does steve martin tour with steep canyon rangers

Why Steve Martin Picked Steep Canyon Rangers to Be His Backing Band

By Garret K. Woodward

Garret K. Woodward

It’s about 2,100 miles from Graham Sharp’s home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina to the bright lights, incessant noise, and chaos of humanity along the Las Vegas Strip. Tonight, Sharp and his band, the Steep Canyon Rangers , will take the stage in front of a packed house at the Encore Theater in the Wynn.

“It doesn’t feel strange to me — we kind of ate everything up one bite at a time,” the banjoist and de facto front man tells Rolling Stone backstage. “One little thing led to another and we’ve always tried to just get better, one show, one month, one year to the next.”

“It” refers to many things in the Rangers’ trajectory as one of the most sought-after groups in Americana, bluegrass, and indie-folk. It alludes to their almost 25 years together from humble beginnings in a college dorm; to a Grammy win and three nominations, and to increasingly sold-out audiences from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

“I have to compliment their comedy skills. It’s not easy to do what they do comedically, which is essentially stand there. They don’t mug; that would be a disaster,” Martin says in his dressing room tucked in the depths of the Wynn. “We’ve developed through the years this kind of relationship where I’m the big egomaniac and they tolerate me — and that’s played well.”

“Being a musician, I never thought I would be playing the Vegas Strip,” says mandolinist Mike Guggino.

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The original lineup was Sharp, guitarist Woody Platt, and bassist Charles Humphrey, coming together at pickin’ parties in the dorm rooms. Soon after, Platt, a Brevard, North Carolina, native, called up Guggino, his childhood best friend, to round out the band. Four years later, fiddler Nicky Sanders entered the fold.

Out of the gate, the Rangers were happily absorbed into the bluegrass world, a space where many purists in the scene felt the group could be the torchbearers of the next generation. The Rangers took home New Artist of the Year at the 2006 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards .

But the more the music industry tried to pin down the Rangers, the more the band resisted being pigeonholed. What had started out as a bluegrass act eventually evolved into a bona fide acoustic ensemble that could seemingly play ball on any stage, at any festival, and within a wide gamut of genres.

“I was kind of knocked out [by their] playing,” Martin recalls. “And then I kept thinking I could do a banjo record. I had written these songs and I realized I have enough to record.”

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With the unexpected success of Rare Bird Alert , Martin’s agent encouraged him to put together a band and hit the road.

“I said, ‘What? I haven’t been on the road since the [1970s].’ He said, ‘You’re going to need a band,’” Martin says. “Well, I only know one band — The Steep Canyon Rangers. So, I asked them if they wanted to do it.”

At that juncture, Martin was simultaneously cooking up something with Martin Short. Following a lauded appearance at the 2011 Just for Laughs festival in Chicago, where the two comedic pillars interviewed each other onstage, Martin was looking to continue the partnership with some kind of touring act — part sketch comedy, part standup, part live music performance.

“[When] I teamed up with Marty, he had this whole show developed and I had remnants of material I did with the Rangers,” Martin says. “I realized I’m not contributing a lot to this show. I need to have the band come. And that’s when our show really changed. It became a much fuller entertainment show.”

“What I love about the show is the variety of it,” Short says. “It has clever jokes, broad jokes, shtick, a nude suit and the Steep Canyon Rangers. That’s what makes it a fascinating show.”

Over the last decade or so, there’s been a handful of changes to the Rangers lineup. Humphrey left and was replaced by another Chapel Hill colleague, Barrett Smith. Percussionist Mike Ashworth was brought onboard to expand the sonic palette. And, in perhaps a shock to even the band itself, Platt bowed out in 2022.

“The way it was before, we learned this music together, so it was this thing where we all knew exactly where all the pieces were going to go every time,” Sharp says. “Then take away one piece of that, bring Aaron in, [and] we’re still learning how to accommodate that.”

