| Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder | Primary Artist |
| Ricky Skaggs | Indexed Contributor, Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals, Gut String Guitar, Soloist, Claw Hammer Banjo, Hi String Guitar (Acoustic), Vocal Harmony, Papoose |
| Sam Bacco | Percussion, Bells, Spoons |
| Stuart Duncan | Fiddle |
| Jim Mills | Banjo, Soloist |
| Sharon White | Background Vocals, Vocal Harmony |
| Darrin Vincent | Vocal Harmony |
| Cody Kilby | Banjo, Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Soloist |
| Mark Fain | Bass, Bowed Bass |
| Paul Brewster | Background Vocals, Vocal Harmony |
| Bryan Sutton | Guitar |
| Keith Sewell | Background Vocals, Vocal Harmony |
| Rebecca Lynn Howard | Background Vocals, Vocal Harmony |
| Mike Snyder | Claw Hammer Banjo |
| Jeff Taylor | Accordion |
| Andy Leftwich | Mandolin |
| Johnny Hyland | Electric Guitar |
| Tim Laure | Accordion, Portative Organ |
| Molly Skaggs | Dulcimer |
| Jeff Taylor | Accordion |
| Ricky Skaggs | Composer, Engineer, Audio Production |
| Doug Kershaw | Composer |
| Guy Clark | Composer |
| Mel Tillis | Composer |
| Rusty Kershaw | Composer |
| John Wiggins | Composer |
| Harley Allen | Composer |
| Shawn Camp | Composer |
| Brent King | Engineer |
| Don Rollins | Composer |
| Bobby Terry | Composer |
| Lee Groitzsch | Engineer |
| Steve Leslie | Composer |
| Keith Sewell | Composer |
| Andrew Mendelson | Mastering |
| Rupert Neve | Design Engineer |
| Tony Mullins | Composer |
| Tommy Conners | Composer |
| Shawn Lane | Composer |
Anonymous
Posted October 1, 2010
It's a tricky balance to keep a traditional form from turning into a dormant shelf decoration. On the one hand, you need to keep to the tradition's roots, but on the other, you can't follow your forbearer's paths so closely that you do nothing more than wear ruts into the ground. Skaggs continues to successfully navigate this skyline path by matching top-notch instrumental skills and elements of traditional bluegrass arrangements with newly penned songs and inflections that expand upon the foundation laid down by Monroe, Stanley and others. ¶ Skaggs' latest release actively seeks out contemporary material from some of country music's finest writers, including Guy Clark, Shawn Camp and Skaggs himself. At their heart, these songs share a thematic sensibility with the bluegrass classics, and when given over to Kentucky Thunder's traditional fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin - not to mention the tight harmonies of Skaggs, Paul Brewster, Darren Vincent, and Rebecca Lynn Howard - the result is truly 21st century bluegrass. ¶ These studio productions don't generate the high-voltage band interplay found on the live performances like 2003's "Live at the Charleston Music Hall," though a few spark up some hot picking, such as Keith Sewell's title track, and several instrumentals penned by Skaggs. The latter's vocals are especially moving a pair of Shawn Lane tunes, "Why Did I Wait So Long?" and "If I Had it All Again To Do." No doubt the newer tunes waxed here will mix nicely with the classics as the band takes them out on the road.
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Editorial Reviews
Barnes & Noble - David McGee
Apropos of the title, bluegrass stalwart Ricky Skaggs joins fresh ideas with a reverence for tradition and his abiding spirituality on Brand New Strings, one of his deepest, most exciting albums. The title song is a case in point: A classic-styled barn burner, it tells the story of a blues picker transformed by love, a makeover reflected in his ebullient playing. Rebecca Lynn Howard joins Skaggs on record for the first time, adding some jubilant harmonies, and electricity makes a dramatic entrance with guitarist Johnny Hyland's fleet-fingered, white-hot solo near the end. Similarly, Skaggs draws on shimmering electric guitar chords to spice up the acoustic arrangement on...