{"id":12482,"date":"2017-03-27T05:30:58","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T09:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=12482"},"modified":"2017-03-22T09:47:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T13:47:10","slug":"del-mccoury-and-steep-canyon-rangers-mutual-admiration-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/27\/del-mccoury-and-steep-canyon-rangers-mutual-admiration-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Del McCoury and Steep Canyon Rangers: Mutual Admiration Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bluegrass legend Del McCoury<\/strong> remembers vividly the first time he saw and heard the Steep Canyon Rangers<\/strong>. It was at a street festival in Raleigh or Charlotte, not long after the group had formed. \u201cThe boys might have still been in college, or just out of college,\u201d he recalls. Even then, he was struck by their distinct musical personality. And of course as bluegrass players themselves, the Rangers were all fans of McCoury and his body of work. The current-day fruit of that mutual admiration society was a three-date run by The Steep Canyon Rangers with special guest Del McCoury at Asheville’s Orange Peel last January.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of these younger bands, you know, they tend to sound alike,\u201d says McCoury. \u201cBut those boys, they have their own sound. And it’s a natural thing. Woody<\/strong> [Platt<\/strong>] has got his own voice, and of course they’ve got great harmonies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perhaps more than with most other styles of popular music, tradition is a highly-valued commodity. Now 77, Pennsylvania-born McCoury developed musically in the mid-Appalachian region, while the Steep Canyon Rangers are from Brevard, N.C. McCoury thinks that time and location do account for some of the differences between his music and that of the Rangers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaturally, a lot of the younger musicians were influenced by different people than I was,\u201d McCoury says. \u201cMyself, when I heard Earl Scruggs<\/strong>, that was it<\/i> for me. But when I was in my teenage years in high school \u2013 and that’s when I was really into music \u2013 all the other kids in school were listening to Elvis Presley<\/strong>, Jerry Lee Lewis<\/strong> and that ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ guy, Carl Perkins<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCoury claims that banjo player Scruggs (working with guitarist Lester Flatt<\/strong>) was a primary influence of his, along with Bill Monroe<\/strong>. \u201cI think it’s just according to what young people hear when at a certain age,\u201d he says. \u201cIt hits you like a ton of bricks, man. And then you can’t let go of it. But I’m not sure about [who influenced] these boys, because they’re a lot younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps McCoury’s just being modest. When asked about their influences, the Rangers are unequivocal. \u201cThe Del McCoury Band has been my favorite bluegrass band since I first started learning to play my instrument in college,\u201d says mandolin player Michael Guggino<\/strong>. \u201cI’ve always appreciated how he and his band have had one foot in the traditional bluegrass world, and one in the progressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rangers’ banjo player Graham Sharp<\/strong> believes that McCoury has \u201cbeen making the best traditional bluegrass anywhere for a long while now.\u201d He singles out Del’s voice for special praise: \u201cHe’s always been lonesome, but somehow it makes you smile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lead singer and guitarist Woody Platt echoes his band mates’ sentiments. \u201cDel is a bluegrass hero of ours; he and his band have influenced us as much or more than any other bluegrass group. I love how Del has maintained his traditional roots but has been able to cross over to a wide variety of fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked for his perspective on the reasons behind the resurgence of bluegrass in popular culture \u2013 especially among younger audiences \u2013 McCoury notes that he views bluegrass as an art form. But he goes on to contrast it with other kinds of popular music, like vocal pop. \u201cFor a teenager that stuff’s just too mild,\u201d he says. \u201cThose crooners will not hit a teenager; they just want some fire<\/i> in it, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

The three Asheville dates offered concertgoers a choice of experiences: the January 20 and 21 concerts were standing shows, while the sold-out Sunday performance had a seated audience. McCoury likes both kinds of shows. \u201cThe standing audience is usually louder,\u201d he says. \u201cThey’re more vocal, and they’ll holler up requests and this and that. I like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But seated shows have their appeal, too. McCoury likes it \u201cwhen you can hear a pin drop in between songs. But it’s the variety: that’s<\/i> what I like. And I suppose the boys are used to that too; they’re used to playing to a reverent audience, and then they’re used to playing to a loud audience. It’s all just fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other than his tours with mandolin player David Grisman<\/strong>, McCoury doesn’t do a lot of live dates without his own band. So the shows with the Steep Canyon Rangers are something special. Speaking about his live dates with Grisman, McCoury notes that \u201c if we mess up, everybody knows it. There’s nowhere to go! And it’s kind of that way with these boys, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m always up for a challenge,\u201d McCoury says, \u201cand when you step outside of your own band, you get one.\u201d He is looking forward to the excitement of being onstage with them. With a laugh, he adds, \u201cBut it might be drudgery for them guys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bluegrass legend Del McCoury remembers vividly the first time he saw and heard the Steep Canyon Rangers. It was at a street festival in Raleigh or Charlotte, not long after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,41],"tags":[3013,3014],"class_list":["post-12482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americana","category-interview","tag-del-mccoury","tag-steep-canyon-rangers","cat-6-id","cat-41-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12484,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12482\/revisions\/12484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}