Arden, North Carolina (October 4, 2021) — Two-time International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainer of the Year Balsam Range has released an official music video for “Highway Side,” the latest single from their new album, Moxie and Mettle.
“Highway Side” marries a Rashomon-like glimpse of a driver passing a hitchhiker to a propulsive bluegrass beat that delivers the song’s empathetic message — “I wonder how did he get there…Something tells me he and I are the same” — through strong harmonies, deft picking and an irresistible sing-along chorus. The video captures that story with the band looking back at themselves from the road.
The song follows the band’s four most recent singles from Moxie and Mettle — “Santa Barbara,” “Rivers, Rains and Runaway Trains,” “Grit and Grace” and “Richest Man” — each of which topped the bluegrass charts. “Richest Man” was named IBMA Song of the Year at last week’s awards.
Watch the “Highway Side” video below, and stream Moxie and Mettle HERE.
About Balsam Range
Balsam Range is Buddy Melton (fiddle, lead and tenor vocals); Darren Nicholson (mandolin, octave mandolin, lead vocals, baritone and low tenor vocals); Dr. Marc Pruett (banjo); Tim Surrett (bass, dobro, baritone and lead vocals); and Caleb Smith (guitar, lead & baritone vocals). The five original members are all acoustic musicians and singers from western North Carolina. They thoughtfully and respectfully adopted the name of a majestic range of mountains that surround part of their home county of Haywood, NC where the Great Smoky Mountains meet the Blue Ridge, the Great Balsam Range.
The 2018 International Bluegrass Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year, Balsam Range, has become one of the genre’s most award-winning acts. Since forming in 2007, the group has garnered 13 IBMA awards on the heels of 8 critically-acclaimed albums. Balsam Range has left audiences spellbound while headlining major festivals from coast-to-coast, selling out venues across the nation and in multiple appearances at the Grand Ole Opry. The band collaborated with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble to record 2 albums, the second of which, Mountain Overture, debuted on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart at #5 and the Classical Crossover Chart at #6. Their album Mountain Voodoo, debuted at #4 on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums Chart and remained on that chart for 45 weeks. Three singles from that album reached #1 on the Bluegrass Today Chart, including “Blue Collar Dreams,” which spent three consecutive months at the top. After that, their album Aeonic debuted at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart and spent 46 total weeks on the chart. The album featured hit songs like “The Girl Who Invented The Wheel,” “Get Me Gone” and “Angel Too Soon.” The band most recently claimed the #1 radio chart spots with their singles, “Richest Man,” “Grit and Grace,” “Rivers, Rains and Runaway Trains,” and “Santa Barbara.” In addition to winning Entertainer of the Year, Balsam Range vocalist Buddy Melton won IBMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year and bass player Tim Surrett won IBMA’s Bass Player of the Year in 2018