After playing at bluegrass festivals from around 2005 they signed to Rounder Records and released a self-titled debut in 2008. The album peaked at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The group was nominated for a Grammy award in 2009 for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for their song "Blue Side of the Mountain." In 2010, the group received two nominations for its second album, Reckless. The album has been nominated for both Best Bluegrass Album and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the song "Where Rainbows Never Die."
The band’s self-titled debut album, released in January of 2008 by Rounder Records, is simply startling: a set of eleven new originals that profoundly resonate with classic bluegrass soul while exploring entirely modern lyrical and harmonic byways. The blistering, soulful vocals of guitarist and songwriter Chris Stapleton immediately announce that this is dark and dangerous terrain, which the SteelDrivers’ proudly rugged ensemble playing quickly confirms. Fiddler and harmony singer Tammy Rogers knows just when to lay off the notes and let the tone take over, while banjo player Richard Bailey neatly segues from cold modal Stanley-style passages to incisive melodic turns. Mike Henderson (mandolin) and Mike Fleming (bass) are the SteelDrivers’ engine room, laying out the sparse, driving rhythm on which hangs the songs, mostly co-composed by Stapleton and Henderson.
Stapleton’s voice, when melded to his sturdy, vivid songs, immediately distinguishes the SteelDrivers. It is testament to the value that the SteelDrivers place on quality original songs that band actually formed as a result of the songwriting process. Henderson and Stapleton are both accomplished Nashville tunesmiths, with innumerable cuts to their credit. “Chris and I had been writing songs for several years,” Henderson explains. “We would write a lot of them as though they were bluegrass songs. But then, when we would get ready to demo them, we would demo them with drums and B-3. And I was thinking, here’s all these perfectly good songs just sitting around going to waste.”
“My recollection,” continues Stapleton, “is that I went to write at Mike Henderson’s house one night. And he said, ‘do you want to play some bluegrass?’ I said, sure. And then next thing I knew, we were in a room with the rest of these guys…”
“These guys” included maverick fiddler and vocalist Tammy Rogers, a longtime fixture on Nashville’s alt-country scene and respected session and touring musician. “I had kind of done the big left turn into country and Americana, and thought I had left the bluegrass world behind me in charred remnants,” she says. “So when Mike Henderson called me up and asked me, ‘Do you want to play some bluegrass?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I do.’ And when we all got together, I was just knocked out by the songs, and by Chris’s voice.”
Rogers is not the only musician in Nashville taken aback by the band’s charisma, power, chops, and songwriting. In a short time, the SteelDrivers had worked up three sets of all original material and were performing to capacity crowds at local haunts like the fabled Station Inn. “I get more inspired listening to their songs, singing, and playing than anything else I've heard in a long time,” raved producer and musician Buddy Miller, while songwriter and guitarist Al Anderson summed up the SteelDrivers succinctly: “Great band: new and different. Songs are incredible. They bring something new to the party. I love 'em all. Muscle Shoals meets bluegrass.”
The band is quick to credit the informal, casually organic nature of their founding. “We just want to go out and play music that we write and that all of us like,” says Bailey. “We want to play our kind of music.”
The SteelDrivers’ brand of bluegrass – intense, dark, poetic, and inescapably human – is a refreshing reminder of the timeless power of stringband music, and is captured perfectly on The SteelDrivers. Produced by Nashville ace Luke Wooten, The SteelDrivers was recorded mostly live on the studio floor, vocals and all. Its songs grapple with classic themes of regret, love, and redemption, from the escalating prison lament of “Midnight Train to Memphis” to the chilling murderer’s plea encapsulated in “If It Hadn’t Been for Love.” “East Kentucky Home” is a timeless traditional bluegrass lament, with its strains of homesickness, loss, and abandonment, but ingeniously reinvented with off-kilter rhythmic accents and a decidedly contemporary chord progression.
The willingness to set aside the unspoken rules that ruthlessly govern bluegrass set the SteelDrivers apart from the innumerable faceless acts vying for the bluegrass spotlight.
“Certainly we want to keep one foot in the bluegrass world—that’s a great thing,” says Tammy Rogers, “but I think our music is broader than just a traditional bluegrass format and that’s what we all hope for it to be.”