That’d be Aaron Burdett, a local contractor and longtime singer-songwriter on the Southern Appalachian circuit, who calls Saluda, North Carolina, home. He was suggested toward the end of the Rangers’ audition period to take over Platt’s spot.

By default, Platt was the gravitational core of the Rangers, lyrically and musically. The group revolved around him. But with this current lineup, the Rangers have taken a few pages from the likes of the Band and play in a round-robin setup to equally distribute the weight of the songs and the performances, and give opportunities to members who might not have stood in the spotlight previously.

In a trial by fire move, Burdett was hired and brought into the Rangers. For an aspiring DIY musician playing tiny gigs around the Blue Ridge Mountains, Burdett suddenly found himself hopping on a sleek tour bus to play big stages.

“It all felt very natural, in a way,” Burdett says. “Of course, there are still moments where — as somebody that’s kept a day job, never stopped writing and putting out music — I’ve dreamed of doing this since I was kid, doing it at this level.”

Now a solidified unit, the Rangers rented out a mountain home last year in the backwoods of Bat Cave, North Carolina. Tapping singer-songwriter Darrell Scott as producer, the band holed up for a week in the house to capture what become its latest album, last year’s Morning Shift .

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“Everybody has that drive to get better and do more,” Guggino says. “It feels more blurred than it’s ever been, and that’s a good thing. We needed some blurring.”

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Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers: Tiny Desk Concert

Robin Hilton

Credit: NPR

It's hard to think of an artist who's brought more joy to more people, across more generations — and in more ways — than Steve Martin. In the 1970s, he won the hearts of young children for his playful appearances with The Muppets while simultaneously charming legions of older fans with his subversive standup routines. Later, as an actor, he wrote and starred in some of the most memorable comedies (and a few dramas) of all time, while writing books, plays and even a Broadway musical.

Throughout his 50-year career, one constant in Steve Martin's life has been the banjo. It was a staple of his early standup shows and even fans who only wanted to laugh couldn't help but marvel at his playing. Over the years, he's continued to perform and record with country and bluegrass luminaries like Earl Scruggs, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill and others.

These days Martin is working on music full-time. He's just released a stellar bluegrass album he recorded with The Steep Canyon Rangers called (perfectly) The Long-Awaited Album , a record filled with often hilarious story songs and world-class performances.

Martin's set with The Steep Canyon Rangers at the Tiny Desk was at times thrilling, particularly his opening solo for the song "So Familiar." But it was also playful, comical and a joy to witness. At the end of the typical three-song performance, the group graciously decided to do one more called "Caroline," a hilarious, first-person account of how not to handle a breakup.

• "So Familiar"
• "All Night Long"
• "On The Water"

Steve Martin (banjo, vocals), Woody Platt (guitar, vocals), Mike Ashworth (percussion), Mike Guggino (mandolin), Charles Humphrey (bass), Graham Sharp (banjo, vocals), Nicky Sanders (fiddle)

Producers: Robin Hilton, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Niki Walker, Bronson Arcuri, Alyse Young; Production Assistant: Beck Harlan; Photo: Christina Ascani/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast .

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When you say bluegrass to me, I question your sanity, when you tell me it's a type of music, I begin to call medics.

That was the case when my friend said he wanted to go and see a bluegrass band called Steep Canyon Rangers perform. Very reluctantly I accepted on the basis that they had performed with Steve Martin, yes Steve Martin the legendary comedian and was told that he sometimes makes an appearance at the shows of these 6 individuals, I had to go!

The band from North Carolina, USA have many accomplishments under their belts as I had quickly learned even being awarded with entertainers of the year in 2011 by the International Bluegrasss Music Association.

Seeing this band live was very different from what I am used to as I am mainly a fan of hip hop, but I was pleasantly surprised as they were actually quite funny as I learned when they told jokes to the audience. The audience really enjoyed their performance of 'Tell The Ones I love' I actually enjoyed this myself as the sounds of the natural instruments, vibrated across the room.

