It was a free show. But a $50 admission charge wouldn’t have been out of line for the Steep Canyon Rangers’ gig at Fairborn Bluegrass & Brew. 

And though the Rangers – who have a Dobro-playing drummer and a dude who picks an electric banjo on occasion – are hardly, strictly bluegrass, the North Carolina sextet was the ideal headliner for the street party at the corner of Grand and Main in Southwest Ohio that also featured sets from the Wayfarers (bluegrass) and Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers (also bluegrass). 

Perched upon a makeshift bandstand with pinkish skies behind and blackish skies in front, the top-form Rangers did their thing in front of a few hundred locals (plus me, who drove in from out of town through massive storms) on an unseasonably comfortable night that miraculously remained dry.  

Opening with a rambunctious instrumental that gave each musician the opportunity to shine, the sextet moved quickly to “Sweet Spot,” providing Aaron Burdett (acoustic guitar), Barrett Smith (bass fiddle), Mike Ashworth (drums/Dobro) and Graham Sharp (acoustic and electric banjo/acoustic guitar) rotating turns at the mic. The tone was thus set for the Rangers’ 15-song, 90-minute performance, in daylight and darkness, where musicians and singers moved seamlessly between lead and support roles; masked-against-COVID fiddler and musical Svengali Nicky Sanders danced the two-step around his bandmates; and mandolinist Mike Guggino played fiery solos and provided essential harmonies. 

The newest Ranger, he joined in 2022, Burdett brings country (“Fruits of my Labor”) and rock (“Deep End”) elements to the group. But while the band is evolving, it also nodded to its folk-’grass beginnings with such SCR standards as “Stand and Deliver” and “Tell the Ones I Love,” which closed the main set and found the band lined up behind the whirling dervish that was Sanders as the festivalgoers danced in the streets and on the sidewalks.  

After the location-appropriate “Bird of Ohio,” with Shrap’s baritone and electric banjo at the fore, the group unplugged and spent five songs gathered around a single, old-fashioned mic. While the volume dipped considerably, the musical excellence did not as Smith and Guggino’s tenors wrapped around each other on the coal-miners’ lament that is “Call the Captain” and soaring three- and five-part harmonies powered “Come Dance” and “Fare Thee Well, Carolina Gals,” respectively. 

Those voice remained in peak shape as the band bid Fairborn adieu with “As I Go” and capped some four hours of music. 

Maybe $75 would’ve been fair, too. But free was better.