The SteelDrivers are:
Richard Bailey - Banjo
Grammy nominated banjo player, Richard Bailey has recorded with such diverse artists as Al Green and George Jones. Featured in the book Masters of the 5-String Banjo, Bailey has performed with Bill Monroe, Roland White, Vassar Clements, Loretta Lynn, Chet Akins, Larry Cordle, Laurie Lewis, Dale Ann Bradley, and countless others. He has also recorded with Kenny Rogers, Michael Martin Murphy, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, and Ronnie Milsap and has played at Carnegie Hall and on Austin City Limits.
Mike Fleming - Bass/Vocals
A versatile veteran, Mike Fleming lays down the firm foundation and sings the baritone harmony that rounds out the SteelDrivers’ sound. A self-confessed “recovering banjo player,” Mike has recorded with Holly Dunn, Joy Lynn White, and with groundbreaking singer/songwriter David Olney. In addition to traveling the world during stints with Dunn and Kevin Welch, Mike has appeared on Austin City Limits, Nashville Now, Crook and Chase, and too many Grand Ole Opry shows and festivals to count.
Mike Henderson - Mandolin/Vocals
Mike Henderson is a veteran songwriter and award-winning musician, with several solo albums on both RCA and Dead Reckoning to his credit. He has recorded with such artists as Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Mark Knopfler, Albert King, Hank Williams, Jr., Johnny Lang, Peter Rowan, Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Sting, Delbert McClinton, Bob Seger, Bo Diddley, Faith Hill, Lucinda Williams, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and many others. His songs have been recorded by the Dixie Chicks, Kenny Rogers, Daryl Worley, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Travis Tritt, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Solomon Burke, Marty Stuart, Gary Allan, and Randy Travis.
Tammy Rogers - Fiddle/Vocals
Growing up in a family bluegrass band that also included banjo great Scott Vestal, Tammy brings a lifetime of instrumental and vocal experience to the SteelDrivers. She was also in the legendary pre-Union Station bluegrass band Dusty Miller with Barry Bales, Tim Stafford, Adam Steffey, and Brian Fesler. No stranger to the studio, she has recorded with Neil Diamond, Wynonna, Rodney Crowell, Radney Foster, Bill Anderson, Iris Dement, Randy Scruggs, Patty Loveless, Buddy and Julie Miller, Jim Lauderdale, and many more. She has toured the world with Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Maria McKee, and the Dead Reckoners. Her songs have been recorded by Terri Clarke and Frances Black.
Chris Stapleton - Guitar/Vocals
A rising star on the Nashville scene, Chris Stapleton is a Paintsville, Kentucky native whose powerful “sandpaper to silk” voice gives the SteelDrivers their distinctive sound. He has recorded with Daryl Worley, Gary Allan, Lee Ann Womack, Trent Wilmon, James Otto, and others, while as a songwriter his compositions have been covered by Tim McGraw, Brooks and Dunn, Julie Roberts, Daryl Worley, Trent Wilmon, Gary Allan, Patty Loveless, Brad Paisley, Trace Adkins, Lee Ann Womack, Montgomery Gentry, and the Lonesome River Band. He recently scored a number one singles as the writer of “Your Man,” recorded by Josh Turner and Kenny Chesney’s “Never Wanted Nothing More.”
I'll be there
The SteelDrivers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
blocking the sunlight and I'll be the moon
watching at midnight somewhere in your dreams, I'll be there.
I'll be a face in the crowd for a moment,
and all of the places that we used to go,
just look around, I'll be there.
Go on, leave me and run away
Try to unlock this ball and chain
I'll be the words stuck in your head
over and over the last ones you've said
just listen close, I'll be there.
Oh go on, leave me and run away
Try to unlock this ball and chain
you'll find some things you can't leave behind.
Oh go on, leave me and run away
Try to unlock this ball and chain
you'll find some things you can't leave behind.
Hundreds of, thousands of, miles in between us
would do you no good, baby because there's no leaving me
I'll be there.
Wherever you go, I'll be there.
