Feb 10, 2020

Bad For You, The Steeldrivers

Red Rooster Reviews: Today I would like to talk about a band who in the past wasn’t playing through my speakers as much as they are now due to their new album. The Steeldrivers are a Grammy-winning, dynamic bluegrass group hailing from Nashville, Tennessee. As some may know Chris Stapleton was formerly the lead man for this group which led to my interest in their music. Since Chris leaving and launching off his solo career the Steeldrivers have gone through their fair share of changes.

With a young fresh voice coming from 25-year-old Kelvin Darnell, the band was ready to move forward. Darnell states that he isn’t even a bluegrass fan, but what the Steeldrivers were producing was something he’s never heard before.

With that being said, I want to jump into this new album that I can’t get out of my head. “Bad for you” is an album that really tells a story about life. Like any good album, it has highs such as “I choose you”. This tune has a driving banjo demanding a heel tap and beautifully layers of fiddle. It speaks about the struggles in a relationship and choosing to love a person despite the trials you go through. This album also has lows like “innocent man”. This is a sorrowful song about a man and his regrets in life. It really makes you think what the writer of this song might have been going through at that time. This album is so artfully written and produced I found myself with goosebumps nearly every single song. Every line of this album left me on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what was next. I am overly impressed with this new release and can not wait to hear what these guys have in store for the future.