GRAMMY® award-winning group, The SteelDrivers, announce today their 2017 winter tour dates at top venues and festivals across the country. Their tour will include a special two-night run at Nashville’s 3rd and Lindsley, February 25 and 26. Tickets go on sale on November 18 on the band’s website.
Rounder Records super group, The SteelDrivers received two nominations today as announced by the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) live during the annual press conference on the Bluegrass Junction channel on Sirius/XM. The Steeldrivers’ received nods for Album of the Year and “Song of the Year” – “Long Way Down” written by Tammy Rogers, Elizabeth Mala Hengber and Jerry Salley. The 2016 awards will be held on September 29 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Three-time Grammy nominees The SteelDrivers have cause to celebrate: their new album, The Muscle Shoals Recordings, which was released to great acclaim on June 16 via Rounder Records, has debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Chart. The album, which landed at #5 on the Top New Artist Albums Chart, and #125 on the Top Current Albums Chart, achieved the highest first-week sales in the band’s history. The band kicked off release week with a special show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, which was broadcast live on Sirius XM’s Bluegrass Junction. They followed up with a live set and signing at Nashville record mecca Grimey’s, and closed out the day with a performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
From there, they headed to Muscle Shoals, where they played to a packed house at Florence’s 116 E. Mobile Street. The band is in the midst of a tour of the United States, and will be on the road through the end of the year.
Here’s what some critics are saying about The Muscle Shoals Recordings:
“While you might not initially think of bluegrass as being soulful, it’s probably because you haven’t heard the SteelDrivers.” Jim Casey, Country Weekly
“Impeccable instrumental work, powerful vocals and songwriting that demonstrates that simply told stories can be powerful.” David Morris, Bluegrass Today
“The group has rarely sounded more focused or passionate.” Hal Horowitz, American Songwriter
“The aptly-named The Muscle Shoals Recordings (Rounder), reflects the same soul and blues ache so evident in the town made famous by Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and the Staples family, among many others.” Suzanne Cadgene, Elmore
“The SteelDrivers have established soulgrass as their own little niche…“The Muscle Shoals Recordings continues the band's string of superior bluegrass recordings.” Donald Teplyske, Country Standard Time
For more information, please contact Regina Joskow rjoskow@rounder.com, 917-532-5687, or Ashley Moyer ashley.moyer@concordmusicgroup.com, 615.928.4777 at the Rounder Label Group, or Jules Wortman at Wortman Works, jwortman@wortmanworks.com, 615.431-5059.
The SteelDrivers On Tour:
6/26/2015 Rudyfest Grayson, KY 7/2/2015 The Ready Room St. Louis, MO 7/3/2015 Shawnee Bluff Vineyards Eldon, MO 7/4/2015 Wanderlust Festival Snowmass Village, CO 7/11/2015 Uncle Dave Macon Days Murfreesboro, TN 7/16/2015 Grey Fox Bluegrasss Festival Oak Hill, NY 7/19/2015 Forecastle Louisville, KY 7/23/2015 Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman Nashville, TN 7/24/2015 Musicians Against Childhood Cancer Columbus, OH 7/25/2015 Muncie Three Trails Music Series Muncie, IN 7/30/2015 Infinity Hall Norfolk, CT 7/31/2015 Pemi Valley Bluegrass Festival Thorton, NH 8/7/2015 The Bijou Theatre Knoxville, TN 8/8/2015 Mountain Stage Elkins, WV 8/9/2015 Rams Head Tavern Annapolis, MD 8/28/2015 Ocean Lakes Bluegrass Weekend Myrtle Beach, SC 8/29/2015 The Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC 9/5/2015 Cumberland River Music Festival Williamsburg, KY 9/10/2015 The Music Box Supper Club Cleveland, OH 9/11/2015 Park Street Saloon Columbus, OH 9/12/2015 “Party in the Holler” at Ace Adventure Resort – Mendon, WV 9/18/2015 Poppy Mountain Bluegrass Festival Morehead, KY 9/19/2015 Bristol Rhythm & Roots Bristol, TN 10/2/2015 Greenup Old Fashion Days Greenup, KY 10/10/2015 Clayton Shindig Clayton, NC 10/18/2015 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, MN 11/7/2015 Boyd County Community Center Cattlesburg, KY
Fresh off their appearance at the CMA Music Fest in Nashville, innovative, soulful bluegrass band the SteelDrivers -- Tammy Rogers, Gary Nichols, Mike Fleming, Brent Truitt, and Richard Bailey -- are celebrating the release of their acclaimed new album, The Muscle Shoals Recordings, with a series of live hometown events in Nashville and Florence, Alabama this week. This afternoon, the band will do a live performance and interview for Sirius XM’s Bluegrass Junction at 2:00 PM at the Bridgestone Arena, followed by a meet & greet with the audience at 3:00 PM. From there, they will head to local record mecca Grimey’s, located at 1604 8th Avenue South, for a brief live set and signing at 4:30. They’ll close out the day with a performance at the Grand Ole Opry at 8:00 PM.
