Upcoming banjo youngster Steve Martin gets a lucky break on Heart’s The Only Compass a very modern tale of love, co-incidences and fate from Steep Canyon Rangers. It’s the third track unveiled from their forthcoming 15th studio album, Next Act, out May 22 on Yep Roc Records. Against suitably driving bluegrass accompaniment a story of “hope and fear and love and lust” gets resolved in the most modern way possible: a home DNA test kit that reveals that “all the names I recognize as my connections and my kin / The products of a shared imagination.”
Songwriter Graham Sharp explains the song saying: “It’s natural to look back at history, especially our personal history, and feel like things turned out in a way that makes perfect sense. After hearing some stories of my grandparents’ younger days and seeing people around me learning about their family history through DNA tests, it struck me just how much of a crapshoot it is. When every daily choice seems monumental, it feels good to think that the generations before us didn’t know what they were doing anymore than we do. And the best you can do is follow your heart.”
