While backing comedian, banjo picker and Father of the Bride Steve Martin, the UNC-rooted Steep Canyon Rangers played with Paul McCartney, appeared on Jools Holland, and won one of bluegrass's biggest prizes. Often lost in the entertainer-obsessed hubbub, though, is the fact that the Rangers have been making great records for more than a decade, using five-voice singing to document blue-collar hopes and hurdles. Tonight, they won't share the spotlight. Country crooner John Howie Jr. opens with his elegant new act, The Rosewood Bluff. —Grayson Currin