Climb is now easier for Steep Canyon Rangers

Woody Platt, front center, says the Steep Canyon Rangers enjoy both being their own band and working with Steve Martin.

Steep Canyon Rangers guitarist and vocalist Woody Platt says his original influences didn't come from the bluegrass world and it wasn't one particular piece of music that set him on his musical path.

"I had a Boxcar Willie tape back when I had a one-speaker cassette player," says Platt, with a slight chuckle. "Then I remember Bob Dylan and that kind of thing around my parents' house. Then the Beach Boys and the Drifters. I liked the harmony. The harmonies just got me."

Vocal harmony has always been a big part of bluegrass, but it's a particularly strong element in the Steep Canyon Rangers' music.

"It's a huge part of our band," says Platt. "It was one of the hardest things for us to figure out — voices singing together and the instruments laying down a pocket for the voices to sing together. In a lot of music they just take it for granted."

The Rangers formed in the late 1990s in Chapel Hill, N.C., and found a local footing performing at the city's Mellow Mushroom restaurant before making inroads on the national circuit. In 2006, the band was awarded Emerging Artist of the Year at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards.

Although the group can sound traditional, the Rangers don't rest their reputation on the best rendition of "Fox on the Run."

"We're not steeped in the bluegrass tradition," says Platt. "We didn't know all the standards. Our first trip into the recording studio was with all original songs."

The group's profile has been upped tremendously from the band's association with an artist who wasn't previously known for his music.

When comedian/actor/banjo player Steve Martin decided to support his album "The Crow," he needed a top-flight bluegrass band to play with. Martin and the Rangers knew each other from when Martin and his wife would vacation in Brevard, N.C., (where half of the Rangers now live) and the Rangers would play local gigs. When he asked the group to tour and, later, record with him, it took the Rangers' music to audiences who had never heard of them.

"We've been really lucky teaming up with Steve Martin," says Platt. "It's been a real pleasure."

It was probably lucky for Martin, too. With the Rangers he found able and enthusiastic collaborators both on stage and for the album "Rare Bird Alert."

The album has gotten excellent reviews and has been nominated for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.

The group recently completed a new album without Martin that will be released in the spring.

"We've got the best of both worlds," says Platt. "We tour on our own for half the year and with Steve half the year. Right now we're super-excited to be out on our own and be playing these new songs."

He says the group is constantly writing both on the road and off and both alone and with Martin.

The collaboration hasn't, he says, changed the group.

"If anyone would kind of think we're ditching our roots because of what we're doing that would be a misconception. Our tour schedule is a little different. We may not be playing as much in certain areas, but we're really the same."

The same, except everything seems to be on track more than ever before.

"At the moment we're sort of resetting our goals because we've surpassed some of them. We had an opportunity that we never imagined that we would have."

© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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