Ricky Skaggs and his collaboration with Bruce Hornsby have been the topic of a number of recent pieces on The Bluegrass Blog.

We told you earlier this month about the two appearing on the CBS Early Show with Skaggs’ band, Kentucky Thunder, on July 13, and have two updates that relate to that appearance.

First of all, there is video up on the CBS News site where you can watch their live performance online. They talk to Early Show host Hannah Storm about their musical pairings, and then perform Hornsby’s Dreaded Spoon, a new song with a nice Celtic flair.

Also recently published is a blog post from Nick Bailey, a publicist working for Shore Fire Media who is handling promotion for the Skaggs/Hornsby CD. Nick was in Raleigh, NC for the TV appearance, and has photos and some details on what transpired posted on the Shore Fire blog.

Earlier this month, Ricky Skaggs was interviewed by The Daily Herald newspaper in central Utah. The topic of the piece by Alan Sculley was the recent recorded collaboration by Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby, and particularly a show they were to play in Salt Lake City on July 8.

The interview stirred up a bit of controversy among bluegrass fans, as a quote that was included struck some as insulting towards the IBMA, and perhaps towards bluegrass lovers more generally.

Skaggs, in a recent phone interview, said the “Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby” CD has been a hit in just about every sector except with the International Bluegrass Music Association.

“They’ve got a chart that they do in their magazine and we’re not even on it,” Skaggs said. “We’ve been No. 1 on the Billboard bluegrass charts for seven or eight weeks now. So I think it’s just jealousy on their part. They’re not playing it very much. But, hey, that’s all right. It just shows their ignorance.”

Comments quickly circulated on bluegrass discussion groups, some quite critical of Skaggs, with the forum on Mandolin Cafe being particularly active in response. The BGRASS-L email list also featured two active threads about the article (here and here).

When we first saw this interview, we were struck by the fact that the interviewer had confused IBMA with Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, and their monthly chart based on radio play. We contacted Skaggs Family Records to see if Ricky might want to clarify his remarks, and received the following response.

“There was definitely confusion regarding the BU chart and IBMA. He meant no ill will toward the IBMA organization. He is an IBMA member and active supporter of the organization. Basically, his comments stemmed from his frustration as an artist who was struggling to understand why a record that has spent 10 weeks or more on the Billboard chart (Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby) failed to make the cut on the BU chart.

Ricky is passionate about his music, he’s passionate about the music that Skaggs Family Records releases, and it’s very frustrating to him as an artist and as a label head when everyone seems to be embracing the music except for his core audience, which is the bluegrass community, for whom he never hesitates to show his support.

It would be difficult for any artist of his caliber not to take that personally.”

In truth, Skaggs’ remarks might be more accurately seen as directed towards bluegrass radio, or more specifically those who report for Bluegrass Unlimited’s chart. To what degree those who were offended by Ricky’s remarks are mollified, we’ll have to wait and see.

You can read the full Daily Herald article online.

Just a quick reminder about a live performance Brance told us about last month.

Bruce Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs will be appearing on this Friday’s (7/13) edition of the CBS Early Show, along with Ricky’s band, Kentucky Thunder. They will perform songs from their recent collaboration, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, live from Raleigh, NC.

The show is part of the CBS Summer in the City concert series.

The Early Show airs from 7:00-9:00 a.m., with video posted online shortly after the show concludes each day.

Flip to the show while you’re getting ready Friday morning, or check out the video highlights later in the day.

The Early Show on CBS is sponsoring a series of six concerts this summer with different artists. It’s all part of the Great American Vacation series. The six artists booked for the concert series are quite disparate and include such rock stars as Hootie & the Blowfish, and country outlaws Big & Rich. Add to that, bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs in collaboration with pianist Bruce Hornsby.

Skaggs and Hornsby take the stage for CBS on July 13th in Raleigh, NC. The pair will be backed by Skaggs’ band Kentucky Thunder, and will perform songs from their self-titled duet album which we’ve told you about previously.

The duo is on a west coast tour for the remainder of this month, but after June they only have the CBS show and one other for the remainder of the summer. They will go back out together later this fall for another tour, and I’m told they already have more dates booked together for 2008.

Skaggs’ schedule shows him and Kentucky Thunder with a full line up of bluegrass festivals and shows for the summer period between the two Hornsby tours. So if you need a Kentucky Thunder bluegrass fix you should be able to find it this summer.

Speaking of Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby…

Yesterday’s edition of The New York Times carried a review of their concert this Tuesday night in the Big Apple.

