Country legend Ricky Skaggs brings Kentucky Thunder to Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on Jan. 9
From a press release:
It was announced today that Grammy Award-winning Country Music Hall of Famer Ricky Skaggs and his band Kentucky Thunder will perform at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets, which are $25 for regular reserved seating and $35 for premium reserved seating, go on sale next Thursday, Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster outlets, the Penn’s Peak box office (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe), and Roadies Restaurant and Bar (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe). Penn’s Peak box office and Roadies Restaurant ticket sales are walk-up only; no phone orders.
The career of 15-time Grammy winner Ricky Skaggs is easily among the most significant in recent country music history. If his burgeoning trophy case full of awards wasn’t already enough evidence of that fact, consider that legendary guitarist Chet Atkins once credited Skaggs with “single-handedly saving country music.” His life’s path has taken him to various musical genres, from where it all began in bluegrass music to striking out on new musical journeys, while still leaving his musical roots intact.
Born July 18, 1954 in Cordell, Kentucky, Skaggs showed signs of future stardom at an early age, playing mandolin on stage with bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe at 6 and appearing on television with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs at 7. He emerged as a professional bluegrass musician in 1971, when he and his friend Keith Whitley were invited to join the legendary Ralph Stanley’s band the Clinch Mountain Boys.
Skaggs then went on to record and perform with progressive bluegrass acts like the Country Gentlemen and J.D. Crowe & the New South, whose self-titled 1975 Rounder Records debut album was instantly recognized as a landmark bluegrass achievement. He then led Boone Creek, which also featured Dobro ace and fellow New South alumnus Jerry Douglas.
But Skaggs turned to the more mainstream country music genre in the late ‘70s when he joined Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band, replacing Rodney Crowell. He became a recording artist in his own right in 1981 when his Epic label debut album “Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine” topped the country charts and yielded a pair of No. 1 hits. Overall, his productive stay at Epic Records would result in a total of 12 No. 1 hits. Additionally, he garnered eight Country Music Association Awards, including the coveted Entertainer of the Year trophy in 1985.
Skaggs, of course, fit right in with young “new traditionalist” ‘80s artists like Randy Travis and helped rejuvenate the country music genre after the worn-out “Urban Cowboy” period. But he put his own stamp on the country format by infusing his bluegrass and traditional country music roots into the contemporary Nashville sound.
Released on his newly-formed Skaggs Family Records label, Skaggs’ 1997 album “Bluegrass Rules!” marked a triumphant return to bluegrass, which he’s solidified ever since with a series of Grammy Award-winning albums, recorded with his amazing bluegrass band Kentucky Thunder, eight-time winners of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Instrumental Group of the Year award. Skaggs’ label has also served as a home for similar bluegrass and roots music-oriented artists, including The Whites.
“This group of guys meets my approval every night,” Skaggs said of Kentucky Thunder. “Each and every one of the pickers in Kentucky Thunder totally amazes me in every show… and that, to me, outweighs any award we could ever win.” The all-star lineup of Kentucky Thunder includes Paul Brewster (tenor vocals, rhythm guitar), Russ Carson (banjo), Jake Workman (lead guitar), Mike Barnett (fiddle), Dennis Parker (baritone vocals, guitar), and Jeff Picker (bass, bass vocals).
In the past decade, Skaggs has been honored with inductions into the Gospel Music Association’s Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame. In 2018, a landmark year, he was also awarded membership into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame, the IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, and country music’s greatest honor, the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Skaggs struck his first chords on a mandolin over 50 years ago, and he continues to do his part to lead the recent roots revival in music. Clearly his passion for it puts him in the position to bring his lively, distinctively American form of music out of isolation and into the ears and hearts of audiences across the country and around the world. He is always forging ahead with cross-cultural, genre-bending musical ideas and inspirations.
