Since I started as the arts and entertainment editor here at The Smoky Mountain News some 14 years ago, I’ve been able to dive deep into the legend and lore of bluegrass sensation Balsam Range, our “local boys done good,” as they say. The quintet was my first assignment for this newspaper — I covered the “Papertown” album release party at the Colonial Theatre in Canton on Aug. 10, 2012 — they were also the first actual friends I made in Haywood County and greater Western North Carolina.
Not only has the group become musical heroes in their own right, but also they remain a pillar of the genuine compassion and inclusive nature at the heart of folks here in Southern Appalachia. And with that, we’re quickly approaching two huge milestones for Balsam Range; They’ll have spent 20 years together as a band in January 2027 (the initial jam session happened around Christmas 2006), with the official kickoff celebration taking place at the upcoming Art of Music Festival, which will also mark its 10th anniversary. The event will take place Dec. 3-5 at the Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center.
Below are excerpts from numerous cover stories and articles that I’ve written over the years about Balsam Range for this publication. The length of this feature story is a testament to the hard work and dedication put forth by this storied ensemble.
Congratulations on 20 years, my friends. Kudos.
August 2012
On the heels of their latest release, “Papertown,” Balsam Range held court at the historic Colonial Theater in Canton last Friday night, Aug. 10. The sold-out album-release party attracted around 250 patrons. The concert was a celebration of not only a new record, but also a homecoming and “thank you” to all in Haywood County — all of those who are a part of “Balsam Nation” — on their continued support of a band that is realizing more and more each day that the sky’s the limit with its potential.
“I grew up in the mountains and music was part of our heritage. My dad played and about everybody in my family played. We’d play every evening, especially on Friday nights when other musicians would come by and sit on the porch,” said mandolinist Darren Nicholson. “As long as people have been living here, music has been here. Music and dance is a big part of mountain culture. It’s just a way of life. Sitting down with your family after dinner and playing. It’s been like that around here for hundreds of years.”
Entering their fifth year together, the group came to fruition in a roundabout way of old friends and new, sitting down and pickin’ for the sake of pickin’.
“Originally, we just got together to jam. A couple of the guys had put out solo records, and some of us played on those records,” said bassist/dobroist Tim Surrett. “We had so much fun and ended up picking together. By the second time or so we picked, we got asked to play a show, and then we just had to look for a name.”
The quintet features Nicholson, Surrett, guitarist Caleb Smith, fiddler Buddy Melton, and banjoist Marc Pruett. From winning a Grammy Award (Pruett) to being inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame (Surrett), from PowerGrass Music Awards “Male Vocalist of the Year” (Smith) to performing at the Grand Ole Opry (Nicholson) or playing alongside the legendary Doc Watson (Melton), they’re an array of talent and acclaim deeply rooted in Western North Carolina.
Wandering backstage before the show, a cacophony of strings drifts through the hallways. Each member finds their own corner where they tune up, and take a moment to collect their thoughts and catch their breath in the minutes leading up to the performance.
“I think the reality of bluegrass is that it’s real. There are songs about racehorses, rivers, mountains, murder, baptisms, etc., and all of that still resonates today,” Smith said. “When we look for stuff, we look for things that aren’t written for bluegrass. As a whole, bluegrass is a feel-type of music. It’s believable. It’s always fun to bring new music to people and step out with brand new things to offer.”
Stepping up to the microphone, Surrett saluted the crowd amid raucous cheers and applause. Outside, the tall steam stacks of the paper mill signaled that there was a lot more work left to do and tomorrow would be a new day. “We grew up here and we played ball here,” he said. “We live here and we think it smells just fine here.”
October 2014
Caleb Smith had no idea. “I didn’t hear them announce it,” he marveled. “I was backstage talking to Del McCoury about a guitar and he says to me, ‘Son, I think they just called your name.’”
By ‘they,’ McCoury meant the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), and what was called turned out to be Balsam Range winning “Entertainer of the Year” at the annual award show Oct. 2 in Raleigh. For Smith, the guitarist in the Haywood County group, taking home the biggest honor in the bluegrass industry was both shocking and very humbling.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” he said at the band’s celebratory after-party. “It’s humbling to even be nominated for this award by your peers and your heroes, and to win it and take it home, well, it was a milestone moment we’ll never forget — we hit the top of the mountain.”