The SteelDrivers’ song, “I'll Be There,” is a poignant ballad about devotion and persistence in the face of separation. The song begins with the singer, who is clearly in love with someone who is leaving, asserting that they will always be present in some form. They promise to be both the clouds blocking sunlight and the moon shining at midnight, indicating that they will be there in both joy and sorrow. The lines “I'll be a face in the crowd for a moment / and all of the places that we used to go, just look around, I'll be there” suggest that even when the person is trying to move on or forget, the singer will still be a haunting presence.
The second stanza deals more with the aftermath of the split, with the singer saying “Go on, leave me and run away / Try to unlock this ball and chain / you'll find some things you can't leave behind.” They acknowledge that there are emotional ties that cannot be easily severed, and that leaving will not necessarily solve all their problems. The chorus, which repeats the lines “Oh go on, leave me and run away / Try to unlock this ball and chain / you'll find some things you can't leave behind,” underscores the idea that there are some things that will always be a part of us, no matter how hard we try to escape them.
Line by Line Meaning
I'll be the clouds blocking the sunlight
I'll be the obstacle in your way, preventing you from experiencing happiness
and I'll be the moon watching at midnight
I'll be the silent observer, watching over you even in the dark of night
somewhere in your dreams, I'll be there
I'll exist in your subconscious, always present in your thoughts and dreams
I'll be a face in the crowd for a moment
I'll blend in with everyone else, just another person passing through your life
and all of the places that we used to go, just look around, I'll be there
The memories of our time together will linger in the places we've been, and I'll be a part of that
Go on, leave me and run away, try to unlock this ball and chain
Even if you try to leave me behind and move on, the emotional attachment between us will still exist
you'll find some things you can't leave behind
Not everything in life can be simply forgotten or moved on from
I'll be the words stuck in your head, over and over the last ones you've said
My words will echo in your mind, repeating my parting words to you
just listen close, I'll be there
Even if you try to ignore me, I'll always be there in your thoughts
Oh go on, leave me and run away, try to unlock this ball and chain
I acknowledge that you may try to leave me behind, but it won't be easy
Hundreds of, thousands of, miles in between us would do you no good, baby because there's no leaving me
Distance won't change the fact that you'll always be tied to me emotionally
I'll be there
No matter where you go or what you do, I will always be present in your life
Writer(s): JOHN HOLT
Contributed by Charlie C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
theradracer
lyrics
I'll be the clouds
Blocking the sunlight and I'll be the moon
Watching at midnight somewhere in your dreams, I'll be there.
I'll be a face in the crowd for a moment,
And all of the places that we used to go,
Just look around, I'll be there.
Go on, leave me and run away
Try to unlock this ball and chain
You'll find some things you can't leave behind.
I'll be the words stuck in your head
Over and over the last ones you've said
Just listen close, I'll be there.
Oh go on, leave me and run away
Try to unlock this ball and chain
You'll find some things you can't leave behind.
Oh go on, leave me and run away
Try to unlock this ball and chain
You'll find some things you can't leave behind.
Hundreds of, thousands of, miles in between us
Would do you no good, baby because there's no leaving me
I'll be there.
Wherever you go, I'll be there
Wanda Solanes
The melody is haunting, touches your soul. I love everything about this song! Just amazing!
robert williams
We don't have Bluegrass bands like this anymore , love this band !
stetsonman123
The SteelDrivers are an amazing group and keep coming out with tremendous songs. As hard as it is to believe, they are getting better all the time "I'll Be There" my be my favorite song from them. But, "Sticks Made of Thunder" is a very close scond. God Speed!
David Alexander
I always feel like I've heard there songs some where before, even though I haven't. They strike an archetypal chord in soul, timeless.
theradracer
Yo same
Will Leonard
Even without Chris they are still amazing! Gary can SANG!
Jake A
This group just keeps coming out with amazing stuff! Love it!
Christopher Bingham
This song is so freakin' beautiful. Cool video too. I even prefer this over most of the songs with Chris. The Steeldrivers seem to be one of the greatest music groups on Earth no matter who the singer is.
Prevent Gaming
Just seen this video and love the sound of this band!
Cathy B
That is some seriously good musicianship. Well done.