There's a certain buzz that happens in Nashville when something great is happening. Not the stupid industry buzz that suits create when they wanna launch their latest product with expensive showcases, no. The kind of buzz that gets people of all ages and types to a show because something undeniable and thrilling in some way is about to go down.
When The SteelDrivers started quietly doing some gigs to test the waters and work up some songs onstage, the word spread quickly that blues legend and songwriter Mike Henderson had started a Bluegrass band with Richard Bailey (many people's favorite banjoist, so melodious is his approach) and outstanding fiddler Tammy Rogers, with veteran Mike Fleming on upright bass. And everybody was talking about their singer, a hit-songwriting powerhouse vocalist from Kentucky named Chris Stapleton. The rooms filled up quickly, and the college kids went nuts for it, too.
Then came the IBMA's, the annual Bluegrass convention, where they showed up and got scooped up by Rounder Records. A short time later, here is their first record, and it rocks!, people. I'm very excited to see and hear their ASCAP release on January 15th. Omigod, that's today! I will see it and hopefully shoot a little video at 3 p.m., and maybe we'll have a few clips for you at the end of the interview. (Yep, you'll find them there...)
But check out the audio clips on the Listen page, and pick up the debut of this exciting new Bluegrass group made of classy and heralded veterans of several genres of music, The SteelDrivers.