The final honor of the evening, Balsam Range took the grand stage at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium to accept the award. It was the band’s third win in an evening that also garnered them “Vocal Group of the Year” and “Male Vocalist of the Year,” which was bestowed upon Melton.
Since their inception in 2007, Balsam Range has rapidly risen into the stratosphere of 21st century bluegrass. Amid their numerous number-one singles, accolades and Grand Ole Opry’ appearances, they also won the 2011 IBMA “Song of the Year” award for “Trains I Missed.”
And on the heels of winning “Album of the Year” in 2013 for “Papertown,” the quintet released the follow-up “Five” in June. The new record and its singles have spent most of this past summer burning up the bluegrass charts.
“Music is a very powerful thing. It speaks to people; it’s the universal language. And there’s a responsibility with that when you get to the level we’re at,” Melton said. “People connect to your music, and they tell you their life story, and it brings awareness to what we’re doing. We’re impacting people’s lives and they’re impacting ours — that’s a pretty special thing.”
Before the final award for “Entertainer of the Year” was presented, Balsam Range took the stage to play their hit song, “Moon Over Memphis.” The melody took the roof off the building, as the audience roared in applause following its completion.
The band had yet to return to their front row seats when it was announced they had won “Entertainer of the Year.” The auditorium shook with cheers and a standing ovation when they emerged from backstage to receive their trophy. The group waved to the crowd, only to look down with smiles from ear to ear at their ecstatic wives clapping from the front row.
It was a moment they’d never forget, a moment of pride that will go down as one of the finest in the long and storied musical history of Western North Carolina.
“I haven’t felt this proud since Pisgah High School won the state football championship in 1976,” Surrett chuckled. “We’ve not done anything differently since we started playing together. We just keep doing what we’re doing, and it just seems to get out there to more people. We keep pushing forward.”
October 2015
It was another banner year for Western North Carolina bluegrass acts at the IBMA awards in Raleigh last Thursday evening.
Despite torrential downpours and the possible threat of Hurricane Joaquin making landfall, the annual industry showcase once again brought together musicians, promoters and bluegrass fans alike for a week of memorable moments, onstage and off.
As the reigning “Entertainer of the Year,” Balsam Range watched The Earls of Leicester pick up the honor this year, but the quintet defended their title of “Vocal Group of the Year” and once again brought home “Song of the Year” for “Moon Over Memphis.” The band also was decorated by Gov. Pat McCrory with “The Order of the Long Leaf Pine,” the highest civilian honor in the state for a proven record of service in North Carolina.
Alongside his awards with Balsam Range, bassist Tim Surrett also won “Bass Player of the Year” and was selected to be the incoming chairman of the IBMA Board of Directors — as much an honor as a responsibility to not only preserve bluegrass music but also perpetuate it into the next generation of pickers and listeners.
“To be recognized by the bluegrass world is one thing, but to be recognized for the charity work we do, it’s just really nice. It means a lot. We give back to the community because we’re part of it. It’s for people we know, people we care about,” Surrett said about the “Order of the Long Leaf Pine.” “I don’t know how someone could say no to someone right in the eye when asked to help out with a charity event. Charity begins at home. We’ve got plenty to take care of in Haywood County and Western North Carolina.”
October 2018
Coming into this year, Balsam Range found itself once again nominated for numerous IBMA honors, this time for four awards: “Entertainer of the Year,” “Vocal Group of the Year,” “Male Vocalist of the Year,” and “Bass Player of the Year.” And for the last three years (2015-2017), the Jerry Douglas-led act The Earls of Leicester had taken home “Entertainer of the Year.”
“It’s just wonderful to still be able to work, to still be in the ring,” Pruett said. “But the biggest award for me is to get back out there on the stage with my buddies, pick some tunes again, and leave folks with a warm smile and some good music — that’s the only award I need.”
