Steve Powell
Steve started playing the piano at age seven and it was not until age fourteen that he got his first guitar. Although interested in music, Steve exhibited a talent for art at a very early age and use art as the primary means of expressing himself prior to picking up his first guitar. He won several 1st place awards in school art competitions, including a state competition where one of his paintings was selected to be displayed along with other paintings from junior high schools across the nation in what was then the new Department of Education Building in Washington, D.C. Although having an innate ability at art, Steve felt the need to express himself more through music, specifically guitar. John Denver was a huge influence in this, because much like Steve’s art work, John Denver’s music expressed environmental concerns and a love of the natural world. Starting out as a fingerstyle guitarist, Steve was also strongly influenced by the music of the great country guitarist Chet Atkins. However, it was really John Denver more than any other musician who was instrumental in Steve’s interest in guitar and singing.
Both Steve and Mike Hipp (Steve’s first cousin) have music in their family. Their maternal grandfather Monroe Grady Edwards sang Sacred Harp, and their maternal grandmother Lilly Mae (Blalock) Edwards’ father was a fiddle player. Also, Steve’s paternal grandmother Lena Irona (Burks) Powell played the piano. After Mike got his first banjo, he and Steve would pick bluegrass tunes together. It was at this time that Steve was first introduced to the music of Norman Blake by Mary Ann and Ricky Stone (then co-owner along with Herb Trottman of Fretted Instruments in Homewood, AL). However, it was after he first heard the album Dan Crary Guitar that he “caught the flatpicking bug”. He has been an avid flatpicker ever since. Over the years, Steve has been introduced to the music of such bluegrass guitar greats as Clarence White and Tony Rice. It is the guitar style of Clarence White that has influenced his picking style the most.
Steve was in a couple of bands prior to joining Crossing the Gap. The first was a duo with Mike Hipp called Rice Creek (named after Mike and Steve’s great grandmother’s maiden name… any relation to Tony??!! ?) Next he was in a band called The Muleskinners, which consisted of Mickie Powell (Steve’s sister) on mandolin and vocals, Stan Muenter on banjo and vocals, Tommy Chapman on fiddle, and Mike Clements on bass and vocals. After Stan Muenter left to return to California in 1990, he was replaced on the banjo by Jeff Stanfield (also a great fiddle player and flatpicker). Then in 1992 Steve joined Mike Hipp, Tom Johnson, and Diane Johnson in Crossing the Gap. Around the mid 1990’s, while still playing in Crossing the Gap, Steve also played in a short-lived newgrass group called The Well-Strung Men, which included Mike Hipp (banjo and vocals), Ross Binkly (mandolin and vocals), and Bo Butler (bass and vocals). Currently, Steve plays lead and rhythm guitar and sings lead and harmony vocals in Crossing the Gap.
Steve has a B.S. degree in mathematics (with minors in chemistry and biology), and M.S. degree in mathematics, and a Ph.D. in biology. It was during his time as a biology graduate student that Steve missed his chance to become the first bluegrass guitarist to play the Lester Flatt G-run at the bottom of the ocean! During a five week expedition to the deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean, he was chosen to make a dive in the DSV Alvin to a depth of 1.5 miles to view the hydrothermal vents first-hand. He did not want to leave his guitar home for five weeks, so he brought it with him on the expedition and picked and sang for the other scientists and crew on the research vessel. After hearing Steve’s picking one afternoon, the pilot of the Alvin thought that Steve should take his guitar with him on the dive. However, the Alvin dive master would not permit this due to safety concerns. So unfortunately his guitar stayed on board the ship while Steve made his dive to the bottom of the ocean.
Steve lives in Pelham, Alabama with his wife and two children. He is a program manager for a clinical trial in multiple sclerosis in the Department of Biostatistics at the UAB School of Public Health. His hobbies and interests include science and mathematics, music, hiking/camping, canoeing, fishing, archery, Cherokee Indian culture and history, and Chinese martial arts.