In early 2007, five of the Asheville areas finest bluegrass pickers joined forces to form a true all-star bluegrass band called Balsam Range.   All five musicians were from Haywood County and all had a wealth of experience and a common vision for the sound they wanted to create,  and their sound gelled quickly.   On the strength of their individual musical resumes, big things were expected from the band.   But no one expected them to achieve their current level of success so quickly.  Although barely a year old, Balsam Range has garnered consistent high praises from bluegrass fans and from the media and performed a numerous festivals.

This weekends appearance at a local festival on the same bill with the top names in bluegrass music today is a fine honor and perfect cap to the inaugural year for Balsam Range.

Balsam Range will appear as one of the headline acts at this weekends Bluegrass First Class Festival at the Crown Royal Plaza resort here in Asheville NC.   They share top billing with stellar bands including Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, J.D. Crowe and the New South, IIIrd Tyme Out, Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, and Doc Watson.  

As a special treat, Balsam Range will perform with bluegrass legend Tony Rice on Saturday February 23rd.   Tony Rice is perhaps the most influential guitar player in the past 4 decades of bluegrass music. His appearance and performance with Balsam Range will certainly be a highlight of the festival.   

Widely acclaimed as one of bluegrass music's true stylistic innovators, and perhaps the greatest acoustic flat-picked guitarist since Clarence White, Tony Rice has a distinctive style of playing which countless young musicians have attempted to emulate for the past 30 years. He is a master flatpicker of traditional acoustic bluegrass but also helped create the newgrass and jazz grass sounds of more recent years.

Individual members of Balsam Range have previous associations with Rice going back as far as the mid-seventies when Balsam Range banjoist Marc Pruett first met Rice and jammed with him in Lexington Kentucky. At that time, Rice, was playing with J.D. Crowe along with 2 other young musicians named Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas.  All would later have bands of their own and win numerous awards for their musical prowess.   But that evening, they were just 4 young musicians enjoying a hot jam session of great acoustic music.

In 1978, Ricky Skaggs would record his album "Sweet Temptation" for Sugar Hill Records.  Remembering how great they had sounded in an evening jam session 3 years prior, Ricky invited Marc Pruett, Tony Rice, and Jerry Douglas to join him on his record along with notables like Dolly Parton, Emmy Lou Harris, and fiddle-legend Bobby Hicks (also a resident of WNC).

Marc recalls, "I did all the banjo work on the bluegrass songs. It was wonderful to hear all those great musicians and singers and watch them in the studio. Those were fun times for me.  "Sweet Temptation" was a benchmark album for Skaggs and the bluegrass stuff we cut with Tony has been used on National Geographic Society reissues and other bluegrass collections."

Marc would later tour as a regular member of Ricky Skaggs band and played banjo on Skaggs Grammy award winning album, "Bluegrass Rules". 

Balsam Range bassist Tim Surrett first recorded with Rice in the early 1990s for a Kingsmen project.  He and Tony enjoyed playing together and decided to record together. The end result was "Crossings"  an all instrumental gospel recording for the Mountain Home label.  Since that time, Tim has recorded and played with Tony on numerous projects and Tim occasionally appears as a member of the Tony Rice Unit.

In early 2007 when Balsam Range fiddler Buddy Melton decided to put together a solo project, Marc, Tim and Buddy were discussing guitar work and Tony's name came up. Tim made a few calls and Tony came on board.  With Rice's exquisite taste and timing, he was the perfect addition to Buddy's solo project which blends a mix of hard driving bluegrass with a varied ensemble of personalities.  Tony has been quoted as saying "This is one of the best bluegrass projects I have been a part of in years!"

Tony's influences on Balsam Ranges music today runs deep as evident in Caleb Smith’s approach to the guitar.  They often incorporate some of Tony's music into their shows -the classic "EMD" as well as the jazz-infused "Summertime". 

Marc sums up the association with Rice, "I've been a fan of Tony's a long time...since I first saw him with JD Crowe at
Reidsville in 1974...love his music...respect him as a producer and arranger...glad to call him a "bluegrass friend."  Actually, all of the Balsam Range guys are glad to call him a "bluegrass friend" and so playing their first live gig with Tony at Bluegrass First Class  will be a full circle moment for the band.  Balsam Range is thrilled to have this opportunity ........and maybe a tad nervous as well!

Balsam Range will share the stage with another fast-rising local bluegrass band, High Windy,  for a special performance at The Grey Eagle on April 18th.   Both bands have large followings and a huge turnout is expected, so be sure and get there early.   If you've read the article above you already know about Balsam Range, but you should also get used to hearing the name High Windy.  Local bluegrass fans will know them from their top place finishes in local bluegrass competitions.   But even if you're not normally a bluegrass fan, you need to give this band a listen.  High Windy, is positioned for great success in the coming year.  The band spent the past year perfecting their sound and finalizing work on thier upcoming release, entitled A Greater Storm. 

---