GRAMMY award-winning Western North Carolina-based Steep Canyon Rangers will release Arm In Arm October 16 on Yep Roc Records. “Every River,” the second track from their thirteenth album, is at all digital service providers, and the album’s now available for pre-order.
Recorded over several days at the iconic Southern Ground Studios in Nashville, which marked the first time the band recorded outside NC, Arm in Arm was produced by the band with Brandon Bell (Zac Brown, John Prine). Featuring 11 original compositions, the album sees the band expanding their sound by paying homage to their early influences and the bluegrass tradition for which they’re known.
With no extended tour on the horizon, the band has confirmed three free drive-in concerts in North Carolina; a full list of dates is below. From their cars, fans will watch Steep Canyon Rangers perform from a state-of-the-art mobile stage truck equipped with a 16-foot LED screen Audio will be transmitted via radio frequency directly to cars. WNCW will live stream the show on August 28. All shows start at 8:30pm; for tickets, visit: Candaid.org.
In light of their May 8 benefit concert cancellation sponsored by Wicked Weed Brewing, the brewer will now contribute ten dollars per album (up to 2,000 albums) sold via the Yep Roc store to Haywood Street’s Downtown Welcome Table, an Asheville, NC-based organization that provides a fine dining experience meant to counter the notion often held by those living on the streets that handouts, hand-me downs, and leftovers are all I deserve.
Read more about the new release at Rolling Stone Country and Asheville Citizen-Times.
Arm In Arm follows two 2019 releases that both debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Bluegrass chart: North Carolina Songbook, an eight-song live album recorded at Merlefest featuring reinterpretations of songs from cross-generational NC icons; and Be Still Moses, an 11-song collaboration between the band and the Asheville Symphony, which featured a collaboration with Boyz II Men and the Asheville Symphony on the title track.
Over a 20-year career, the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame inductees have released 12 solo albums and three collaborative albums with actor/banjoist Steve Martin. The Steep Canyon Rangers are Woody Platt, Graham Sharp, Mike Guggino, Nicky Sanders, Mike Ashworth, Barrett Smith.
Steep Canyon Rangers Drive-In Tour
August 27 – Brevard Music Center – Brevard, NC
August 28 – The Riveter – Asheville, NC
August 29 – Old Avondale Mill Site – Burnsville, NC
The band is able to offer these concerts, free-to-the-public, thanks to the generosity of the following community partners and sponsors: Can’d Aid, Zander Insurance, Young & McQueen Grading Company, Homeplace Beer Company, Come Hear NC, Wicked Weed Brewing, Looking Glass Eye Center, Mosaic Realty, PLATT, Explore Brevard, Brevard Insurance, French Broad Stone & Supply, Smith, Terry, Johnson & Windle Construction Law, Harkness Design, Brevard Music Center, and The Riveter.
