[Cover live photo by Zoe Bews]
Chatanooga, Tennessee-based banjo player and singer/songwriter Randy Steele is also a career firefighter writes songs that have character-based narratives and also very personal lyrics. Together with his band, High Cold Wind, they’ll be releasing a self-titled debut EP.
Produced by Steele, the new music was recorded and engineered at The Soundry Studios in Soddy-Daisy, TN by Brett Nolan and mastered by Adam Brown. The single “Nashville Drinking Song” is out now.
Joining Steele in High Cold Wind is Fiddlin’ Faye Petree, member of Americana band Strung Like a Horse, Tyler Martelli, on acoustic guitar, teacher John Boulware on mandolin, and Justin Hupp on upright bass.
Randy Steele says:
For a while now I’ve been wanting to do more bluegrass. I love bluegrass. It is a great example of simplicity and complexity combined. Every time I hear the simple 1 & 3 low thump of an upright bass contrasted by the 2 & 4 hard chop of a mandolin, I am immediately reminded of a thousand great evenings playing with friends. Memories of a million banjo breaks on standards, just trying to find where the banjo fits, come flooding back to me each time. Usually I had a smile on my face and maybe a little whiskey on my breath. I wanted to convey that feeling with this group of songs.
