Modern Bluegrass Legends The SteelDrivers Sign With Label Icon Sun Records

For two decades now, bluegrass-rooted quintet The SteelDrivers have woven together country, soul, blues, Americana, and other contemporary influences to create an unapologetic sound all their own. With four Grammy nominations and one Grammy Award to their name, along with a host of nods from IBMA, Americana Music Association, and more, The SteelDrivers have forged a path out of progressing a genre with the help of outside musical influences, not unlike their new label partner, Sun Records, who laid the foundation for early rock and roll with a blend of musicians and styles in its original Memphis, Tennessee, recording studio.

“The founder of Sun Records, Sam Phillips, and his successor, Shelby Singleton, both had a knack for recording and releasing great music across a diverse array of genres. While the sounds vary from artist to artist, one thing ties it all together: ingenuity. Now under its third owner, Primary Wave, Sun has risen and is releasing great new music again for the first time in decades,” says Sun Records Senior Director of A&R/Sync, Chase Gregory. “We are thrilled to welcome The Steeldrivers to the Sun Records family! They are emblematic of Sun’s Americana roots, and we are honored to help them celebrate 20 years as a group.

“As The SteelDrivers celebrate the 20th year of their musical odyssey, I cannot imagine a finer coupling for our new recording than the iconic Sun Records,” says SteelDrivers bassist Mike Fleming. Fiddler Tammy Rogers adds, “We’re excited to partner with a true icon. Sun Records definitely has the ‘cool’ factor!” 

Sun Records will release The SteelDrivers’ new self-produced album, Outrun, on May 23rd. Until then, keep an eye out for sneak peeks by signing up right here and find new SteelDrivers merch, tour dates, and more at thesteeldrivers.com.

About The SteelDrivers: Only Nashville could give birth to a band like The SteelDrivers, a group of seasoned veterans—each distinguished in his or her own right, each valued in the town’s commercial community—who are seizing an opportunity to follow their hearts to their souls’ reward. In doing so, they are braiding their bluegrass roots with new threads of their own design, bringing together country, soul, blues, and other contemporary influences to create an unapologetic hybrid that is old as the hills but fresh as the morning dew. This is new music with the old feeling. SteelDrivers fan Vince Gill describes the band’s fusion as simply “an incredible combination.”

Specializing in a unique mix of what might be called bluegrass soul, the SteelDrivers have become one of the biggest names in progressive bluegrass after making their debut in 2005. While there’s a strong traditional streak in the SteelDrivers sound, they bring a passion to their delivery that adds a distinctive flavor, and they’re not afraid of adding a forceful grit to the music.

The SteelDrivers have been nominated for four Grammys, the Americana Music Association’s New Artist of the Year, and were awarded IBMA’s 2009 Emerging Artist of The Year. In 2015, The Muscle Shoals Recordings won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Recording.

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