On Wednesday, June 17, they head to Florence, Alabama, the home of singer-guitarist Gary Nichols, for an intimate live show at 116 E. Mobile Street. The venue, which is run by the owners of Single Lock Records (Will Trapp, Ben Tanner, and John Paul White), has quickly earned a reputation for being among the best places to see live music in the region. Prior to the show, at 6:00 PM, the band will host a meet and greet at Billy Reid, next door to the venue.
The band’s recent tour dates have wowed critics, who praise the band’s “gutsy, gritty bluegrass songs” (Juli Thanki, Tennessean). Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, AD Amorosi declared “You can call it power-bluegrass or country soul, but whatever you call it, Nashville's SteelDrivers have bushels of it.”
Early reviews of the album are equally effusive. Country Standard Time’s Donald Teplyske writes “the group has embraced its uniqueness: The SteelDrivers have established soulgrass as their own little niche,” and goes on to say “The Muscle Shoals Recordings continues the band's string of superior bluegrass recordings.” Jeff Simon of the Buffalo News says “it’s not all that long a way from Nashville to Muscle Shoals – not geographically or musically either. The trip was worth making.” All Music’s Mark Deming calls it “music played with soul, heart, honesty, and skill…the music speaks for itself, and what it says is eloquent and deeply pleasing.”
The SteelDrivers will be on tour throughout the summer and fall, and will announce new dates shortly.
For more information, please contact Regina Joskow rjoskow@rounder.com, 917.532.5687 or Ashley Moyer ashley.moyer@concordmusicgroup.com, 615.928.4777 at the Rounder Label Group, or Jules Wortman at Wortman Works, jwortman@wortmanworks.com, 615.431-5059.
The SteelDrivers On Tour:
6/16/2015, Grand Ole Opry House (w/Terri Clark) Nashville, TN 6/17/2015, 116 Mobile Muscle Shoals, AL 6/18/2015 Marriott Shoals Resort & Confrence Center Florence, AL 6/19/2015 Eckert's Country Store Summer Concert Series Belleville, IL 6/26/2015 Rudyfest Grayson, KY 7/2/2015 The Ready Room St. Louis, MO 7/3/2015 Shawnee Bluff Vineyards Eldon, MO 7/4/2015 Wanderlust Festival Snowmass Village, CO 7/5/2015 Knuckleheads (Do Not Announce) Kansas City, MO 7/11/2015 Uncle Dave Macon Days Murfreesboro, TN 7/16/2015 Grey Fox Bluegrasss Festival Oak Hill, NY 7/19/2015 Forecastle Louisville, KY 7/23/2015 Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman Nashville, TN 7/24/2015 Musicians Against Childhood Cancer Columbus, OH 7/25/2015 Muncie Three Trails Music Series Muncie, IN 7/30/2015 Infinity Hall Norfolk, CT 7/31/2015 Pemi Valley Bluegrass Festival Thorton, NH 8/7/2015 The Bijou Theatre Knoxville, TN 8/8/2015 Mountain Stage Elkins, WV 8/9/2015 Rams Head Tavern Annapolis, MD 8/28/2015 Ocean Lakes Bluegrass Weekend Myrtle Beach, SC 8/29/2015 The Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC 9/5/2015 Cumberland River Music Festival Williamsburg, KY 9/10/2015 The Music Box Supper Club Cleveland, OH 9/11/2015 Park Street Saloon Columbus, OH 9/18/2015 Poppy Mountain Bluegrass Festival Morehead, KY 9/19/2015 Bristol Rhythm & Roots Bristol, TN 10/2/2015 Greenup Old Fashion Days Greenup, KY 10/10/2015 Clayton Shindig Clayton, NC 10/18/2015 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, MN 11/7/2015 Boyd County Community Center Cattlesburg, KY
