Near as I can figure, there are two ways to make it big in the music business. You can either drop everything else in your life — family, financial security, stability, you name it — and hit the road with whatever instrument you think you’re good at as soon as you’re old enough to leave home, playing tiny venues and begging for opportunities to open for established names until, if you’re very lucky, someone with connections notices you …  in Nashville, New York, or LA.
Or … you can plug away at your craft quietly, writing songs, practicing whenever you have a chance, and slowly, over many years, convert a hobby into something that begins to threaten your day job.
Aaron Burdett did not spend the last 20 years knocking on doors in Nashville. Instead, he stayed close to his home in Saluda, where he got married, started a family, and built a successful construction business. The seven new homes coming together on Greenville Street in Saluda are his work.
But along the way he also managed to become one of the region’s best singer-songwriters. He’s won awards from Merlefest, the USA Songwriting Competition, Mountain Stage, the North Carolina Songwriters Co-op – the list goes on. None of that posed any threat to his day job, though.
But then, this summer, someone with real  connections finally noticed him. When the Steep Canyon Rangers — one of the country’s best known bluegrass and Americana bands — lost their guitarist, Woody Platt, they reached out to Aaron. A few weeks ago, he officially joined the group. And things just got a whole lot more interesting, for both him, and his family. And somehow, one of the most successful musicians ever to come out of Polk County found the time to drop by and talk with me about his music, his childhood in Saluda, and what joining the Rangers will really mean.
Further reading:
Aaron Burdett on the web
http://www.aaronburdett.com
The Steep Canyon Rangers
https://www.steepcanyon.com

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