Album Review: Steep Canyon Rangers, ‘Next Act’
The Steep Canyon Rangers couldn’t have picked a more perfect title for their fifteenth album, for they are always evolving musically as they step into their Next Act. Friends Steve Martin, Edie Brickell, and Celia Woodsmith, of Della Mae, join the band—banjoist Graham Sharp, mandolinist Mike Guggino, guitarist Aaron Burdett, fiddler Nicky Sanders on fiddle and vocals, drummer and dobroist Mike Ashworth, and bassist and guitarist Barrett—as they dwell within the nuances of traditional bluegrass and explore new directions in this familiar landscape.
The album kicks off with the rollicking “Rumble Strips,” fueled by Sharp’s scampering banjo rolls chasing Sanders’ careering fiddle; after the song’s final verse, each musician stretches out on the instrumental romp that closes the song. Doubled guitar and banjo notes open the poignant title track, a somber minor-chord meditation on the end of a relationship and a defiantdeclaration about the singer’s “next act”: “For my next act I’m going to have me a little fun.” The spare opening measures of “Circling the Drain” unfold into an urgent instrumental flight that mimics the fraught character of survival in a place that we once called home that’s now been ripped away by industrialization. Martin joins the band on the atmospheric “Heart’s the Only Compass” a tale testifying to the power of love that features cascading mandolin riffs and banjo runs. Brickell contributes harmony vocals to “Halfway to Reno,” a luminous road song that shines with anticipation (“Two more days and a couple of planes/ Till I’ll be home to you.”) The skittering “Roll of the Dice” perfectly evokes the uncertainty and risks inherent in the chances we take in life and the ways that our responses shape our lives. The lively front porch Appalachian old-time “Hard Times” features Woodsmith’s soaring harmony vocals and is a highlight of the album. The album closes with the cinematic “Hard Luck Kid,” a moving ballad that develops spaciously, narrating the difficulties faced by the title character and praying for “one more chance for” and “a little grace for” the “hard luck kid.”
Next Act showcases the band’s ceaseless instrumental creativity, their intuitive ability to find the sounds between the notes, and their inventive lyricism.
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Next Act is available HERE.
