By Wil Comstock
MCAU Contributing Writer
AmericanaFest 2023:
Evening Show on Sept. 21
Analog at The Hutton Hotel
The founding members of Steep Canyon Rangers met at UNC Chapel Hill. They played for fun never intending to become a professional bluegrass band. Once college ended, they didn’t have any individual game plans, so they moved in together, wrote songs, and kept on practicing and gigging. This eventually led to a four-album deal with Rebel Records in 2004.
With each album release their popularity grew. In 2008 long time supporter and friend Ann Stringfield invited them to a dinner party. They brought their instruments and ended up playing in the backyard with Ann’s future husband, Steve Martin. The Rangers toured as Martin’s backup band in 2009 supporting his album “The Crow: New Songs for the Five String Banjo.” In 2011, they collaborated with Martin on their joint CD“Rare Bird Alert,” which also featured Paul McCartney. The CD debuted at number one on the bluegrass chart and secured their place in Bluegrass history.
Thursday evening’s show consisted mostly of songs from their early September release “Morning Shift.” They dived off with “Jump in the Deep End” and immediately had the audience tapping their feet and nodding their heads. They traded off on lead vocals within the same song reminding me of the early Beatles. Their musicianship is impeccable, and their harmonies soul satisfying. I especially liked “Second in Line,” “Harvest Queen,” and the hymnlike “Above my Burdens.”
Phillip Bowen first came to fame on America’s Got Talent, where he surprised the judges and audience with his deft skills on the violin. Bowen chose not to use the violin on his set at the Analog, possibly because he was sandwiched between two bluegrass acts with fiddles. I wish he had. His playing is exciting and anything but bluegrass, but it would have been a welcome break between his self-penned songs on guitar and vocals. Phillip lost the audience by the fourth song. Some were looking at their cell phones while others were gathering at the bar. This West Virginia native would benefit from co-writing here in Nashville. Most of his songs just didn’t cut it for this discerning crowd.
Grammy Award winning fiddler Michael Cleveland had us in the palm of his hand after the first few bars of “Orange Blossom Special.” He and his band The Flamekeepers kept us entertained with the upbeat “Sunny Days” and the high lonesome sound of “The Blues Are Close at Hand.” Maybe I’m not too observant, but in researching Cleveland, I read that he was blind at birth and as a child lost 80% of his hearing in one ear from an infection. I was so caught up in the music, I did not notice his disability. I’m thinking this is as it should be. Thank you, Michael!
Dan Tyminski is a seasoned professional. He is part of Alison Krauss’ band Union Station, as well as an artist in his own right. He didn’t bring a band, but he didn’t need to… just Dan and his acoustic singing from the depths of his soul and alternately making us laugh. He kicked off with “Huckleberry,” drawing us in with each line. He joked that he used to save his next song for last. But most people left after the first couple of songs and were disappointed that he never did his most popular number.
After his stirring rendition of “Man of Constant Sorrow,” Tyminski shared a funny story. When he told his wife he was going to do a voiceover for the film “Brother Where Art Thou,” she asked him what a “voiceover” was. When he told her she would see George Clooney while hearing her singer husband’s voice, her response was, “That’s my fantasy!”
Tyminski said he had a hard time after Tony Rice died in 2020. He and friend Josh Williams were mourning Rice when they came up with “One More Time Before You Go” in tribute to Tony. He closed his set with the title cut from his new album, “God Fearing Heathen.” A well written, honest look at his life and hope for the future. I left the Analog feeling like I had just consumed a delectable meal!
Text by Wil Comstock.
Photos by Chuck Whiting
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Linked In @MusicCityArts
No comments:
Post a Comment