The SteelDrivers’ innovative, soulful brand of bluegrass has made them one of the most successful bands on the contemporary bluegrass scene. The band, which has earned three Grammy nominations and garnered tremendous critical acclaim, has announced their fourth album for Rounder, The Muscle Shoals Recordings, which will be released on June 16, 2015. In celebration of the release, the band has a special event planned at 116 E. Mobile Street, in Florence, AL, on June 17th at 8pm. Tickets available here. The evening will feature a full concert performance from The SteelDrivers themselves in the intimate 150 capacity venue, co-run by Single Lock Records (owners Will Trapp, Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes), John Paul White (Civil Wars)). There will also be a meet and greet with the band from 6-7pm before the show at Billy Reid with food available to the public from local southern inspired restaurant Odette's.
The SteelDrivers will also be performing on Muscle Shoals to Music Row Live, June 18th. Tickets for the 2 hour live radio broadcast/webcast are available on the website. It can also be streamed worldwide on www.kix96country.com.
The album is largely inspired by Muscle Shoals, an area of confluence and consequence, of intermingling, experimentation, and exultation, and a legendary music mecca. It’s also the hometown of the SteelDrivers’ lead vocalist and guitarist Gary Nichols, whose bandmates – fiddler and vocalist Tammy Rogers, banjoist Richard Bailey, mandolinist Brent Truitt, and bassist and singer Mike Fleming – made the two-and-a-half hour trek from Nashville to Sheffield, Alabama, to the NuttHouse Recording Studio to record eleven new original tunes, mostly written by Rogers and Nichols.
There, they conjured a singularly compelling sound, drenched in soul, blues, bluegrass, R&B, country, and rock’n’roll. Jason Isbell – Nichols’ friend and musical compatriot since childhood, and himself an extraordinary singer, songwriter, and guitarist – co-produced two of the album’s 11 tracks and contributed slide guitar to two (the aforementioned “Brother John, ” and “Ashes of Yesterday”).
Gary Nichols has emerged as a vocalist of distinction, as a monster acoustic guitarist, and as a songwriting force who wrote or co-wrote five of Shoals Recordings’ 11 songs, including the plaintive “Here She Goes,” and the dark ballad “Brother John.” Tammy Rogers stepped up her songwriting as well, and she has credits on all but one of the album’s remaining songs, including the stirring waltz “Ashes of Yesterday,” and the somber, reflective album closer, “River Runs Red,” a meditation on the Civil War. Richard Bailey composed the lone instrumental, the joyous, rousing “California Chainsaw.” The one outlier on The Muscle Shoals Recordings is “Drinkin’ Alone,” a romp penned by Jay Knowles and former SteelDriver Chris Stapleton.
Rolling Stone Country recently premiered “Brother John,” which features slide guitar by Jason Isbell, who also co-produced the track. Listen to it here: http://rol.st/1bp4HxN
The SteelDrivers have inspired accolades from critics like NPR’s Ann Powers, who praised their “dazzling bluegrass musicianship,” and PopMatters’ Arnold Pan, who extolled the band’s “virtuosic ‘bluesgrass’ songs that take classic Americana instrumentation and give it an intense, soulful inflection.”
One thing is for sure: Nichols and the SteelDrivers speak in their own accent, one that charms and sears and beguiles. This is a band like no other, by inclination, but not by calculation.
