The Steep Canyon Rangers continue to build suspense leading up to the September 8th release of their forthcoming record Morning Shift.
The Brevard, North Carolina bluegrass outfit just dropped the album’s third single “Recommend Me,” and it’s another spectacular track that further proves Morning Shift could be some of their best work yet. Inspired by a murder mystery novel, “Recommend Me” features the top-notch songwriting and sonically exceptional instrumentation that the Steep Canyon Rangers have become known for throughout their illustrious tenure as one of bluegrass’ premier acts.
The band posted on Instagram to announce the release of “Recommend Me” and provided plenty of insightful context as to the inspiration behind the single.
“Many a great tune has been inspired by a more long-form literary work—Zeppelin’s ‘Ramble On,’ ‘White Rabbit’ by Jefferson Airplane, and Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights,’ to name just a few.
Now, North Carolina’s Steep Canyon Rangers are the latest to add their names to that list with “Recommend Me,” their latest single from an upcoming album, produced by Darrell Scott entitled ‘Morning Shift.'”
The song’s writer and lead vocalist, Rangers’ banjo man Graham Sharp, remembers its origins clearly:
‘My friend Wiley Cash wrote a wonderful book called When Ghosts Come Home. He sent me a copy of it and asked if there were any songs that I might find in the story.’ Turns out, there was.
This was one of the first tunes I wrote for this album. It always spoke to me, but I wasn’t sure it would ever stand up and be counted. I think it was really just waiting for me to put a little more into it and I think that’s what happened once we got to the studio.
My favorite part of the video is seeing a few friends sitting quietly in the background as we’re recording, almost like ‘ok, we’re all here, what have you got to say?’ The tones on this one are so gorgeous and unhurried, credit to Dave Sinko and Darrell Scott and the band settling into a new groove.’”
“Recommend Me”
“Recommend Me” follows “Hominy Valley” and “Deep End” as the third single off of Steep Canyon Rangers’ upcoming Darrell Scott produced record Morning Shift.
Give the other singles a listen below.
“Hominy Valley”
“Deep End”
