Steep Canyon hits the right note

The Steep Canyon Rangers in concert on the school auditorium stage. From the left, Nicky Sanders, Graham Sharp, Mike Guggino, Woody Platt and Charles R. Humphrey III.

They clapped, whistled and stomped their feet during Saturdaynight’s Steep Canyon Rangers concert in the Shelter Island Schoolauditorium – a full house showing its appreciation for the talentedand very energetic bluegrass band.

Hailing from Asheville, North Carolina, the quintet wasintroduced to the Island by members of its own bluegrass group,DuneGrass’s Tom Hashagen and Lisa Shaw, and was hosted by thetown’s Recreation Department for a one-night-only performance thatran the gamut from the traditional bluegrass that is at the group’score to classic country, honky tonk and the blues.

DuneGrass opened for the Rangers, setting the tone with aspirited set by Ms. Shaw (guitar, lead vocal), Mr. Hashagen(mandolin), Sarah Shepherd in her debut performance (drum), DanSkabeikis (fiddle) and Sandra Chapin (bass).

The Rangers are distinguished not just by their musicianship butthe strength of their song writing. The last three of their CDsreleased on the Rebel label feature 31 numbers with original wordsand music by Graham Sharp (banjo), Mike Groggino (mandolin) orCharles Humphrey III (bass). Saturday night’s audience wasintroduced to many of them – from the close harmony of “One Dime ata Time to “Have Mercy and “Mountains Gonna Sing, an NPR selectionas one of the top 10 folk songs of 2009.

The band closed with “Lovin’ Pretty Women, the title song of thealbum by that name that won them an International Bluegrass MusicAssociation nomination for album of the year in 2008.

Woody Platt (guitar) is the lead vocalist for the group – verysolid, easy on the ear and a musical magnet for the tight harmoniesof many of the band’s arrangements.

The fifth member, Nicky Sanders, joined the group five years agoand squeezed sounds out of his fiddle that had Saturday’s audiencecheering – to be matched only when he invited DuneGrass’s fiddler,Dan Skabeikis, out to play “Orange Blossom Special with him, avirtuoso performance by both musicians.

The group’s ensemble work on stage is perhaps due to the factthat for the most part they’ve been playing together since theywere students at the University of North Carolina, some 10 yearsago. They share the stage introductions of one another as well astheir interactions with the audience (helped along by the dry witof bassist Charles Humphrey, laced with commentary about SIBTA),and they seamlessly weave together their vocal harmonies andindividual instrumental moments in the spotlight. “The bottom line,Woody Platt said in a recent Mountain XPress interview, “is we’rereally good friends … I feel there’s a lot of collective effortin what we do. And that showed to advantage at this concert.

In an evening of standout performances and musicianship, therewas one particularly memorable moment when the band members putdown their instruments and sang, a cappella, the gospel song, “Ican’t sit down. That got cheers, too.

The Rangers have come off a good year – a new album, “Deep inthe Shade, which is climbing the billboard charts; a collaborationwith comedian and banjoist Steve Martin that led to a Carnegie Hallconcert this past fall and an appearance on David Letterman’s LateShow; and more than 120 performances around the country.

Over the past few years, they have been featured at the GrandOle Opry as well as at major U.S. bluegrass festivals such asMerleFest, Telluride and Rocky Grass. Their interest in expandingthe audience for bluegrass has taken them to festivals in Sweden,Ireland, Germany and Canada, and their enthusiasm for bringingbluegrass to the next generation has led to their playing at rockclubs, jam band festivals and other non-traditional venues.

Steve Martin may have summed up the group’s appeal and soundbest when he said this on the liner of the Rangers recent CD: “…it makes you feel that even though you haven’t heard this musicbefore, it seems like you have, or at least should have.

A Washington Post reviewer of the same CD wrote this month thatthe Rangers “have emerged as one of the most engaging string bandsaround – a prediction come true since their winning the EmergingArtist of the Year award at the 2006 International Bluegrass MusicAssociation ceremonies.

And Tom Hashagen introduced them to Shelter Island as a band”whose time has come.

No one in the audience on Saturday night could have doubted thatfor one minute of the Rangers’ two-hour concert.