Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder In Buffalo NY June 8 at the Sportsman’s Park!
Never has a band the magnitude of Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder played in the city limits of Buffalo, NY before. That is the result of the confidence that Dwane Hall of the Sportsmen’s Tavern has in the great Bluegrass fans in Buffalo. Dwane is bringing in Skaggs and his incredible band on Sunday, June 8th to the Sportsmen’s Music Park in Buffalo behind the Sportsmen’s. Tickets are limited and about 2/3’s of them are already sold. Don’t wait any longer, This WILL sell out. Here is some info on the band:
Kentucky Thunder, or Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, is the band that plays with American country and bluegrass singer Ricky Skaggs. Many members of the band have won numerous awards. Bandleader Ricky Skaggs plays mandolin and is the lead vocalist. The group has won the Instrumental Group of the Year award from the International Bluegrass Music Association multiple times, as well as seven Grammy Awards.
Skaggs was born in Cordell, Kentucky. He started playing music at age 5 after he was given a mandolin by his father, Hobert Skaggs. At age 6, he played mandolin and sang on stage with Bill Monroe. At age 7, he appeared on television’s Martha White country music variety show, playing with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. He also wanted to audition for the Grand Ole Opry at that time, but was told he was too young.
In his mid-teens, Skaggs met a fellow teen guitarist, Keith Whitley, and the two started playing together with Whitley’s banjo playing brother, Dwight, on radio shows. By 1970, they had earned a spot opening for Ralph Stanley, and Skaggs and Keith Whitley were thereafter invited to join Stanley’s band, the Clinch Mountain Boys.
Skaggs later joined The Country Gentlemen in Washington, DC, and J. D. Crowe’s New South from Lexington, Kentucky. In 1976, Skaggs formed progressive bluegrass band Boone Creek, including members Vince Gill and Jerry Douglas. For a few years, Skaggs was a member of Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band. He wrote the arrangements for Harris’s 1980 bluegrass-roots album, Roses in the Snow. In addition to arranging for Harris, Skaggs sang harmony and played mandolin and fiddle in the Hot Band.
Awards to Ricky Skaggs;
Grammy Awards
1983 Best Country Instrumental Performance: New South (J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs) for Fireball
1984 Best Country Instrumental Performance: Ricky Skaggs for Wheel Hoss
1986 Best Country Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist): Ricky Skaggs for Raisin’ The Dickins
1991 Best Country Vocal Collaboration: Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner & Vince Gill for Restless
1998 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Bluegrass Rules!
1998 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: Clint Black, Joe Diffie, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt & Dwight Yoakam for Same Old Train
1999 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Ancient Tones
2000 Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Soldier Of The Cross
2003 Best Country Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for A Simple Life
2004 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Brand New Strings
2005 Best Musical Album For Children, “Songs From The Neighborhood, The Music Of Mr. Rogers”
2006 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Instrumentals
2008 Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album: Ricky Skaggs and The Whites for Salt of the Earth
2009 Best Bluegrass Album Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass 1946 & 47
2016 Best Contemporary Christian Music Album (as producer for Love Remains by Hillary Scott & The Scott Family )
Yes, Ricky Skaggs is the real deal and his band is amazing. Don’t miss out on this show.