As a child in Columbia, South Carolina, Barrett Smith attended his first concert: a Huey Lewis and the News show in the 1980s.

After the concert seemingly ended, a young Smith joined the raucous crowd, who hoped Huey Lewis and the News would return. The “Power of Love” band came back to the stage for an encore, and Smith was sure he had something to do with it.

“I remember going back to school the next day and telling all my buddies that I went to see this big concert and the craziest thing happened,” said Smith, who plays bass, guitar and sings for the bluegrass act Steep Canyon Rangers. 

“‘Huey Lewis played the last song of the night. They went off the stage. The whole crowd clapped. We stomped our feet and we yelled so much that he brought the band back on stage. They played two more songs. It was incredible.’”

Smith had an epiphany later in life. 

“It was just an encore as everyone does,” he said with a laugh. “But to my child mind, it was magical — like we had actually done something that had never been done before. It was like Huey Lewis said, ‘God, y’all are crazy in Columbia, South Carolina. I’m going to come out, get the whole band out here and play two more songs. We weren’t planning on doing this.’”

No worries. Steep Canyon Rangers will play encores at their Musical Instrument Museum shows on Monday, Nov. 23. Tickets start at $44.50. They play a second Arizona show at the Fox Tucson Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 22.

“Yeah, we do encores,” he said with a laugh. “Everything I know I learned from Huey Lewis and the News.” 

The ‘Next Act’

Steep Canyon Rangers will visit the MIM to celebrate the release of its 15th studio album, “Next Act.”

“We think this band is the best that it’s ever been right now,” Smith said. “And ‘Next Act’ is this testament to that. When I think about the whole catalog, which is pretty big.”

“Next Act” is the second collection — after 2023’s “Morning Shift” — released following the departure of founding member and guitarist Woody Platt in 2022 to spend time with his family.

“That was a scary moment for the band because he was a central figure in the band,” he said. “Then it shifted. We took on a new member, and then it shifted everybody’s roles.”

Smith said Steep Canyon Rangers isn’t a jam band, but it does like to stretch out tunes. The musicians play bluegrass with a level of spontaneity, Smith said.

“Any night that we play is a totally different show than the night before and the night after,” he said. 

“We’ll make a set list that’s tailored to that day. Once we’re on stage, we might veer completely from it and just play whatever we want. We hang our hat on that.” 

None of the Steep Canyon Rangers’ band members grew up in bluegrass families, Smith said. 

“We all found bluegrass as teenagers,” he said.

“It was the honesty of it. We had this similar music trajectory, looking disdainfully down on pop music.

“There were too many synthesizers and noises, and too poppy to our ears at that time. Now we all love it again.”

Fans are loving Steep Canyon Rangers, who hang out at the merch table or the venue’s bar after shows. 

“Sometimes people say our show is the best they’ve ever seen,” Smith said. “Whenever somebody says that, we report it to each other. That’s the biggest compliment.”