The SteelDrivers

It's official: The SteelDrivers are having a damn-good year. They started fast out of the gate with a strong recording debut. And last month they were invited to go where few bluegrass groups tread: late night television--and we're not talking NPT, but Conan O'Brien. Now they've added three IBMA nods (for Album, Song and Emerging Artist of the Year) to their existing New Emerging Artist AMA nomination. With the way they mash up Southern soul melodies with a shuffling country feel during "Blue Side of the Mountain" and "If It Hadn’t Been For Love," it's no wonder. Thanks to John Stapleton's seared, raw-throated vocals--not to mention the band's blues-sympathetic playing--the quintet's got more grit and R&B muscle to their sound than most other soulful-voiced bluegrass groups out there (the John Cowan Band and Mountain Heart included).
Fri., Aug. 22, 9 p.m.; Fri., Sept. 5, 9 p.m., 2008