The performance this weekend by Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder at The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA has generated some press in and around the US capital.

Richard Harrington has a lengthy piece in today’s Washington Post which looks at Ricky’s long career in music, and his early days living in VA and working for the power company before going to work for The Country Gentlemen when he was 21 years old.

“The job at Vepco was important,” Skaggs recalls. “I had been with Ralph a couple of years before that, and the work was hard, with lots of traveling and very minimal pay. I was 16, 17 then, so it wasn’t like I deserved a lot more money.”

His needs were different as an adult, and Skaggs found himself wondering, “Am I gonna do this part time and weekends and work through the week, like a lot of musicians in that area did? The Seldom Scene, for instance — they maintained their jobs and still got to play and make records and go out and work when they wanted to. So there was some reckoning that took place in Washington for me.

“And I decided not to do that and took the job with the Country Gentlemen full time, and I’ve never looked back. I knew that God created me to be a musician, not to be a high-pressure boiler operator flooding the basement every once in a while.”

The whole story, which discusses his subsequent work with Emmy Lou Harris and his country music days as well as his current endeavors, can be read at washingtonpost.com, though a brief, free registration may be required.

There is also a story in The Free Lance Star (Fredericksburg, VA) by Emily Gilmore that ran yesterday.

There are a number of opportunities to catch some live bluegrass performances on the radio this weekend, starting tonight. Bluegrass Junction on XM Satellite Radio will be rebroadcasting the New Year’s Eve concert from The Birchmere featuring Bob Perilla”s Big Hillbilly Bluegrass, The Good Deale Bluegrass Band, and The Seldom Scene. It will run at 8:00 p.m. (EST).

On Saturday (1/21) The Grand Ole Opry broadcast on WSM will include performances by The Del McCoury Band, The Whites, Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press, Mike Snider and Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys. You can catch WSM 650 AM over the air, or listen via online streaming, to hear the entire Opry broadcast, which runs from 7:30 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. (EST).

Back on XM’s Bluegrass Junction you can catch two editions of their Studio Specials over the weekend. On Saturday they will offer an encore presentation of their Cherryholmes show at 3:00 p.m., and a new edition with Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike on Sunday (1/22) at 1:00 p.m. Both shows feature live performances and interviews with the artists.

If you are already an XM subscriber, Bluegrass Junction can be found on channel 14, or you can listen online when away from your XM receiver. Non-subscribers can register online for a free, 3 day online trial of XM Radio.

Cherryholmes was featured several times on XM Radio’s Bluegrass Junction program with Kyle Cantrell. The band performed live in the studio and sat for an interview with Kyle. The show will be re-aired again this morning, January 7, at 9:00 a.m. (EST). Kyle suggested that it may air yet again, though no schedule is yet set to that effect.

Cantrell indicated that XM intends to continue offering live performances as a part of Bluegrass Junction, both in studio and from remote performance venues as well.

“Again this year, we also carried the New Year’s Eve show from the Birchmere with Bob Perilla’s Big Hillbilly Bluegrass, the Good Deale Bluegrass Band, and The Seldom Scene. We broadcast that live, and we’ll be rebroadcasting it Sunday the 8th at 3:00 P.M. Eastern/Noon Pacific.

If you are already an XM subscriber, Bluegrass Junction can be found on channel 14, or you can listen online when away from your XM receiver. Non-subscribers can register online for a free, 3 day online trial of XM Radio.