Early Show:
Pig in a Pen, Fire on the Mountain, Lonesome Night, Toy Heart, Wheel Hoss, Carolina Mt. Home, The Road is Rough and Rocky, Boston Boy, Walls of Time, Coal Mining Man, Bound to Ride, Fiddle Patch, Uncle Pen, Connemara, Where You There?, Listening to the Rain, Blue Ridge Mt. Home, Little Maggie, E: Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms

Late Show:
Pig in a Pen, Fire on the Mountain, Lonesome Night, Toy Heart, Somehow Tonight, Wheel Hoss,Will You be Loving Another Man?, Carolina Mt. Home, ConAgra, Walls of Time, Coal Mining Man, The Road is Rough and Rocky, Fiddle Patch, Uncle Pen, Rank Strangers, Listening to the Rain, Little Maggie, E1: I Ain't Broke, E2: Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms, E3: Boston Boy

Article and photos © Ted Silverman, San Francisco, USA

The author

IF YOU ARE A DEVOTEE of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers then you should run, not walk, to the next possible performance by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder. Even if you have no idea of the rich history behind this music, Skaggs and co. make for some first rate entertainment. This is Bluegrass 101 delivered with impeccable taste, tone and instrumental proficiency. Having just been awarded their second consecutive Grammy Award, this time for Ancient Tones, the band was in fine form and performed powerfully for two sold out shows.

During the early show Skaggs declared "I have come back home to Bluegrass and I ain't leaving." He was true to his word as 90% of the songs he presented were written prior to 1958. He was aided in his search for the 'Ancient Tones' with the help of some downright impressive players consisting of a mix of young lions and a couple of well-known veterans. Former Bluegrass Boy Bobby Hicks and youngster Luke Buka worked as a powerful twin fiddle section with each occasionally stepping out for featured solos. Longtime Skaggs' sideman Jim Mills provided explosive punch on banjo and dobro. Tennessee locals Paul Brewster and Darren Vincent played rhythm guitars and provided beautiful harmony vocals. Mark Fane manned the upright bass and Clay Hess wowed the crowd on lead guitar, This band handily blew the doors off the Last Day Saloon.

Ricky very obviously is a virtuoso talent having performed on stage at a Bill Monroe concert at the ripe old age of 5 and making an appearance on TV with Flatt and Scruggs just two years later. Eventually he wound up touring the country with likes of Ralph Stanley and later with the influential J.D.Crowe. He's a monster Mandolin player in the Monroe style, and he's just as versatile on guitar, fiddle or banjo. He's also a fabulous spokesman for the music with a warm, and comfortable stage presence. One of his most endearing on stage moves his is very accurate deadpan impression of Bill Monroe. He's got a bag full of great anecdotes about the Big Mon and was able to elicit a chuckle from the audience with these insights into the history behind each tune.

The band presented relatively similar programs during the evening two shows. Both shows commenced with potent versions of 'Pig in a Pen'. A program of the kind of tunes you'd hear at any bluegrass festival parking lot jam followed. Each selection was rendered with sparkling dynamics, hot breaks and pinpoint harmony vocals. Classics from the pen of Bill Monroe including 'Toy Heart,' 'Wheel Hoss,' and 'Uncle Pen,' which was a number 1 hit for Skaggs during his country music legacy with MCA, were faithfully delivered. Throughout the night, Waltzes, Gospel numbers, Fiddle tunes and Bluegrass standards were all picked with equally potent aplomb. Even a handful of well crafted originals from the pens of sidemen Paul Brewster and Jim Mills were presented alongside the classics of the genre.

Bobby Hicks was particularly slick in his fiddling and the occasional twin fiddle parts performed alongside Luke Buka added an eerie tonality that matched the three part vocal harmonies so well delivered throughout the evening. Hicks was featured on the wonderful Western Swing original 'Fiddle Patch,' which he delivered on his specially made five string fiddle.

Jim Mills provided powerful, driving punch with his banjo and dobro licks in both sets. This was quintessential bluegrass music and Jim Mills provided faithful accompaniment that showcased traditional technique laced with his own distinctive touch.

One very obvious standout member of Kentucky Thunder was youngster Clay Hess. Hess graced the night's music with eye-popping licks, inventive cross-picking and an understated stage presence, He proved himself a worthy replacement for the now departed Bryan Sutton and throughout the show he and Skaggs traded licks and appeared equally impressed with each others' picking.

Skaggs' penchant for co-mingling well-known veterans with up and coming youngsters is an inspired move for a bandleader. It provides valid real-world experience for these young pickers. It also attracts the attention of younger fans and acts to inspire these younger pickers to play up to the level of the legends in the band.

The second of these two shows actually managed to be even hotter than the first for by the time the encore came around the audience demanded and got 3 encores. Ricky said "Whenever we play two shows in a night the first one is always great but the later show is always better" and he wasn't kidding. At this point Ricky honored a request from the crowd performing and obviously unrehearsed version of 'I Ain't Broke… But I'm Badly Bent'. The band was called back to the microphones twice thereafter by the ecstatic audience delivering the Flatt and Scruggs standard 'Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms' and a traditional fiddle tune mentioned in Monroe's 'Uncle Pen,' - 'Boston Boy'.

These performances were a testament to Ricky Skaggs' reverent devotion to traditional bluegrass music. His now relentless search for the 'Ancient Tones' is being made with convincing conviction. And yet, even if the rich legacy behind this music is unknown to the casual attendee, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder provide a heaping helping of roots music lore, entertainment and toe tapping pleasure.

Article © Ted Silverman, San Francisco, USA

Ted appears in the article Brewglass - the Way Forward (in this issue)

1st March 2000