Bluegrass Roots

With a boost from Steve Martin, the Steep Canyon Rangers made America rediscover the banjo

The Steep Canyon Rangers is probably most recognized as “the band with Steve Martin,” but the group developed is music reputation way before Martin joined the fun. Woody Platt, Graham Sharp, Mike Guggino, Charles R. Humphrey III and Nicky Sanders released their first album Old Dreams and New Dreams under the Steep Canyon Rangers moniker back in 2001 and continued to release four more records before being nominated for “Album and Gospel Performance of the Year” by the International Bluegrass Music Association—and before Steve Martin jumped on the banjo bandwagon in 2009. It was during a broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion that Martin began playing with the band. Along with actor-turned-musician, the Steep Canyon Rangers took its newly formed show on the road to the Hardly Strickly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco, Carnegie Hall in New York and Benaroya Hall in Seattle and in later years to Bonnaroo and A Capitol Fourth celebration. Last year, Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers recorded Rare Bird Alert and were recognized as Entertainers of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. CULTURE recently chatted with guitarist/vocalist Woody Platt to discuss the group and working with Martin.

What have you learned from Steve Martin?

We’ve played a lot of shows as the Steep Canyon Rangers but doing it night after night after night you just naturally get more comfortable. And when you watch Steve working on stage it kind of rubs off on you. It just seems like we’ve become better entertainers.

Tell me honestly: Is Steve really a great banjo player?

Yes he is and I’ll tell you why. It’s because he has his own style. And it’s a great style. He can impress an audience with his speed and with the melodies that he plays. Everything he plays he wrote and when you hear him come on the radio you know it’s him. He’s never copied anybody. He learned how to play his own way and it’s good. It’s really well-executed.

How would you say bluegrass is doing in America as a genre?

. . . I think—the traditional side of the music is maybe suffering a little bit—trying to maintain that traditional core sound and fanbase. But at the same time I think the way the roots of bluegrass have kind of grown out and turned into these branches and different styles of music . . . there is a lot of that. So in the broad sense it’s doing really well.

Every living art form needs to be able to evolve and accept and be influenced by new ideas and new sounds. Otherwise it’s just a museum exhibit.

Absolutely. And bluegrass has done that and is constantly doing that. And even the players who grew up in the traditional format—a lot of them have branched out and are taking it in new directions. So I think the genre on the whole is really healthy because of the impact it is having on the music scene on a much larger scale.

www.steepcanyon.com.

Evening Star

Comedian and actor Steve Martin is no stranger to cannabis. One of his oft-quoted bits from his standup during the ’60s was this gem: “I used to smoke marijuana. But I’ll tell you something: I would only smoke it in the late evening. Oh, occasionally the early evening, but usually the late evening—or the mid-evening. Just the early evening, mid-evening and late evening. Occasionally, early afternoon, early mid-afternoon or perhaps the late-mid-afternoon. Oh, sometimes the early-mid-late-early morning . . . But never at dusk.” Martin also pretended to sell marijuana at a fictional NYC park during a skit earlier this year on The David Letterman Show.