The SteelDrivers to play Glasgow show

Published 7:46 am Thursday, January 12, 2017

Area residents will be able to come to the Plaza Theatre in Glasgow on Friday to hear the the bluegrass stylings that earned the Nashville-based SteelDrivers a Grammy Award.

Carolyn Glodfelter, the Plaza Theatre’s executive director, said several people in the community have requested that the theater host a SteelDrivers show.

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The SteelDrivers, which won a Grammy for best bluegrass album in 2016, was available for a show in January, she said.

“Since we’re trying to do bluegrass every quarter, the timing just worked out for us,” she said.

Drawing a crowd to the theater can be difficult in January because people don’t go out as much during the colder months, Glodfelter said.

“It’s bringing a lot of people into the community at a time of the year when there isn’t much tourism,” she said.

Glodfelter said advance ticket sales have been strong but added that she expects plenty will be available at the door when the show begins at 8 p.m. Friday.

Tickets cost $22 or $27 each, depending on the seating section, according to the Plaza’s website.

Glodfelter described the SteelDrivers as “fun and upbeat” and said they have a sizable following.

“They have a different sound,” she said. “Even though their genre is bluegrass, they have a lot of Americana and blues and soul in there.”

Tammy Rogers, who’s been singing and playing fiddle with the band since its founding in 2005, said the SteelDrivers came together when singer-songwriter Mike Henderson wanted to put together a local bluegrass outfit in Nashville.

“The goal is to play original music and create our own music and keep it as real and raw and edgy as possible,” she said.

Rogers said she likes the band’s blues and southern rock flavoring and the vocal harmonies she shared with the rougher voice of former lead singer Chris Stapleton.

Henderson and Stapleton, the band’s original songwriters, are no longer in the SteelDrivers, having left songwriting duties to Rogers and singer and guitarist Gary Nichols. The group’s goal of making original music is still the same.

To this day the group has never recorded a cover song, Rogers said.

On their current tour, the SteelDrivers will be stopping at several smaller cities, which Rogers said gives the band a chance to play in areas that are undergoing a rebirth in the arts and town life that the group finds refreshing.

“It just seems that a lot of towns … are revitalizing their downtowns and their theaters and that’s something I love,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to get out and play in a really nice environment.”

— Follow Daily News reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.