HomeStage Series: Steep Canyon Rangers in Concert with Amythyst Kiah (Online)
Venue: Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg
Organizations: Amythyst Kiah, Steep Canyon Rangers
Date: Saturday, April 17, 2021
Time: 7:30 - 8:30 PM
Event Types: Music
Cost:

Description:
The Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech continues their HomeStage Series with Steep Canyon Rangers in concert with special guest Amythyst Kiah on Saturday, April 17, 2021.

Experience the diverse sounds of today’s Appalachia when some of our region’s leading musicians take the Fife stage for an exclusive livestream. Asheville, North Carolina-based Grammy winner Steep Canyon Rangers, known for its innovative spirit and virtuosic playing, headlines this evening, which includes opener Amythyst Kiah, a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter from Johnson City, Tennessee, who amazes audiences with her raw and powerful vocals.

Steep Canyon Rangers are Asheville, North Carolina’s GRAMMY winners, perennial Billboard chart-toppers, and frequent collaborators of the renowned banjoist (and occasional comedian) Steve Martin.

Steep Canyon Rangers have been on a journey that is uniquely their own. The band started in college at UNC-Chapel Hill, then dove head first into bluegrass in its most traditional form, and over the years have risen to the top of the bluegrass genre headlining top festivals such as Merlefest and Grey Fox Bluegrass. Only to then be discovered by Steve Martin, famous actor and banjo player. Martin has taken the Rangers on a nearly decade long tour introducing them to hundreds of thousands of new fans and giving them prime time TV exposure. This has helped SCR become the most recognizable modern name in bluegrass music. The band has continued to tour extensively on their own, without Martin, and have expanded their genre into country and Americana with the addition of a drummer, alongside an incredibly versatile bassist - to accompany the original core band. The Rangers are big players in the bluegrass/country and Americana scene today. They are often compared to predecessors The Band, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the modern Zac Brown Band.

Links:

• https://www.steepcanyon.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/SteepCanyonRangers
• https://www.twitter.com/SteepCanyon
• https://www.youtube.com/c/SteepCanyon/videos
• https://www.instagram.com/steepcanyonrangers/

Amythyst Kiah is a Southern Gothic, alt-country blues singer and songwriter based out of Johnson City, TN, which has been her permanent residence for nearly a decade. She has been performing in what is known as the Tri-Cities (Bristol, TN/VA, Johnson City, TN, Kingsport, TN) and in various parts of Southwest Virginia.

Not only are her influences eclectic, but they span across decades. She draws heavily on Old Time music (Mississippi Sheiks, Son House, Jimmie Rodgers, Olla Belle Reed, Carter Family) and is inspired by vocal stylings of R&B and country music from the '50s-'70s (Big Mama Thornton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn). She also draws heavily from contemporary artists that have similar powerful vocal integrity (Adele, Florence and the Machine, Megan Jean and the KFB, Janelle Monae, Thom Yorke, Tori Amos, Bonnie Raitt). Needless to say, Amythyst has got a lot of tools in her vocal tool box, and is also well on her way to join the powerhouse vocalist pantheon.

She has opened for such acts as Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott, The Duhks, Megan Jean and the KFB, and has played the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival 2012 alongside the Ebony Hillbillies and Sparky and Rhonda Rucker, and has performed on Music City Roots. She has also performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC and traveled Scotland and the UK performing at a number of major festivals including the Southern Fried Festival, the Cambridge Folk Festival, Edinburgh Jazz Festival, and SummerTyne Americana Festival.

Links:

• http://amythystkiah.com
• https://www.facebook.com/amythystkiah
• https://www.twitter.com/amythystkiah
• https://www.instagram.com/amythystkiah/

Tickets are $10.00 for the general public and free for Virginia Tech students.

A recording will remain available to ticket holders for seven days following the live event.

For more information, visit: https://artscenter.vt.edu/performances/valeria-luiselli.html or https://www.facebook.com/artscenteratvt or call 540-231-5300.