Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
Dimitriou's Jazz Alley, Seattle
June 13, 2013
Bluegrass at Jazz Alley? Blues occasionally, sure, and even blues-rock, but blueGRASS?!? Ordinarily, one might think not, but then, Kentucky Thunder is no ordinary bluegrass band. Led by former child mandolin prodigy and multi-instrument virtuoso Ricky Skaggs and featuring ace talent on every instrument, they rocked the house and set urbane Jazz Alley regulars to whoopin' and foot-stompin' in jig time. Which really wasn't all that big a surprise.
Bluegrass has both white and black roots: traditional Western-scale European hymns, broadsides, jigs, reels and airs were suffused over several generations with the strong poly-rhythms, pentatonic scales, and personal-story focus of African music as Southern whites and blacks mixed commercially and in the public square. All this came to fruition in the mid-1930s when the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe became the first to speed up the songs of his Scots-Irish Kentucky roots, flatten and “scoop” the right notes, arrange some killer 3- and 4-part harmonies and transform so-called mountain music into a supercharged story-telling vehicle. Since the music has roots and tendrils in every American musical genre from Cajun to classical, it wasn't hard for Ricky's folksy stage presence and the band's insidious, driving rhythms to stimulate the appropriate nerve endings and synapses in every audience member. A-hootin'-'n'-a-hollerin' did commence not long after they started.
As a long-time Pacific Northwest resident and fashionably scruffy Seattle musician, this reviewer was also struck by the old-school stage dress (starched denims, ironed shirts, ties) and well-mannered poise of the band between songs, most particularly after fiddler Andy Leftwich took pity on me continually leaning over the stage to upside-down read their set list and handed it to me to copy in comfort. When's the last time that happened?
Ricky Skaggs, now 59, established himself as a mandolin phenomenon at the age of six, and here with his band Kentucky Thunder onstage it quickly became obvious that he's still got it. Starting right in with the 240-plus tempo “How Mountain Girls Can Love” he demonstrated exactly how fast it is possible for human fingers to accurately contact and release strings on a fingerboard in a clearly articulated manner, first with his own mandolin solo, then by amazing lead guitarist Cody Kilby as well as follow-on solos by fiddler Paul Brewster and banjoist Justin Moses (who also doubled on Dobro further on in the show.) Remember the scene in one of the Alien movies, where Bishop the robot does a super-high-speed version of the bored-soldiers' game of “Poke The Knife Point Between Each Of Somebody's Outstretched Fingers On A Table As Fast As Possible In Sequence Without Hurting Them” (and totally freaking out the guy with the outstretched fingers)? Well, Cody's guitar attack (the correct word!) reminded me of that scene. Except he's no robot; his speed and clarity of execution are well above the level of circus act --- think Tommy Emmanuel or Steve Vai --- while remaining musical and expressive, an astonishing combination in the opinion of this old guitar basher. You're looking at the guy doing it from five feet away, and it's still hard to take in. Impressive. (Full Disclosure: my fingers can't do that. Yet. Sure, I've been trying for a long time -- but there's always hope!) In between solos, their tight “high lonesome” vocals washed over me like a soft silk veil. But then, this reviewer is a notorious sucker for close harmonies, so that was an easy sale.
Once the band established that vibe and its cred with the first number, it cemented it in short order with one rousing tune after another, from the pyrotechnic “Crossville” to the slow, 3/4 time “Your Selfish Heart,” whose harmonies rated a triple all-caps “HHH!” notation in my notebook, bringing tears to my eyes and chills down my spine. (I did mention I'm a sucker for those, right?) My table companion, a local jazz and blues DJ and longtime Jazz Alley emcee as well as accomplished symphony cellist, who had airily come along just “to keep me company,” soon dropped his hipster cool to whoop, stomp, and pound the table along with the rest of the Yuppies-turned-yahoos in the packed room.
Kentucky Thunder's selection and sequence of songs made their 90-minute show go by far more swiftly than any ninety minutes have a right to. Ricky Skaggs has assembled an amazing troupe of musicians as ambassadors of this appealing genre, may they play and prosper for many years to come!
The musicians (from stage-right to -left):
Andy Leftwich - fiddle
Cody Kilby (spelled Killbee in some sources) - lead guitar
Scott Mulvahill - stand-up bass
Ricky Skaggs - mandolin, guitar
Eddie Faris - rhythm guitar
Paul Brewster - lead fiddle
Justin Moses – 5-string banjo, Dobro
For more info on Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, visit www.rickyskaggs.com.