Right out the gate of the nationally broadcasted show, Surrett won the first award of the evening, “Bass Player of the Year,” it was his second time receiving the honor. Not to be outdone, Melton then won “Male Vocalist of the Year,” also for the second time.
And as the tension in the room wore on leading up to the announcement of “Entertainer of the Year,” the final award of the evening, Balsam Range took the stage and performed its latest single, “The Girl Who Invented the Wheel.” Just as the band got offstage, the envelope was ripped open, a raucous audience roaring in cheers and shouts when the new “Entertainer of the Year” was crowned: “And the winner is…Balsam Range.”
“Eleven years we’ve been together, and we are like family. This is the best group of guys. I love playing music with them,” Nicholson said. “This has been an incredible ride, but they’re better people. They’ve been there when it hasn’t been great and they’ve been there when it has been great — and that’s what family does.”
September 2021
Situated on Pisgah Drive/N.C. 110 in the outskirts of downtown Canton, North Carolina, is the WPTL studio, a Haywood County community radio station (101.7 FM/920 AM) featuring Appalachian music, high school sports, and local news.
It’s Wednesday evening and, like clockwork, Tim Surrett and his nephew, Carter Ball, jump behind the microphone to launch another episode of “Papertown Roots Radio.” Broadcasting from 7 to 10 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, the popular program hovers around 19,000 digital listeners during each installment.
Though the “Papertown Roots Radio” livestream usually features jovial back and forth banter between the duo and whoever is commenting from Facebook, tonight’s conversation focuses on the journalist from The Smoky Mountain News (me) who entered the studio to interview Surrett — about the love of his native Papertown, the recent flood devastation hitting Haywood County, and his band’s new album, Balsam Range’s “Moxie and Mettle.”
“You know, there’s a song on the new record called ‘Grit and Grace.’ The lyric in it is, ‘I supplied the grit, God supplied the grace,’” said Surrett, the standup bassist for Balsam Range. “And, well, it’s sort of become the unofficial fight song for the Town of Canton — through the flood, through the pandemic, and everything else.”
On Aug. 17, 2021, the mighty Pigeon River rose over 20 feet from the torrential rain, pummeling the small outlying mountain communities of Cruso and Bethel, onward through downtown Canton and beyond. A bulldozer of fast-paced water overtaking homes, businesses and outdoor recreational locations, forever shifting the appearance of the landscape and its inhabitants — death, destruction, a sea of mud and water. It was a 500-year flood that occurred just 17 years after Canton’s last 500-year flood.
“Immediately after the flood happened, people just started showing up and coming together to help each other out,” Surrett said. “When something like this happens, you don’t ask questions. You just grab a shovel, you know? And I love that about this community.”
A native of Canton, Surrett is no stranger to the power of Mother Nature and the floodwaters overtaking his hometown throughout the decades. With this last disaster, Surrett’s nephew and “Papertown Roots Radio” co-host, 19-year-old Carter Ball, lost his family’s home to the floodwaters that raged across Old Asheville Highway just east of downtown Canton.
Though the WPTL studio was untouched by the recent flood, the building is in the vicinity of complete destruction. Less than a mile west of where Surrett and Ball broadcast each week is downtown Canton, and less than five miles south is Jukebox Junction, where Bethel transitions into Cruso (the epicenter of the devastation) — all of which was under a wall of water (some 20-feet high in some locations) just a month-and-a-half ago.
Dubbed “Grit & Grace: A Flood Relief Benefit for Haywood County,” the Balsam Range concert will be held on Oct. 2 at Sorrells Street Park in Canton. The park itself was under several feet of water after the ravaging floodwaters spilled over the banks of the Pigeon River that runs right through downtown.
“Balsam Range has always been about giving back to the community,” Surrett said. “And this ‘Grit & Grace’ flood benefit show may be the most important one we’ve ever done.”
Editor’s Note: The flood relief concert raised over $35,000 for local residents and businesses affected.
November 2022
In a year that surely ended on a bittersweet note, beloved Haywood County bluegrass sensation Balsam Range not only celebrated 15 years together but also said goodbye to one of its founding members, mandolinist Darren Nicholson.
