Tim Surrett is the bass player, resonator guitar player, and a singer in Balsam Range, the North Carolina band that was IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 2014 and 2018. He won IBMA Bass Player of the Year in 2015 and 2018. Before Balsam Range he sang and played bass in the Kingsmen, a Southern gospel quartet, and worked with the Isaacs.
Why Surrett matters
Surrett brought years of Southern gospel singing to one of the most awarded bluegrass bands of the 2010s. Balsam Range won IBMA Entertainer, Vocal Group, Song, and Album of the Year in those years, with Surrett on bass. He also helps other musicians: the IBMA gave him its Momentum Award for Mentor of the Year in 2014, and the label he started grew into Mountain Home Records.
Life and career
Surrett is from Canton, North Carolina, in Haywood County. In the 1990s he sang lead and played bass with the Kingsmen, an award-winning gospel quartet from Asheville. In 1992 he recorded a solo project on his own record label, which later became Mountain Home Records, part of the Horizon Music Group. He later joined the Isaacs, a gospel family band, for a time.
In 2007 he and four friends from Haywood County founded Balsam Range. The band named itself for the Great Balsam Mountains around their home. Balsam Range won IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 2014 and 2018, Vocal Group of the Year in 2014 and 2015, Song of the Year in 2011 and 2015, and Album of the Year in 2013 and 2017. Surrett is one of the band’s three original members still in the lineup.
Playing style
Surrett plays upright bass in Balsam Range and also plays resonator guitar in the band. He is one of the band’s singers, and Balsam Range won IBMA Vocal Group of the Year twice.
Influences and legacy
Surrett played beside Balsam Range founders Buddy Melton, Caleb Smith, Marc Pruett, and Darren Nicholson, and later Alan Bibey. In the Kingsmen and the Isaacs he worked in Southern gospel before turning to bluegrass.
Essential recordings
Tim Surrett’s Mountain Home (Mountain Home, 1999) Tim Surrett (Crossroads, 2006) Balsam Range albums with Surrett on bass, including the IBMA Albums of the Year from 2013 and 2017
Awards and honors
IBMA Song of the Year, with Balsam Range (2011, 2015) IBMA Album of the Year, with Balsam Range (2013, 2017) IBMA Momentum Award, Mentor of the Year (2014) IBMA Entertainer of the Year, with Balsam Range (2014, 2018) IBMA Vocal Group of the Year, with Balsam Range (2014, 2015) IBMA Bass Player of the Year (2015, 2018)
What to learn from Surrett
Sing while you play bass. Start with a slow gospel song in a comfortable key, such as I’ll Fly Away, and play only roots on beats one and three while you sing the lead. When that feels easy, add the fifth. Surrett’s career shows that a bass player who can sing becomes the center of a vocal band.
Sources
Surrett, Tim, BluegrassBios.com Balsam Range, Wikipedia Awards by Category, IBMA
Related players
See the bass players hub and the bass guide. Alan Bibey plays mandolin in Balsam Range. Alan Bartram won the IBMA bass award between Surrett’s two wins, in 2017.