The SteelDrivers

Outrun

Sun Records

The SteelDrivers are a bluegrass band from Nashville, Tennessee. They signed to Rounder Records in 2007 and released a self-titled debut album the following year. At the time the group included Chris Stapleton and Mike Henderson. Awarded a Grammy nomination in 2009 for Best Country Performance for their song “Blue Side of the Mountain” they received two more nominations for their 2010 follow-up album “Reckless”. Founding member Stapleton left the band in 2010, and founding member Henderson left in 2011. In 2015 with Brent Truitt replacing Henderson, they won a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album, for “The Muscle Shoals Recordings”. In July 2021, the band announced that Matt Dame would be their new lead singer. The current band lineup includes Truitt, mandolin; Dame, guitar and lead vocals; Tammy Rogers, fiddle; Richard Bailey, banjo; and Mike Fleming, bass. This is the debut release from the newly resurrected Sun Records.

The title track, “Outrun”, leads off this album as Dame sings “can’t outrun the Mississippi River, in a Shelby GT Ford, you can’t outrun the angels, you can’t outrun a broken heart, you can’t outrun freedom lost”. “The River Knows”, “waters rising, secrets that sailed…down, down, down it goes, round again, the water never knows how the story goes, the river knows”.

“Booze And Cigarettes”, “can’t say I’m a regular cause I’m not there yet, I’m just here for the booze and cigarettes…booze goes down easy, and the smoke calms my nerves”. “Cut You Down”, “I went downtown a month ago, but no one noticed  that she didn’t go…thunder, rain on a summer night, nobody knows, when you  cross the line, only god knows I cut you down”.

The late Mike Henderson passed in 2023, “Prisoner’s Tears”, first appeared on Henderson’s album “Country Music Made Me Do It” in 1993. The band pays tribute, as Dame sings “The prisoner cries in the dark of his cell, he knows the price of livin’ in hell…I’ve been a prisoner deep down in my bones, no judge and  no jury…they say I’m free now but they can’t see my pain…nothin’ falls as hard as a prisoner’s tears”.

“Rosanna”, “In the hills of Kentucky…deep in the night…forgive, forgive me, Rosanna…I traded our love for a lay, I cry on your grave”. “When The Last Teardrop Falls” is a great tenor vocal from Dame, “spend your night downtown… drinkin and running around…where will you go when your life is all gone, and the doors are closed…ain’t no whiskey strong enough, where will you go when the last teardrop falls”.

“Painted And Poison” was co-written by Henderson and Ronnie McCoury,  “painted and poison, I’m going to take you home, with some whiskey and the rouge…painted and poison will break my heart in two”. “Traveling Trouble Blues”, “there is no way to run away forever…these blues have been there…there is a million ways to try to get away…your always gonna end up where you are, you can’t run and you can’t hide”.  “You Should See The Other Guy” is an infectious and humorous song as Dame chimes, “tonight I’m barely walking, bloodstains on my shirt, black and blue all over, but you should see the other guy, I might look like hell, but you should see the other guy”. “Emma Lee”, “he died too soon and nobody knew why…Emma  Lee, your all alone now, just like you wanna be, Emma Lee, way to go now, your all alone now, where you want to be”.

On the closer, “On My Way”, Dame croons “it’s time for surrender, it’s time for the  bible, nothing can stop me, I’m on my way…I can feel the way you liked to hold me,  down but I’m alive now…I’m on my way, you can’t stop me, whatever kind of hell… I’m on my way”.

This is the band’s seventh studio album. Specializing in a unique mix of what might  be called bluegrass soul, The SteelDrivers have become one of the biggest names in progressive bluegrass. Even if your not usually a bluegrass fan, the SteelDrivers will excite you, as they bring a passionate and distinctive flavor due to their  storytelling. Look for the SteelDrivers to garner more accolades for the release of  “Outrun”. It’s a new day, and it belongs to The SteelDrivers.

Richard Ludmerer

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