“[The timing] feels just right for me,” Nicholson said. “I did [over] 250 performances last year on my own, and almost 40 with Balsam Range. It’s very simple — it’s just gotten hard to do it all.”
Although the departure from his longtime group is amicable, Nicholson noted that his health, physically and mentally, was the main reason as to deciding to pursue a solo career with his popular country/bluegrass act, The Darren Nicholson Band, and put his entire focus into one artistic entity instead of two.
“I’m in a place in my life where health is a priority, and juggling careers is quite stressful from a scheduling standpoint,” Nicholson said. “Health is physical, mental, and spiritual, so this is about serenity for me, [with] my physical health probably the best it’s ever been in my life (right now).”
Nicholson’s final bow as a member of Balsam Range came during the ensemble’s annual “Art of Music” festival, that took place Dec. 2-3 in the Stuart Auditorium at the Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center. The weekend-long musical gathering also officially marked the 15-year milestone for the quintet.
Coming together as an impromptu jam session in the kitchen of Nicholson’s Canton home in 2007, Balsam Range was initially meant to be a casual musical project for all involved, each having been professional touring musicians for many years prior. But the vibe felt so right and seamless that the group started booking gigs around the region, the project soon taking on a life of its own.
And since its inception, Balsam Range has become one of the most decorated and award-winning acts in the wide world of bluegrass music. The band has taken home the following International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) honors: “Entertainer of the Year” (2014, 2018), “Album of the Year” (2013, 2017), “Song of the Year” (2011, 2015) and “Vocal Group of the Year” (2014, 2015), with Melton named “Male Vocalist of the Year” (2014, 2018) and Tim Surrett “Bass Player of the Year” (2018).
November 2026
With this year being the 10th anniversary of the “Art of Music Festival,” it’s also the official kickoff of the 20th anniversary of the formation of Balsam Range. Reflecting on what he sees and feels when thinking about these last two decades together, guitarist Caleb Smith is filled with a sense of awe and gratitude for the music he’s been able to create and perform within the group.
“We’ve built a legacy that will go down in the history books as one of the most decorated bluegrass bands that’s ever been, and it’s amazing that it started with five guys from the same area,” Smith said. “We’re still carrying on, still doing songs at our live shows that are 15 and 20 years old. The songs are the stories that people like to hear, and it’s humbling in a lot of ways that people still like what we do.”
In recent years, Balsam Range has recruited two very talented musicians in mandolinist Alan Bibey (a two-time IBMA “Mandolin Player of the Year” winner and nine-time SPBGMA “Mandolin Performer of the Year” recipient) and fiddler Stephen Hudson, who made his featured recording debut with the band this fall with a soaring cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.”
“Alan was a founding member of The New Quicksilver and IIIrd Tyme Out. He’s been part of some very iconic bluegrass bands, and it’s very humbling to be onstage with him every night — he’s brought a lot of energy,” Smith said. “And with Stephen, anywhere there’s a jam, he’s there. He knows a million songs, and when he showed up to us, he knew our music better than we did.”
The road has been long, yet bountiful for Balsam Range. The distance traveled, both physically and creatively, from that initial impromptu jam in a kitchen in Canton to playing some of the biggest stages in the country is something to celebrate and cherish, and to use as fuel for the fire pushing forward.
“There’s never been a question in our minds — we’ll just do this until we feel like we shouldn’t do it anymore,” Smith said. “And we’re not quite there yet. We’re still doing what we love, and doing it together.”
Want to go?
The annual Balsam Range “Art of Music” Festival will be held Dec. 4-5 in the Stuart Auditorium at the Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center.
The gathering will feature world-class talent, including Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, Authentic Unlimited, Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble, Darren Nicholson Band, and Jeff Little Trio, as well as performances on both nights from Balsam Range.
On Thursday, Dec. 3, there will be a special kickoff showcase by Balsam Range at Shackford Hall in Lake Junaluska. For more information, a full schedule of activities and/or to purchase tickets, visit balsamrangeartofmusicfestival.com.