The SteelDrivers' Bad For You has debuted at the top of the Nielsen Music Connect Bluegrass chart, and the album has also placed at #8 on the Current Country albums chart and #6 on the Americana/Folk albums chart.
Bad For You is the SteelDrivers' fifth studio album and the first to feature singer/guitarist Kelvin Damrell, who joined longtime bandmates Tammy Rogers (fiddle, vocals), Richard Bailey (banjo), Mike Fleming (bass) and Brent Truitt (mandolin) in 2018.
The album has been enthusiastically embraced by critics. Writing in Saving Country Music, Kyle "Trigger"Corneos praised the "the soulful, gut-punching, testifying warbles and moans of the blues and vintage R&B that imbibe their music with a measure of blood and color that other bluegrass music just doesn't provide." He continues, "Soul drips from every note Kelvin Damrell sings, and he fits expertly with the bluesy approach The SteelDrivers bring to bluegrass, the songwriting of the band, and their new record Bad For You specifically."
The Boot's Carena Liptak marvels, "Both in lineup shifts and songwriting, the SteelDrivers are known for, again and again, doing the impossible," while the Tennessean's Matthew Leimkuehler notes, "An 11-song adventure into love, desperation and the muddy in-between, Bad For You offers urgent escapism into a world where lingering on the wrong side of the tracks feels just right."
No Depression's Mike Elliott turns the spotlight on the band's not-so-secret weapon Tammy Rogers, who co-wrote ten of the album's eleven songs. "The success of Bad For You is in large part due to the unfettered talent of Tammy Rogers. She takes the reins in the songwriting department, co-writing and crafting each track to fit around Damrell's Kentucky-bred rasp while she wrings every ounce of emotion out of her ferocious fiddle."
The SteelDrivers will be on tour throughout 2020. A full list of dates is below. More shows will be announced in the coming weeks.
For more information, contact
Regina Joskow at Rounder Records, regina.joskow@rounder.com, 917-532-5687 or
Jules Wortman at Wortman Works, jwortman@wortmanworks.com, 615-431-5059.
Tour Dates
2/7 Jefferson Center, Roanoke, VA
2/8 Modlin Center for the Arts, Richmond, VA
2/12 The Ark, Ann Arbor, MI
2/13 Lincoln Theatre, Columbus, OH
2/14 Manchester Music Hall, Lexington, KY
2/15 Paramount Arts Center, Ashland, KY
2/16 Mountain Stage, Culture Center Theater, Charleston, WV
2/20 Cherry Theater, Columbia, TN
2/21 Bijou Theatre, Knoxville, TN
2/22 Bijou Theatre, Knoxville, TN
2/26 One World Theatre, Austin, TX
2/27 The Kessler Theater, Dallas, TX
2/28 The Heights Theater, Houston, TX
2/29 Cactus Theater, Lubbock, TX
3/5 The Carolina Theatre, Durham, NC
3/6 Ovens Auditorium, Charlotte, NC
3/7 Charleston Music Hall, Charleston, SC
3/28 Spring Bluegrass Festival, Brooksville, FL
3/29 Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, FL
4/2 City Winery, Chicago, IL
4/3 Barrymore Theatre, Madison, WI
4/4 The Sheldon Concert Hall & Art Galleries, St. Louis, MO
4/16 Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
4/18 Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME
5/1 Murphy Theater, Wilmington, OH
5/2 The Lerner, Elkhart, IN
6/6 Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta, GA
7/2 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN
7/17 Somerset Community College, Somerset, KY