Steep canyon rangers biography books

Graham Sharp has had the kind of career any banjo player dreams of. He started the Steep Canyon Rangers in college with a group of friends, immediately discovered he had a knack for songwriting, and the rest is history in the making. Twenty-three years, nine albums and a Grammy Award later, the Steep Canyon Rangers (behind the strength of Graham’s songwriting), have established themselves as one of the best bluegrass and Americana bands of their era. I was grateful for the chance to talk with this insightful artist, play some really beautiful music, and reminisce about our shared history. I hope you enjoy this episode of The Happy Hour.

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This podcast is an edited distillation of the full-length happy hour which aired live on June 8th of 2022. Huge thanks to Graham Sharp and Julian Pinelli.

Timestamps:

0:05 – Soundbyte
0:34 – Introduction
2:56 – On the Carolina Guitar Celebration & Tony Rice
4:26 – “Home From the Forest”
8:46 – Introducing Graham Sharp
10:00 – Interview 1
25:54 – “Can’t Get Home”
30:06 – Interview 2
43:50 – “Coming Back to Life”
49:28 – Fiddle music!
54:35 – “Generation Blues”
58:17 – Outro

Editor’s note: The Travis Book Happy Hour is hosted by Travis Book of the GRAMMY Award-winning band, The Infamous Stringdusters. The show’s focus is musical collaboration and conversation around matters of being. The podcast is the best of the interview and music from the live show recorded in Asheville, NC.

The Travis Book Happy Hour Podcast is brought to you by Thompson Guitars and is presented by Americana Vibes and The Bluegrass Situation as part of the BGS Podcast Network. You can find the Travis Book Happy Hour on Instagram and Facebook and online at thetravisbookhappyhour.com.

Photo Credit: Sandlin Gaither Music Photography

Steep Canyon Rangers’ Arm in Arm, their first collection of all-new material in two years, is a set of highly grown-up songs, some with storylines that you’d expect from the likes of Drive-By Truckers or Bruce Springsteen. It’s more loose-limbed and less traditional than past Rangers albums, with fine ensemble playing throughout.

BGS caught up with co-leaders Woody Platt and Graham Sharp in separate conversations leading up to the release of Arm in Arm. After starting with Platt yesterday, here is the conversation with Sharp.

BGS: With the band off the road, have you been able to do any songwriting during this time?

Sharp: I started off writing on a real tear the first few months. But then I slacked off a bit, in part because that coincided with me starting to make an album of my own. Switching from writing to recording slowed down that end of it, but working on my own stuff is kind of out of necessity. For the band to survive this and come back when it’s time, we’ve all got to look out for ourselves a little more.

It’s a strange new hustle, but we’re holding up pretty good. We’ve all been forced to sort of pivot, after having not stopped moving in 20 years. This is the longest any of us have stayed put that whole time. It takes a moment to settle, but it’s been eye-opening. Forced me into some new directions that have been good and ought to pay dividends once we can get the band back together. I’m trying to pull out as many silver linings as I can.

I don’t know where or when it will ever come out, but the solo album is close to done. I’ve been working with Seth Kaufman from Floating Action in his little basement studio here in Black Mountain. It’s mostly new songs, and a handful of tunes the Rangers have been kicking around a while without getting to them. Nothing bluegrass