Steep Canyon Rangers play the Blue Ridge Music Center

The Blue Ridge Music Center is eager to welcome back the Grammy Award-winning Steep Canyon Rangers. They will perform Saturday, June 8, as part of the Roots of American Music summer concert series. The show will also feature a ticketed pre-concert reception that will include hors d’oeuvres, beer, and wine from Creek Bottom Brewery hosted from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Luthier Shop at the Music Center. The Wildmans will open the show at 7 p.m.

A bluegrass band at its core, the Steep Canyon Rangers effortlessly walk the line between festival favorite and sophisticated string orchestra. It’s that mix of serious chops and good-natured fun that earned the Steep Canyon Rangers the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2013 for Nobody Knows You, and drew celebrated comedian and banjoist Steve Martin to call on them when he needed a backing band. The Steep Canyon Rangers are world-class musicians who are just as at home taking the stage at Carnegie Hall as they are knee-deep in a mountain brook, fly rod in hand. The group is comprised of Woody Platt (acoustic guitar, vocals), Graham Sharp (banjo, vocals), Mike Guggino (mandolin, vocals), Nicky Sanders (fiddle, vocals), Charles Humphrey III (upright bass, vocals), and Mike Ashworth (box kit, cajón, vocals). 

The Wildmans are an acoustic string band hailing from the hills of Floyd, Virginia. They take inspiration from the old masters of mountain musicians, including Bill Monroe, Kenny Baker, and Doc Watson, as well as many modern and nontraditional artists, such as Chris Thile and Lake Street Dive. From campsite jamming at festivals and fiddler's conventions and classical music education comes the foundation for musical exploration that sets this group apart. The band features the award-winning talents of siblings Eli (16) on mandolin and Aila (14) on fiddle and vocals, and their mom Deb Wildman on bass, joined by young banjo prodigy Victor Furtado. Concert tickets are $25. Reception tickets are $35.

Tickets

Since 2013, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has supported concert programming at the Blue Ridge Music Center in keeping with the nonprofit’s mission to ensure cultural and historical preservation, along with natural resource protection, educational outreach, and visitor enjoyment now and for future generations.