Immensely gifted, the Steep Canyon Rangers have won over many a skeptic crowd during their tour as the supporting and backing band for Steve Martin as he tours the country with his Banjo album.  The Rangers consist of five talented musicians in banjoist/ chief songwriter Graham Sharp, fiddler Nicky Sanders, bassist Charles Humphrey III, mandolin player Mike Guggino and lead vocalist and guitarist Woody Platt.  The five-piece band started earlier this decade and while all of the members came to Bluegrass as adults, their immense talents quickly earned the Steep Canyon Rangers praise within the bluegrass community. 

For their latest album Deep In The Shade the group selected 12 great songs, 10 of them written by band members and set about making a remarkably cohesive record.  The record starts off with “Have Mercy” and while grounded in traditional bluegrass, the song feels as if it could possibly work on a great traditional country record, with a slightly different arrangement.  Perhaps part of what gives me this feeling is that Woody Platt’s fine vocals also could play well on country radio.  “I Thought That She Loved Me” feels contemporary (it wouldn’t be out of place on a Dierks Bentley record) and it gives the album some much needed tempo.  “The Mountain’s Gonna Sing” features the album’s title in the lyrics and it’s a beautifully melancholic ballad while “Nowhere To Lay Low” chronicles a weary sort of character that would’ve felt right at home on Johnny Cash’s American Recordings series.  

Sylvie shows off the Rangers’ stellar vocals as they sing the complete two and a half minute song a cappella.  Since bluegrass is really music about the lives of everyday people -even moreso than country, really- a song like “There Ain’t No Easy Street” fits remarkably well within the current times we’re living in.  The group tackles the great Merle Haggard song “I Must Be Somebody Else You’ve Known” as if it were one of their own originals and the lonesome message presented in the lyric works quite well in this translation.   While this record isn’t as ‘balls to the walls’ virtuositiy for the sake of virtuosity, the Steep Canyon Rangers have themselves a mighty fine roots music record here and with producer Ronnie Bowman’s steady hand, the album shines over and over again.

You can support the Steep Canyon Rangers by purchasing this album at iTunes | Amazon | eMusic.