As a person who had no idea what bluegrass was, I was definitely a fan after seeing this myself, I would recommend anybody to also go and watch this band perform!

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The Rangers were wonderful, as always. They're very consistent; I don't think there's such a thing as a mediocre SCR show! It's easy to see that they really enjoy themselves on stage, and admire each other's talents. Nicky, as usual, displayed limitless energy! Rather than the usual suits, they went casual for this show - jeans with either t-shirts or untucked button-down shirts. It was nice to see them a bit more laid back! I'd just seen them perform a week ago at a seated show in Asheville, but much prefer a standing crowd like this was - the energy is so much better! Lots of dancing, singing along, and vocalized appreciation for the band. It was a great evening. Even if you're not a huge bluegrass fan, if you have a chance to see them, don't pass it up!

Amazing show! I love their recorded music, but the studio work is pretty radio friendly (mostly 3-5 minute songs). Playing live, however, these guys do extended jams and really have fun. I will definitely catch them when they are back my way.

They were Great! Every song they seemed to enjoy and embraced their music with LOTS of passion. Each musician was very talented. No one star . Each one was super. Wowed me and my husband

The guys were sure on their game last night! Very high energy sets- bow and guitar strings be damned! Phenomenal musicianship, deep rich vocals. A must see show for any music lover.

It was a fabulous show as always. A great show all around. The Hamilton let's people stand between the stage and the seated audience making it very difficult to view the Rangers .

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Steve martin & the steep canyon rangers, steve martin & the steep canyon rangers: local bluegrass kingpins return with a new album and old sounds made modern.

Looper, a celebrity news site rife with clickbait, recently posted an article headlined “The Real Reason We Don’t Hear from Steve Martin Anymore.” It was based on a questionable premise, given that fans of Martin’s recent novels, musicals, sold-out live shows, award-winning studio albums, and online comedy classes are hearing him loud and clear.

Granted, nowadays Martin is gracing the silver screen less than he used to, by choice. But he’s still working at a pace comparable to that of his 1970s rise to stardom via stand-up comedy and Saturday Night Live, and flexing both his mind and his fingers on the keyboard and the banjo. If there’s anything the tone deaf Looper post got right, it was the first of its purported reasons Martin is supposedly out of sight: “He’s busy playing bluegrass music.”

“It’s so funny, that music’s actually a bigger part of my life than even I think it is,” Martin says. He talked to WNC magazine on the cusp of the release of his latest bluegrass record, The Long-Awaited Album , recorded with his long-standing backing band, the beloved WNC-based outfit Steep Canyon Rangers.

“When I step back and go, ‘Oh yeah, I have another record coming out, we have a musical opening, and I’m still writing songs and performing music live’—I realize that right now, music is like 50 percent of my life, at least,” Martin says. At 72, and after decades in various spotlights, he could do pretty much whatever he pleases with his time, but Martin says that music is what comes most naturally to him. No matter how busy his musical roster, “it’s not drudgery for me, at all,” he says. “It completely comes out of, ‘This is fun.’”

(Click the video viewer for a specially curated selection of tunes by Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers.)

“Where I like to play most”

Martin’s been having fun with the Steep Canyon Rangers since he first encountered them in 2009. The collaboration started almost by chance, says mandolin player Mike Guggino, a cofounder of the band.

As Guggino tells it, Martin’s then-girlfriend (and now wife), Anne Stringfield, had long visited the Brevard area for vacations and camping, befriending Woody Platt, the Rangers’ lead singer and guitarist (and bona fide fly-fishing guide), along the way. On one fateful visit, she invited Platt and Guggino over for dinner, and the musicians quickly found themselves picking on the porch with Martin.

“It all started with that very informal spaghetti supper, up on the mountain,” Guggino recalls. “It just happened to be right after Steve had recorded The Crow (Martin’s breakout solo bluegrass album). His agents told him he had to either recruit an all-star band to tour or hire one band. And he said, ‘I only know one band, the Rangers.’”

