NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 18, 2013) – This past weekend, the Steep Canyon Rangers presided over their 8th annual Mountain Song festival in Brevard, North Carolina. The festival, which the group founded in 2006, is an annual fundraiser that benefits the Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County, NC.
This year’s event, which took place over September 13thand 14th, boasted a lineup that included some of the finest musicians on the contemporary bluegrass and acoustic music scene, including Balsam Range, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Shawn Camp, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, The O’Brien Three featuring Tim & Mollie O’Brien with Rich Moore, Shannon Whitworth, and the Steep Canyon Rangers.
Steve Martin, with whom the Steep Canyon Rangers have been touring and recording since 2009, came unannounced to join in the all-star jam session that closed the festivities.
This year’s Mountain Song drew over 5,000 people, and raised over $60,000 for the Boys & Girls Club. Since its inception, the annual event has raised over $350,000 for the organization, which provides educational and recreational programs for youth between the ages of five and eighteen. The Steep Canyon Rangers also strive to keep Mountain Song Festival a “green event.” This year only 12 bags of trash were generated throughout the entire weekend, with everything else being recycled or composted.
The Steep Canyon Rangers expressed the following message of gratitude: “Mountain Song Festival 2013 was the best one yet. Both days were completely sold out, with over 5,000 in attendance throughout the weekend. We are excited to give another large donation to the Boys & Girls Club. Thank you to all our local sponsors, and to all our 250 volunteers.”
The band’s new album, Tell The Ones I Love, was released last week to widespread acclaim and debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart. Bluegrass Today proclaimed it “excellent,” and concluded, “the Steep Canyon Rangers have delivered another winner.” Writing in Relix, Jewly Hight extolled the band’s “wry musical wit,” and the album’s “sprightly, down-home grooves,” while AllMusic’s Steve Leggett declared “it all comes together with the grace of a summer breeze,” and predicted that as long as they “keep coming up with songs like the ones featured here, the sky is the limit.”
The Steep Canyon Rangers are performing at the Americana Music Association festival in Nashville this week, and next week, they will host the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards in Raleigh, NC.
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The Steep Canyon Rangers are:
Mike Guggino, mandolin/vocals
Charles R. Humphrey, III, bass/vocals
Woody Platt, guitar/lead and harmony vocals
Nicky Sanders, fiddle/vocals
Graham Sharp, banjo/lead and harmony vocals
They are joined by Mike Ashworth on drums
