Steep Canyon Rangers

Steep Canyon Rangers
Steep Canyon Rangers 2013, photography by David McClister
Background information
Origin	Brevard, North Carolina
Genres	Bluegrass
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Rounder Records
Associated acts	Steve Martin, Edie Brickell
Website	SteepCanyon.com
Members	Woody Platt Graham Sharp Mike Guggino Charles Humphrey Nicky Sanders Mike Ashworth
Past members	Lizzie Hamilton

Steep Canyon Rangers are an American bluegrass band from Brevard, North Carolina. Though formed in 2000, the band has become widely known since 2009 for collaborating with actor/banjoist Steve Martin. In 2013, the Steep Canyon Rangers' solo album Nobody Knows You won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. The previous year, their 2012 collaboration with Steve Martin, Rare Bird Alert, was nominated for the same award. Steep Canyon Rangers have recorded 9 solo albums plus two collaborative albums with 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.

In May 2013, Steve Martin and SCR began performing with Edie Brickell after she and Martin co-wrote and recorded an album together, Love Has Come For You, produced by Peter Asher. The record featured performances by Steep Canyon Rangers, Sara Watkins, Esperanza Spalding and others.

Steep Canyon Rangers formed in 2000 while students at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The core group consisted of Woody Platt (guitar), Graham Sharp (banjo) and Charles R. Humphrey III (upright bass). Early on, Platt's childhood friend, Mike Guggino (mandolin), was asked to join. 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 2001, the Rangers took first prize in Lyons, CO at the Rockygrass Festival band competition earning the Rangers a main stage performance the following year. Hamilton left the group in 2003 but heavy touring continued with a rotation of fiddlers leading up to the eponymous CD Steep Canyon Rangers (released 2004) on Rebel Records. The album contained a dozen more original songs and featured guests Josh Goforth and John Garris on fiddle.