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 ‚Äî fast, twinkling, unsyncopated lines, sometimes playing parallel to Andy Leftwich’s fiddle parts ‚Äî 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.