Simply stated, Steep Canyon Rangers rank among the upper echelon of today’s most prominent bluegrass bands. They’ve extended their musical template far beyond any confined parameters and into the realms of the wider culture, courtesy of songs that resonate with immediate accessibility, and all the elements needed to ensure popular appeal.
Live at Greenfield Lake is a perfect summation of their strengths and a true compendium of all the band has achieved in their career thus far. Recorded before a hometown crowd in Wilmington, North Carolina, it finds the band — drummer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Mike Ashworth; singer, songwriter, and banjo picker Graham Sharp; bassist and vocalist Barrett Smith; fiddler Nicky Sanders; singer and mandolin player Mike Guggino; and vocalist, guitarist and “new guy” Aaron Burdett — replaying songs from the band’s classic catalog, and breathing fresh life into each of them in the process.
A medley featuring the rousing concert favorite Tell the Ones I Love, intertwined with the traditional Chuck in the Bush, works especially well given the band’s penchant for spontaneity. Can’t Get Home and Take My Mind also resonate in live performance, retaining the substantive sentiment fully evident in the original studio recordings. So too, the tender tapestry that is Fare The Well, Carolina Girls, a song originally written by Robbie Fulks before being adapted as one of the Steeps’ seminal standards, is especially fitting considering this particular setting and circumstance.
Granted, there’s nothing like seeing Steep Canyon Rangers in concert, but for those unaware, or who have never had the opportunity, Live at Greenfield Lake could be considered the next best thing. It’s an album that offers a prime example of the skill and dexterity that this band brings to both their music and delivery. With a set list that spans two CDs and encompasses both beautiful ballads and rousing revelry, it represents them well. As a bluegrass band, they push the parameters. As live performers, they simply excel. Live at Greenfield Lake provides all the proof needed.
