Country and bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs and renowned pianist and songwriter Bruce Hornsby, fellow friends and GRAMMY® winners, will soon hit the road once again to collaborate with Skaggs’ razor-sharp band Kentucky Thunder on brand new tunes and traditional bluegrass classics. The “Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder” tour kicks-off on February 26 in Tarrytown, NY with additional New York dates to follow, as well as stops in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
“I always get excited when I know I’m gonna get to tour with my good friend Bruce Hornsby,” says Skaggs. “Fireworks always happen!”
Hornsby adds, “The level of virtuosity required to play bluegrass music with the freaks of Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder requires a good deal of practice; I always have to prepare a good deal, practicing with the metronome at break-neck speed, crazy tempos, to be able to hang with those guys.”
Without any restrictions, their music is as fascinating and masterful as the two stars that created it. The pair blends songs drawn from deep roots in mountain music, adding piano and Hornsby’s inimitable songwriting to Skaggs’ instrumental core of mandolin, guitar, bass, fiddle and banjo into a musical feast. Punctuating the show is a vibrantly expansive version of Hornsby’s early hit “The Way It Is” and a performance of “White Wheeled Limousine,” and to sum up the free-spirited nature of their collaborations, Skaggs and Hornsby joyfully present the vintage fiddle tune “Cluck Ol’ Hen.” Skaggs and Hornsby promise to kick up a storm with their mix of high-lonesome harmonies, full throttle bluegrass picking, and improvisational piano.
2017 “Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder” Tour Dates:
Feb 26 – Tarrytown, NY – Tarrytown Music Hall
Feb 27 – Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Theatre
March 1 – Brookville, NY – Tilles Center for the Performing Arts
March 3 – Lancaster, PA – American Music Theatre
March 4 – Wilmington, DE – The Grand Opera House, Copeland Hall
March 5 – Verona, NY – Turning Stone Resort & Casino at The Showroom
About Ricky Skaggs
Earning 12 #1 hit singles, 14 GRAMMY® Awards, 11 IBMA Awards, nine ACM Awards, eight CMA Awards (including Entertainer of the Year), two Dove Awards, the ASCAP Founders Award, three honorary Doctorate degrees, inductions into the Musicians Hall of Fame and GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the 2013 Artist-In-Residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, an Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award in the Instrumentalist category along with countless other awards, Ricky Skaggs is truly a pioneer of Bluegrass and Country music. Since he began playing music more than 50 years ago, Skaggs has released more than 30 albums and has performed thousands of live shows. He started his own record label, Skaggs Family Records, in 1997 and has since released 12 consecutive GRAMMY®-nominated albums. His latest release, Hearts Like Ours, with his wife, celebrated artist Sharon White of The Whites features the couple dueting on handpicked country love songs. And the Grand Ole Opry member has released his first-ever autobiography, “Kentucky Traveler.” The book details the life and times of Skaggs and provides a descriptive history of Country and Bluegrass music, as told by the master himself. In addition to his regular touring schedule with his band, Kentucky Thunder, he recently performed a string of dates with his better half Sharon White along with guitar legend Ry Cooder on the critically-acclaimed “Cooder-White-Skaggs” tour and from time to time hits the road with versatile singer/songwriter and pianist Bruce Hornsby on another critically-acclaimed tour, “Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder.”
For more information on Ricky Skaggs, visit www.rickyskaggs.com.
About Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Hornsby’s work displays a creative iconoclasm that’s been a constant in the artist’s two-and-a-half decade recording career. His commercial stock soared early on, when “The Way It Is”–the title track of his 1986 debut album–became one of the most popular songs on American radio. Despite his early mainstream successes, Hornsby has pursued a more personal, idiosyncratic musical path, focusing on projects that sparked his creative interest, including collaborations with the Grateful Dead, Spike Lee, Ricky Skaggs, Don Henley, Ornette Coleman, Bob Dylan, Bela Fleck, Bonnie Raitt, Pat Metheny, and Robbie Robertson. Hornsby’s performance will offer a glimpse of a restless spirit who continues to push forward into new musical terrain.
For more information on Bruce Hornsby, visit www.brucehornsby.com.
