrown on the music world lately. There are lush harmonies, and it’s impossible not to reflect on the now deeper resonance of the lyrics when you know the couple behind them passed away within a couple of months of each other in 2012 after 66 years of marriage.Īlthough not a whole lot was done to reinvent the songs covered on this live record, it’s still a pleasure to hear them dusted off and presented anew maybe even making some new fans of the original artists behind them along the way.It could be easy to lose sight of this, with all of the trials and tribulations we have endured in 2020, but Steep Canyon Rangers is having a banner year. “Some might think it’s a spiritual song, some might think it’s a love song: it’s just a perfectly written song by a wonderful North Carolina couple,” Platt says in his introduction and perfect it is not only in its original incarnation, but in the hands of the Rangers too. ‘Your Lone Journey’, which was originally co-written and performed by husband and wife duo Doc and Rosa Lee Watson, closes the album. Elizabeth Cotten’s ‘Shake Sugree’ has a more world worn sound in the hands of the Steep Canyon Rangers, unsurprisingly since the original featured her 12-year-old granddaughter on vocals singing with an unrepeatable pureness. ‘Drunkard’s Hiccups’ (originally by Tommy Jerrell) is a fairly straightforward cover, but it becomes a standout track by virtue of a quality vocal performance from lead singer Woody Platt, his voice adding some real sass and vigour to the proceedings. If purchasing online, please choose your pickup location at checkout. Taylor’s ‘Sweet Baby James’ is the most stripped down track, with some lovely vocal harmonies on the chorus that really add depth. STEEP CANYON RANGERS NORTH CAROLINA SONGBOOK (NC FLAG INDIE WAX). While not dissimilar in structure to the original, their version of ‘I’ve Endured’ by Ola Belle Reed is livelier, giving an interesting spin to the lyrics of hardship – the buoyancy of the beat making the words seem less about how terrible things are presently and perhaps more about how bad they had been when reflecting back from better times. Steep Canyon Rangers - North Carolina Songbook. April 2022: Béla Fleck Vereinigte Staaten: My Bluegrass Heart: Billy Strings Renewal Infamous Stringdusters A Tribute to Bill Monroe Sturgill Simpson Cuttin’ Grass Vol. The song that most finds them stepping outside their comfort zone is the Monk jazz classic ‘Blue Monk’, which sees them pay great tribute to the original, while injecting a rip roaring side of bluegrass for good measure. Steep Canyon Rangers North Carolina Songbook Verschiedene Interpreten The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. ![]() The songs covered are all in the band’s wheelhouse, fitting nicely into their bluegrass sound, and consequently they wisely don’t try to mess with the formula too much. Steep Canyon Rangers released three albums in 2020, all on Yep Roc Records. Steep Canyon Rangers North Carolina Songbook - Black Friday (CD) (US IMPORT) AU 35.11. King’s ‘Stand By Me’ opens the set, and its pleasantly familiar sound sets the tone for what’s to come. King, James Taylor, and Thelonious Monk, all done in their signature style. Recorded at roots music festival MerleFest earlier in 2019, the band paid tribute to their home state of North Carolina by performing a set of covers from fellow North Carolina acts such as Ben E. ![]() So it is a relief to see that the Steep Canyon Rangers have offered us something different in ‘North Carolina Songbook’. With major label acts, the live album is often put out there as a money grab, or as a way for the artist to tick another one off the number of required albums in a recording contract. Live albums can often feel a pointless affair: a selection of songs you already know usually played to a lesser standard than the studio version, a crowd you weren’t part of, cheering in the background, and no way to witness the performance visually. The mandolin and fiddle instrumental break during Stand By Me. ![]()
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