Full Band. One Microphone.
Talking with Graham Sharp of Steep Canyon Rangers
Cris Cohen: I’ve since heard the recording of "Sweet Spot," but my first introduction was at That Music Festival when you guys played it live. And especially live, it definitely has that — because everyone is physically taking a turn, stepping forward — it makes it visually interesting, as well as sonically interesting.
Graham Sharp of Steep Canyon Rangers: When we were first in the band’s infancy - and even still we make it a part of our live shows - I don’t know if we did it at That Music Festival, but we’d just kind of crowd around one microphone. And it’s the same sort of thing. You get the visual, you see the person who’s taking the solo step up to the microphone, the person who’s singing step in, or who’s singing harmony.
So, I really like that part about the show. It’s something that our band can do. We’re lucky to have different voices in the band. So, it’s neat to pass it around and see what different characters have to say. That's something we’re trying to think about a little more.
Cris Cohen: So, a couple of years back I interviewed Dave from Chatham County Line, and I was fascinated because, like you guys, they're one of the few bands I’ve ever seen that do that single mic thing. He said they learned a lot from learning how to self-modulate and things like that. How did it affect your style, your sound, your way of performing, as you had to learn to all use just one microphone?
Graham Sharp: Well, it was a very precise way of learning bluegrass. Everything is very much in its spot. If A moves to A’s spot and starts to do something different, if they move to what B is doing, then B needs to move to A, whether it’s playing a lead or a rhythm role, or some sort of backing role like that, or just laying out entirely.
So, when you think about it visually, or even how it just physically functions on a single mic, you mirror all that you’re doing musically physically with your bodies. And also, with your instrument, just how hard or how lightly you’re playing. There’s nowhere to hide any of it. So, I think that put a really fine point on what we were trying to do… early days as a band, playing bluegrass and just being very precise with it.