Touring to support The Crow , which would ultimately win the 2010 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, Martin and the band sparked what would prove to be a long and mutually beneficial hot streak. Together, they recorded a 2012 album, Rare Bird Alert , that garnered a Grammy nomination in the same category. The following year, the Rangers’ album Nobody Knows You snagged the award. And in 2014, Martin and Edie Brickell won the Grammy for Best American Roots Song (for “Love Has Come for You”), just as Martin, the Rangers, and Brickell released a joint live album. Most recently, the band has joined the nationally touring variety show hosted by Martin and his old comedic chum, Martin Short.

“It’s cool,” Guggino says, “that Steve’s musical trajectory has kind of mirrored our musical trajectory.”

For Martin, who’s spent the bulk of his career as a consummate solo artist, the partnership with Steep Canyon Rangers is a uniquely enduring one. “When I first started to play with the Rangers, I thought, ‘This is really good, to not work alone. It’s much more relaxing,’” Martin recalls. “I really am no longer a solo artist, either musically or comedically. I’m a solo writer, but I write all the songs alone only because of the geographical distance (from the band). Otherwise, I’d sit down with the Rangers and write things.”

Martin splits most of his time between California and New York, but he periodically visits Brevard, where he owns a house. While in the mountains, he plays music every chance he gets. “The Rangers are there, and that’s when you have the time, when you’re not at your computer or driving around and doing things, and that’s where I like to play most,” he says.

Western North Carolina got a special nod from Martin in 2013, when he and Brickell recorded a lovely, understated ballad called “When You Get to Asheville.” It became a centerpiece of a musical they cowrote, Bright Star , which is set in mid-1900s Asheville (and scheduled to tour nationally in 2018). But for the flip of a lyrical coin, the song could have been named for another city, Martin reveals. “I hate to say it, but Edie called me when she was working on the lyrics and said, ‘What do you think—when you get to Asheville, or when you get to Nashville?’ Well, Nashville has a kind of professional music gloss on it, and Asheville has more of an Americana music feel. So we ultimately decided on Asheville.”

Martin says he is particularly fond of Asheville’s Echo Mountain Recording, where he and the band have recorded numerous times. “We love it,” he says. “When you get friendly with a studio, you like to go back to it, because there’s no orientation period. You just sit down and start playing.”

While Martin writes all of the songs, he’s quick to stress that he counts on the Rangers to add their creative and technical chops to the mix. “I bring the songs in with the music and the lyrics, and then we sit around and develop them,” he says. “And what they do often is suggest different chords, different approaches—and of course, their sheer musicianship and skills at arranging are a huge portion of how the songs come together.”

Band on a Run: Working together since 2009, Martin and the Rangers have built on each other's musical successes.

“What was I thinking?”

When Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers come together, there’s a certain hard-to-define outcome, musically speaking. As with their prior recordings, The Long-Awaited Album defies quick categorization. Sure, there is plenty of near-traditional bluegrass, but there are also notes of modernity and whimsy of the sort you’ll rarely hear from bluegrass artists.

The album’s first single, the lovelorn but exuberant “Caroline,” laments a breakup in decidedly contemporary terms. In one verse, Martin sings: “If you ever find another, please don’t put a post on Facebook / I would rather think I was a deep regret you can’t resolve / If I have a drink with someone, I will tell her all about you / That will be the big mistake that I will make on my first date.”

Funny stuff, to be sure, but when set against the Rangers’ impeccable playing and harmonizing, it delivers a weightier listen than the lyrics might suggest. Martin says he’s gotten used to navigating the divide between the traditional approach to bluegrass and his more eclectic, humor-infused one.

