Maryville, TENN. — Jesse Lunsford travels around the country with one of the top bands in Bluegrass music: Steep Canyon Rangers.
"I drive entertainer buses. I go out on tour with all the people that everybody else pays to see," he said.
Lunsford came to be the group's bus driver through a job with a Knoxville-based bus company. The band decided to buy their own bus and hired Jesse full-time.
"The best part is seeing a different place every day, seeing amazing things," he said. "One week I may see the Grand Canyon and the next week, I may see Niagara Falls. That's pretty interesting."
Steep Canyon Rangers are known for their amazing music and their frequent collaborations with comedy and acting legend Steve Martin, a talented musician in his own right.
Martin and his long-time friend, comedian and Saturday Night Live alum Martin Short, are on a comedy tour that includes music from Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers.
"In my opinion, this isn't just because I work for them, they're one of the best bluegrass bands in the world. They're phenomenal," Lunsford said. "A lot of people that come to see Steve and Marty don't even know much about bluegrass in general, and then when they hear one of the greatest bands in the world play a song that just, they're usually pretty blown away."
The group has been on a tour since 2017 and show no sign of stopping anytime soon.
They're really close almost like family. Steve spends a lot of time in North Carolina and he's around the guys quite a bit so they're a lot like family and friends," Lunsford said
He said the "Steve & Marty" show contains a lot of comedy.
"They both come out together for a while, they do a solo set of comedy, then Steve does some music and then it kind of all mixes up in the end," he said. "The Rangers play they do some songs with Steve and a song by themselves every night."
Lunsford himself landed a part in the show, doing a bit with Martin Short. It came about almost by accident.
"We'd been touring the show, a comedy bit that Martin Short does every night, the tour manager was responsible for finding a different person in every town to do it, there was a lot involved in that," he said. "We were doing a show at the Grand Ole Opry and of all the cool places we've played, I've always wanted to work the Grand Ole Opry being a musician, so I offered to do the bit with Marty at the Opry just because I thought it would be cool to do it there. So I did it and the next couple weeks, while we were off, they stewed it over and Marty's tour manager called me and said 'Marty would like for you to do it all the time.'"
These days being on stage with the comedy legend is second nature to him.
"I'll just kind of hang backstage, play music with the guys till they get ready to go out and then usually when they go to the stage I go ahead and get dressed for my part," he said.
Lunsford's bit with Martin Short will be featured in a Netflix special that will premiere May 25. Jesse admits he wasn't sure he'd be involved in the special.
"I almost wondered you know, with Netflix, if they were going to hire a professional actor or something, but they just kept me. I never thought as a bus driver I would have to fill out a stack of forms for the Screen Actors Guild, so that was interesting," he said.
Lunsford said the comedians are each their own person and are fun to work for.
On Steve Martin, he said, "He's as nice as they come. He's the type of person whose brain never stops working. You can be in a conversation with him and all of a sudden, he'll remember a sentence from the show from the night before that he needs to change, and then he'll just stop the conversation to fix it."
"Marty's a little bit more of a spark plug. He's just kind of all over the place in a fun way. He's exciting as can be to work for," Lunsford said.
Life is never boring on the road with Steep Canyon Rangers. Lunsford said it's like traveling with your best friends.
"We jump on the bus at night and we usually order a bunch of pizzas or something from a local place and we just have a good time for a few hours before everyone goes to sleep and I keep driving," he said. "We call it a 12-bunk sleeper. Typically, (it) would be like a crew bus; we carry the band and Steve Martin's crew on it so sleeping room for 12, rest room, kitchen facility, two satellites so you can have satellite on one television in the front, different one in the back. Each bunk has it's on television and DVD player. Basically it has everything you have at home except it rolls."
When he's not on the road, Lunsford enjoy quality time at home with family.
"A lot of sitting in my living room," he laughed. "I love being home with my family so whatever I can do to spend time with my wife and my daughters is pretty much it."
He plans to be there on September 28, 2018 when Steve Martin, Martin Short and Steep Canyon Rangers perform at the Civic Auditorium in Knoxville.
"We're booked pretty much through 2019 right now on this tour, the show will change some after Netflix because I guess once the world has seen it, you have to change some stuff up," he said.
For Lunsford the road to happiness is paved with family, good friends and a fun career that takes him all over the nation.
"I guess I love it," he said. "I wouldn't have it any other way unless I could do what I do from home every day. I love being home, but I can't imagine doing anything else."