Mr. Hornsby, who is fluent in piano idioms from gospel to modern jazz, aligned his solos with bluegrass timing — fast, twinkling, unsyncopated lines, sometimes playing parallel to Andy Leftwich’s fiddle parts — but also, at some points, refracted the harmonies through dissonance-laced jazz chords. Mr. Skaggs, who plays all sorts of stringed instruments, usually stuck to mandolin, playing solos that darted and twanged at sometimes dizzying speed or trading breaks with Mr. Leftwich, Cody Kilby on guitar and Jim Mills on banjo. They gently stretched the mountain-music idiom in songs like “Stubb,” which distantly hints at Eastern music, and “Gulf of Mexico Fishing Boat Blues,” with a chorus in odd meter, 5/4 time.

You can read the entire review online at the Times’ web site (free subscription required).

Thanks to The Mayor of Bluegrass for alerting us that Ricky Skaggs will be appearing on the Conan O’Brien show tonight at 11:30 PM CST.

Skaggs will be appearing with Bruce Hornsby and performing a tune from their duet CD.

If you’re inclined to stay up that late, be sure to tune in and hear Ricky pick one.

The newest music and interview feature on the AT&T blue room includes a live performance from Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder with Bruce Hornsby, filmed during a recent show at BB King’s club in New York City.

There are live video clips of The Dreaded Spoon, Mandolin Rain and The Way It Is, all taken from Bruce and Ricky’s joint CD, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, plus several interview segments about how they came to record together and select material for the CD.

To see the Skaggs and Hornsby clips, click on the blue Live Performances tab in the upper left portion of the AT&T blue room main page, which will display the various artist segments currently available. When you click on the name, the videos will be displayed in a new pop up window.

Yesterday’s edition of The Washington Post included a brief review of the new release from Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, which Brance mentioned earlier this year.

It features both Skaggs and Hornsby as vocalists and instrumentalists, with Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder band as the primary rhythm section. The music includes mostly new compositions from the pair, plus reworked versions of Hornsby hits - including a minor key rendition of Mandolin Rain. The CD is spirited and stylistically diverse, though the most talked-about track, a up tempo bluegrass cut of Rick James’ Super Freak, may not amuse after the first listen.

Audio samples are available in the iTunes Music Store.

Hat tip to Katy Daly at BluegrassCountry.org.

Brance told us last month about a new CD due next month that features a studio collaboration between pop star Bruce Hornsby and bluegrass’ Ricky Skaggs. He also made reference to a live show taping for CMT’s Crossroads show recorded in Nashville on January 18.

That show debuts on CMT tonight (2/24) at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT). It will be shown again on Sunday (2/25) at 10:00 a.m., Monday (2/26) at 4:00 p.m., and Wednesday (2/28) at 1:00 p.m.

If you visit the Crossroads web site, you can even watch a video slip for their impromptu (ill-advised?) rendition of Rick James’ Superfreak.

We recently told you about Ricky Skaggs’ plans for a tribute album to THE bluegrass band (Monroe with Lester and Earl). Now we bring you news of a CD that is slated for a March 20, 2007 release. The album is a collaborative effort on the part of Skaggs and pianist Bruce Hornsby. The CD will be on the Sony BMG/Legacy record label and includes covers of Hornsby’s hit Mandolin Rain and Rick James’ Super Freak. Skaggs also contributes an instrumental he’s written entitled Stubb. Kentucky Thunder is the band for recording so there should be a strong bluegrass element present.

Hornsby has commented about how much he learned from the process of recording with Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.

Ricky Skaggs is a deep musical soul, one of the great keepers of the traditional and mountain music flame. It was so inspiring — and educational — to make this record with these virtuoso musicians.

Skaggs and Hornsby will be touring together this spring, doing at least one show before the record’s release. That first show is scheduled for this Sunday, January 21, 2007, at New York’s B.B. King’s Blues Club (tickets are $60 at the door and the show starts at 7:30PM).

That is the official first show anyway. Last night however, the duo performed to an invitation-only audience at The Factory just outside Nashville, TN. Reader, Nashphil, was apparently on hand for last night’s performance and gives a review of it in a post he just wrote for THE B, the user contributed portion of this site.

The show is to be part of the CMT Crossroads series and is set to air on February 24th at 9PM ET/PT.

At this time neither Skaggs’ nor Hornsby’s websites list any other shows beside the one scheduled for this weekend, but we have it on good authority that they will be touring together, to some degree, this spring, so an announcement should be soon forthcoming as to other dates.