A little Van Halen in a Bill Monroe world: SteelDrivers hire new singer from Berea

The SteelDrivers have been down this path before.

The acclaimed bluegrass-bred, soul/blues-leaning band lost its original vocalist — a Kentucky-born stylist by the name of Chris Stapleton — just as its second album was being released and national acclaim was heading its way. Then, after two more recordings and a Grammy award with singer Gary Nichols, the microphone was vacated again.

Replacing an instrumentalist in a bluegrass band, even as one as progressively minded as the SteelDrivers, is generally considered an inevitability. But replacing a lead vocalist? Twice? That’s more akin to the revolving lead singer land of rockers Van Halen than the steadfast string music world of Bill Monroe.

“It’s horrible,” said SteelDrivers vocalist and co-founder Tammy Rogers without hesitation.

“It’s certainly unusual that we’ve been able to do that, maintain and actually grow the band as well as the sound. But I think part of that speaks to the strength of the catalog of the songs and the consistency of the overall sound we’ve able to achieve out on the road. We’ve been lucky.”

For the SteelDrivers, new luck came by way of another Kentucky singer — specifically, Berea native Kelvin Damrell. But this was hardly an expected hiring as the young singer had no previous experience in a bluegrass band. He instead favored electric music, rock ‘n’ roll and, specifically, the kind of blues-fortified fare Stapleton mastered during and after his SteelDrivers stay.

When Rogers’ daughter caught a YouTube video of Damrell singing a very electric version of the Stapleton-era SteelDrivers tune “Midnight Train to Memphis,” an epiphany hit. No, Damrell wasn’t a typical bluegrass singer any more than the SteelDrivers constituted a typically minded bluegrass outfit.

“I think the SteelDrivers are more of a singer-songwriter band than any kind of certain label,” Damrell said “Their music includes a lot of blues and a lot of R&B and soul infused stuff. Really, the band just tries their best to serve the song instead of a genre.”

“It was a big change for sure, man. Bluegrass has a lot of chops and you’re doing a lot of percussion on the guitar. In rock, you cover a lot of parts. Before, I was the guitarist and lead singer. Those were my two jobs. Now my job is lead guitar, rhythm guitarist and drummer. I’m doing it all on one instrument. It’s very different.”

Changes began last year for the SteelDrivers when Nichols took a leave of absence for undisclosed medical reasons. Interim vocalist Adam Wakefield, a season 10 contestant on “The Voice,” was recruited as an interim singer. But when Nicholas’ departure became permanent, a search commenced for a full time replacement.

Was there ever consideration on the band’s part to change the SteelDrivers’ sound and enlist a singer with a style that favored something other than the soul saturated inspirations favored by Stapleton, Nichols and Wakefield?

“To be honest with you, not really,” Rogers said “The band has almost taken on a life of its own. I don’t think it’s necessarily about one person as much a catalog of songs. People come to see the SteelDrivers because they want to hear those songs. They want to hear ‘Midnight Train to Memphis,’ they want to hear ‘If It Hadn’t Been for Love,’ they want to hear ‘Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey’ (all three tunes come from the band’s self-titled 2007 debut album). Not that we want to become our own cover band. That’s not what I’m saying, either. Like, if for some reason I had to leave the band, if they got someone else to cover the parts, the band would be fine as long as those songs were in the mix. It’s about the quality of the music and what’s put out there.

“It’s an unbelievable place to be to have this incredible back catalog to write a setlist from. But we also have to honor that catalog, which means we have to have somebody in the band who can sing those songs. So had we gone out and found a different voice or somebody who didn’t have the range to pull them off, we would have shot ourselves in the foot. It’s important for us to think about what the next chapter is and what the next record is going to sound like, as well as, ‘How do we honor our catalog, the songs that made us what we are and put us where we are?’”

For Damrell, who still lives in the Berea area, a place within the SteelDrivers’ bluegrass-soul sound has taken on a familial feel. As the new lineup’s band spirit strengthens and work on a new album commences later this year, his future as a SteelDriving man is looking brighter by the day.

“There are a huge number of wonderful rock ’n’ roll musicians and country musicians here in Berea,” he said. “But in the SteelDrivers, it’s just incredible. I mean, Brent (Truitt) is one of the best mandolin players I’ve ever heard in my life. Richard (Bailey), the banjo player, is ungodly. He’s an awesome player. Same thing with Tammy and Mike (Fleming), the bass player. So it’s been overwhelming just standing onstage with these people, hearing all their stories. I mean, my history is I’ve played in a couple of bars.”

This story was originally published April 10, 2018 at 2:54 PM with the headline "A little Van Halen in a Bill Monroe world: SteelDrivers hire new singer from Berea."