“I’ll tell you something: In all the songs you’d probably consider humorous, I didn’t start out to write them humorous,” Martin says. “I just started out to write, ‘Here’s the story I’m going to tell. Here’s the story of the guy with the crazy girlfriend.’ I wanted to tell the story of two people who fall in love, and it could have come out completely serious, but instead it came out the way it did. When you start to step back from it, whether it’s a crazy girlfriend of a crazy boyfriend, you look back on the experience and go, ‘Was I crazy?’ It’s humorous, you know? When you’re in it, it’s one of life’s great tragedies, and when you’re out of it, you go, ‘What was I thinking?’”

Has Martin got any pushback from bluegrass purists who think he disrespects tradition? “No, but it could be because they don’t know how to reach me,” he deadpans. “What I always say is, we always have the traditional, it’s there in the canon. We can always go back to it, but you shouldn’t have to require new players to stick to that formula. After all, when I started playing the banjo, bluegrass music itself was only 15 years old. I’m an originator. Five hundred years from now, they’ll say, ‘He was first generation.’”

A 2017 session at Asheville's Echo Mountain Recording, where the Rangers and Martin have recorded several times.

“The greatest gift ever”

For their part, the Rangers have, at times, pondered whether working with Martin was the best thing for their band’s brand. “Honestly, we’ve talked about this a bunch with our management and with ourselves,” Guggino says.

“Sometimes, it feels like the greatest gift ever, the greatest thing that could ever happen to us. The potential downside is that we’re not always out there playing Ranger songs 100 percent of the time. I tend to be on the side that says it’s kind of perfect, playing with Steve, because it allows us to disappear, so to speak, from the scene, but we’re actually not disappearing, we’re just appearing in a different form. When we get back to playing our shows, we’re just excited to be playing our songs again. It doesn’t allow us to get bored.”

What’s more, Guggino says, “Steve Martin wants nothing but the best for the Rangers, always. He has been our number one fan and number one at promoting us and making us succeed on our own. We’re not just Steve Martin’s band.”

As if to drive that point home, some of Martin’s upcoming dates with the Rangers—at the International Bluegrass Music Association conference in Raleigh in September, for example, and at Merlefest in Wilkesboro next April—will find him switching roles and backing up the band, which will release its next album in January.

“The shows are going to be billed not as Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers—it’s the Steep Canyon Rangers, featuring Steve Martin,” Martin says. “I’m not going to play the whole 18 songs, it’ll be more like six or seven off the new album. I can’t wait.”

Third Time's the Charm: Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers Discography

Rare Bird Alert (2011)

Two years into their collaboration, Martin and the Rangers invited some special guests into the studio for their first album together. How special? Think Paul McCartney and The Dixie Chicks, in a Grammy-nominated record that’s capped off with a bluegrass rendition of Martin’s 1978 novelty hit “King Tut.”

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell Live (2014)

Recorded in conjunction with a concert video for PBS Great Performances, this two-disc set showcases 40 live numbers, including gems plucked from the various performers’ catalogs. Martin and Brickell’s unique chemistry proves a fitting match for the Rangers’ bluegrass bedrock.

The Long-Awaited Album (2017)

A delightfully all-over-the-place endeavor, spanning bluegrass, pop, Americana, and more, the new record finds Martin and the Rangers in perfect, practiced harmony. At turns confident or gentle, modern or traditional, it shimmers throughout, thanks in part to Grammy-winning producer Peter Asher.

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Band that collabs with comedian Steve Martin to headline Bluegrass and Brew Festival in Fairborn

Grammy Award-winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers will headline Fairborn’s Bluegrass and Brew Festival 8:30 p.m. Aug. 2.

The North Carolinian string band originally formed in 2000 and has recorded nine solo albums and two collaborative albums with comedy legend and banjoist Steve Martin.

The band’s collaboration with Martin started in 2009 at a benefit concert for the Los Angeles Public Library, which subsequently led to performances at Carnegie Hall, London’s Royal Festival Hall and the Wang Center in Boston.

