The North Carolina quintet has a reputation for smooth vocals, smart songwriting, ferocious instrumentals and jaw-dropping harmony. The 2010 their Deep In The Shade album remained in the Bluegrass Top 10 on Billboard for 18 weeks. Their 2011 collaboration with Steve Martin, Rare Bird Alert, and their 2012 solo project Nobody Knows You have both received Grammy Award nominations for “Best Bluegrass Album”.
The Steep Canyon Rangers have toured extensively around the United States and have lit up the festival circuit with appearances on the stages at MerleFest , Bonnaroo, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and RockyGrass. They have also performed on ”A Prairie Home Companion” with Garrison Keillor, ”Late Night With David Letterman”, ”The Colbert Report”, and ”Austin City Limits.”
The band has earned critical acclaim and accolades, including being described by the Boston Herald as “Absolutely smoking.” And Examiner.com has stated, "True bluegrass, when done well, is a thing of art and the Steep Canyon Rangers are the genre's current Rembrandt."
Each member of the Rangers is known for his musicianship. Upright bass player Charles R. Humphrey III has played since middle school and also studied classically at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where the Steep Canyon Rangers were formed. Charles has released two side projects of original compositions, Songs from the Road Band and Songs from the Road Band: As The Crow Flies. He was selected by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) as a showcase songwriter two times, and
his songs have been recorded by the Steep Canyon Rangers, Steve Martin, Town Mountain, Mark Schimick, Jed Fisher, Sav Sankaran, The Canucky Bluegrass Boys, and Songs from the Road Band.
Fiddle player Nicky Sanders began training as a classical violinist at age 5. After serving as concertmaster of the Young People's Symphony Orchestra, he moved to Boston, MA to attend Berklee College of Music where he studied Jazz, Bluegrass and Composition. In 2004, Nicky moved to North Carolina to join Steep Canyon Rangers, first appearing on the album One Dime at a Time and three more records since. In 2010, the IBMA nominated the Rangers' recording of Nicky's fiddle tune "Mourning Dove" as Instrumental Performance of the Year. The song appears on the band's CD Deep in the Shade.
Mike Guggino grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina, where he learned to play piano, saxophone and guitar. He didn’t encounter bluegrass until college, when friends introduced him to the sounds of Hot Rize, the Seldom Scene, Tony Rice, New Grass Revival, and John Hartford. From there, he found his way to the music of Bill Monroe, and the mandolin, an instrument that also harkened back to his Italian great-grandparents. Mike immediately began to immerse himself in the bluegrass tradition and write original songs of his own. Over the past decade, his unique compositions have become signature Rangers tunes. Mike is proud to play Kimble mandolins and mandolas.
Graham Sharp began playing banjo in college and almost immediately fell into playing with Charles and guitarist Woody Platt. Originally introduced to bluegrass by his high school Latin teacher, Graham was drawn to the sounds of John Hartford and Norman Blake. Through the years he has penned more than thirty Steep Canyon Rangers songs.
Woody Platt‘s musical career began in the third grade, when he sang in the Brevard, North Carolina Boys Choir. He played trumpet and baritone in his middle school band, and became interested in bluegrass and guitar as a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He, Charles Humphrey, and Graham Sharp started playing together as students, eventually forming the Rangers. Woody founded the Mountain Song Festival as a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Transylvania County in 2006, and continues to co-produce the festival.
To learn more about the Steep Canyon Rangers please visit http://www.steepcanyon.com/
Tickets for the STEEP CANYON RANGERS at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center on Saturday, February 16, 2013 at 8pm are $35-52 (SPPAC members receive a 10-20% discount). Tickets may be purchased online by visiting http://www.sprucepeakarts.org or by calling the Ticket Office at 802-760-4634.
About The Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center
The Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization dedicated and committed to entertaining, educating, and engaging our diverse communities of Stowe and beyond. The 420-seat multi-use theatre, which opened in December 2010, offers world-renowned entertainment as well as emerging artists and performers from around the region, state, nation and world. The Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center is located at 122 Hourglass Drive, Stowe, Vermont, at the base of Spruce Peak.
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