Nobody Knows You seems an unlikely CD title for a Grammy-nominated bluegrass band that shared 2011 IBMA Entertainer of the Year honors with mutli-talented banjo man Steve Martin. They'd performed with him earlier that year for Fourth of July on the National Mall in Washington D.C., playing for tens of thousands gathered there and millions more watching on PBS.
But the huge new audience that may think the Steep Canyon Rangers are just Steve Martin's backup band doesn't really know the North Carolina quintet. Their Rounder debut is a great introduction, with enough new wrinkles to surprise even the hardcore fans that've followed them from their beginnings 12 years ago at UNC Chapel Hill, through their 2006 IBMA Emerging Artists Award, to today.