The first collaborative studio album between the band and Martin, “Rare Bird Alert” (2011), featured guest vocalists The Chicks and Paul McCartney, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2012.

Steep Canyon Rangers’ solo album “Nobody Knows You” (2012) took home the Grammy the following year. “Nobody Knows You” also peaked at #2 on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart.

Steep Canyon Rangers and Steve Martin began performing with singer-songwriter Edie Brickell in 2013. The band still occasionally performs with Steve Martin and Martin Short in their touring comedy and musical show.

“[Steve Martin] is a guy who has been as famous as anybody in the world, really,” said Barrett Smith, upright bassist and harmony vocalist with SCR since 2018. “It’s weird to say but he’s like a friend and somebody that feels normal to see and hang out and work with, which is pretty thrilling.”

Smith says that the band’s time with Martin (and Short) makes up about one-fourth of what the band does, otherwise consistently touring on the band’s substantial and award-winning catalog — one that’s waded along with the ebb and flow of modernized bluegrass music.

It was a big moment for bluegrass when the Coen Brothers released their period film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000) and the corresponding soundtrack that won Album of the Year. The bluegrass theme for the 1960s sitcom “The Beverly Hillbillies” (performed by Foggy Mountain Boys) didn’t hurt the genre either.

Now, as Billy Strings — a certifiable flatpicking superstar — sells out arenas, the genre is more popular than ever.

“[Strings is] bringing in a rising tide that floats all the ships,” Smith said. “It’s undeniable that he’s had a major impact on the genre and this popularity.”

The definition of bluegrass has shifted over the years, and there’s a traditional, conservative answer to “What is bluegrass?” By the book, if a bluegrass band has drums in it, it’s not considered bluegrass. If it has no banjo, it’s not bluegrass. If a band isn’t playing like Flatt & Scruggs or the Stanley Brothers, it’s not bluegrass.

But bands such as Steep Canyon Rangers (and Mumford & Sons, the Avett Brothers, etc.) shift the idea of what a bluegrass band can be simply by introducing electric instruments, by taking those traditional sounds and bending the norms while remaining recognizable.

“Picture some jazz player from the 1920s in New Orleans, and then there he is in the 1950s or 60s, listening to something like Miles Davis or John Coltrane… then you have some old timer sitting on steps in New Orleans saying, ‘I don’t know what this is but it’s not jazz,’” Smith said. “And he’s right. It’s some other concoction that came from jazz.”

Traditionalists have their place, important voices in keeping genre throughlines together. But Smith says bluegrass, like jazz, survives because it changed, morphed and assimilated.

“We call ourselves a bluegrass band, even though there are a lot of people who would really take exception to that,” Smith said. “But if bluegrass is going to be a thing that still exists 100 years from now, it’s only going to be because it changed. If that’s the case, then we consider ourselves to be a part of that story and a part of that development.”

Steep Canyon Rangers’ most recent releases, “Morning Shift” and “Fruits of My Labor,” are singles from the band’s upcoming live album, “Live at Greenfield Lake,” set to release in late August. The singles feature SCR’s newest band member, guitarist and vocalist Aaron Burdett, who joined the band in 2022.

“The live set is really our thing,” Smith said. “That’s what we do and what we take the most pride in. So we said let’s take a good show and turn it into an album.”

And even though there will be no “Live from Bluegrass and Brew,” at least we’ll get to see Steep Canyon Rangers live at Bluegrass and Brew.

What: Fairborn’s Bluegrass and Brew Festival

When: 4 to 10 p.m., Friday, Aug. 2

Where: Main Street Commons, 103 West Main St. Fairborn

Description: Three bluegrass bands, multiple food trucks, family-friendly activities, a beer garden with craft and domestic beers and free Wi-Fi throughout the event area.. Bands are The Wayfarers (6 p.m.), Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers (7:15 p.m.) and Steep Canyon Rangers (8:30 p.m.)

For additional information, visit www.bluegrassandbrew.com