The Platinum Heavyweights and the Steep Canyon Rangers have been playing together on the last day of classes for four semesters. They continue the tradition tonight at The Hideaway in the Bank of America Plaza.
"We (the two bands) offset each other well," said Woody Platt, a UNC graduate and guitarist for the bluegrass-focused Steep Canyon Rangers. "I like playing with them, and I really like the contrast in the music."
UNC graduate and Heavyweights' guitarist Mitchell Rothrock said The Hideaway will help highlight that contrast, between the Heavyweights' blend of funk, soul, reggae and ska and the Rangers' rootsy Southern sound.
The first year the show was held at Pantana Bob's, and for last two years it has been at the Cat's Cradle, he said. "We like to switch sets, and it's more difficult to do that at the Cradle."
This concert will have the two bands rotating sets, with the Steep Canyon Rangers starting the show from 10 p.m. until 11 p.m. and playing again from 12 a.m. to 1 a.m., alternating with the Platinum Heavyweights.
Lizzie Hamilton, fiddler for the Steep Canyon Rangers and a junior from Fairview, noted that there will be other changes in the tradition this year.
"We are a bigger band, and we are more serious," she said of the addition of Derek Kirby on Dobro. "Most of us are trying to play professionally, and the quality of our music is better than it has ever been."
The band's efforts to play professionally could lead to a move to Asheville, where the Steep Canyon Rangers spent the last two summers, at the end of this school year.
"We have a lot of opportunities (in western North Carolina), and there's a good bluegrass audience," she said. "Also, there are a lot of good bluegrass bands in western North Carolina, and it'll be good for us to have a little competition."
