Steep Canyon Rangers - Out in the Open CD

With OUT IN THE OPEN, Steep Canyon Rangers affirm their place as one of the most versatile and idiosyncratic bands in all of contemporary American music. The GRAMMY(r) Award-winning, North Carolina-based sextet has spent nearly two decades bending and shaping the bluegrass aesthetic, wedding it to elements of pop, country, folk rock, and more to create something original and all their own. OUT IN THE OPEN is perhaps Steep Canyon Rangers' bravest excursion thus far, transcending bluegrass while in many ways getting closest to the genre's true form thanks to producer Joe Henry's very traditional approach towards recording.

Steep Canyon Rangers have been expanding the parameters of bluegrass since coming together in 2000. Since then, the genre-defying band has developed a remarkable catalogue of original music - predominantly co-written by Sharp and bassist Charles R. Humphrey III - that links them to the past while at the same time, demonstrates their ambitious intent to bring string-based music into contemporary relevance.

With that goal in mind, Steep Canyon Rangers have in recent years begun collaborating with some of Americana's most distinctive producers, working with top studio hands like Larry Campbell (2013's TELL THE ONES I LOVE) and Jerry Douglas (2015's RADIO) to take newfangled routes in crafting their ever-evolving approach. OUT IN THE OPEN sees the band teaming up with Joe Henry, an accomplished singer-songwriter as well as a 3x GRAMMY(r) Award-winning producer (Solomon Burke, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Carolina Chocolate Drops) with a particular affinity for American roots music.

Indeed, Steep Canyon Rangers are easily among the hardest working bands in any genre, anywhere, pulling double duty on their own and as collaborators with Steve Martin. Since teaming with the legendary actor-comedian-writer-banjo player in 2009, SCR has produced not one but two unique bodies of work, dual catalogues in constant development - along with their own works, the band has teamed with Martin for 2011's GRAMMY(r) Award-nominated RARE BIRD ALERT and 2017's THE LONG-AWAITED ALBUM, while also backing Martin's own partnership with Edie Brickell on both 2013's LOVE HAS COME FOR YOU and the sold out tour that followed (captured for posterity on 2014's STEVE MARTIN AND THE STEEP CANYON RANGERS FEATURING EDIE BRICKELL - LIVE CD/DVD).

In addition to the highly anticipated release of OUT IN THE OPEN, 2018 will also see Steep Canyon Rangers uniting with their local Asheville Symphony for a series of unprecedented live performances and the recording of yet another new album, once again pushing their increasingly distinctive music into unexpected terrain.

OUT IN THE OPEN is an undeniable milestone on Steep Canyon Rangers' ongoing creative journey, its spirited, eclectic approach recasting the myriad sounds of string-based American music in their own unique image. As they fast approach their second decade, Steep Canyon Rangers are still moving forward, as ever searching for new horizons and musical vistas.

1. Farmers And Pharaohs
2. Let Me Out Of This Town
3. Out In The Open
4. Can't Get Home
5. Going Midwest
6. When She Was Mine
7. Love Harder
8. Shenandoah Valley
9. Best Of Me
10. Roadside Anthems
11. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
12. The Speed We're Traveling

Release date 01.26.2018