- reviewed by Stanislove
Dimitriou's Jazz Alley, Seattle
June 13, 2013
Bluegrass at Jazz Alley? Blues occasionally, sure, and even blues-rock, but blueGRASS?!? Ordinarily, one might think not, but then, Kentucky Thunder is no ordinary bluegrass band. Led by former child mandolin prodigy and multi-instrument virtuoso Ricky Skaggs and featuring ace talent on every instrument, they rocked the house and set urbane Jazz Alley regulars to whoopin' and foot-stompin' in jig time. Which really wasn't all that big a surprise.
Bluegrass has both white and black roots: traditional Western-scale European hymns, broadsides, jigs, reels and airs were suffused over several generations with the strong poly-rhythms, pentatonic scales, and personal-story focus of African music as Southern whites and blacks mixed commercially and in the public square. All this came to fruition in the mid-1930s when the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe became the first to speed up the songs of his Scots-Irish Kentucky roots, flatten and “scoop” the right notes, arrange some killer 3- and 4-part harmonies and transform so-called mountain music into a supercharged story-telling vehicle. Since the music has roots and tendrils in every American musical genre from Cajun to classical, it wasn't hard for Ricky's folksy stage presence and the band's insidious, driving rhythms to stimulate the appropriate nerve endings and synapses in every audience member. A-hootin'-'n'-a-hollerin' did commence not long after they started.
As a long-time Pacific Northwest resident and fashionably scruffy Seattle musician, this reviewer was also struck by the old-school stage dress (starched denims, ironed shirts, ties) and well-mannered poise of the band between songs, most particularly after fiddler Andy Leftwich took pity on me continually leaning over the stage to upside-down read their set list and handed it to me to copy in comfort. When's the last time that happened?
Ricky Skaggs, now 59, established himself as a mandolin phenomenon at the age of six, and here with his band Kentucky Thunder onstage it quickly became obvious that he's still got it. Starting right in with the 240-plus tempo “How Mountain Girls Can Love” he demonstrated exactly how fast it is possible for human fingers to accurately contact and release strings on a fingerboard in a clearly articulated manner, first with his own mandolin solo, then by amazing lead guitarist Cody Kilby as well as follow-on solos by fiddler Paul Brewster and banjoist Justin Moses (who also doubled on Dobro further on in the show.) Remember the scene in one of the Alien movies, where Bishop the robot does a super-high-speed version of the bored-soldiers' game of “Poke The Knife Point Between Each Of Somebody's Outstretched Fingers On A Table As Fast As Possible In Sequence Without Hurting Them” (and totally freaking out the guy with the outstretched fingers)? Well, Cody's guitar attack (the correct word!) reminded me of that scene. Except he's no robot; his speed and clarity of execution are well above the level of circus act --- think Tommy Emmanuel or Steve Vai --- while remaining musical and expressive, an astonishing combination in the opinion of this old guitar basher. You're looking at the guy doing it from five feet away, and it's still hard to take in. Impressive. (Full Disclosure: my fingers can't do that. Yet. Sure, I've been trying for a long time -- but there's always hope!) In between solos, their tight “high lonesome” vocals washed over me like a soft silk veil. But then, this reviewer is a notorious sucker for close harmonies, so that was an easy sale.
Once the band established that vibe and its cred with the first number, it cemented it in short order with one rousing tune after another, from the pyrotechnic “Crossville” to the slow, 3/4 time “Your Selfish Heart,” whose harmonies rated a triple all-caps “HHH!” notation in my notebook, bringing tears to my eyes and chills down my spine. (I did mention I'm a sucker for those, right?) My table companion, a local jazz and blues DJ and longtime Jazz Alley emcee as well as accomplished symphony cellist, who had airily come along just “to keep me company,” soon dropped his hipster cool to whoop, stomp, and pound the table along with the rest of the Yuppies-turned-yahoos in the packed room.
Kentucky Thunder's selection and sequence of songs made their 90-minute show go by far more swiftly than any ninety minutes have a right to. Ricky Skaggs has assembled an amazing troupe of musicians as ambassadors of this appealing genre, may they play and prosper for many years to come!
The musicians (from stage-right to -left):
Andy Leftwich - fiddle
Cody Kilby (spelled Killbee in some sources) - lead guitar
Scott Mulvahill - stand-up bass
Ricky Skaggs - mandolin, guitar
Eddie Faris - rhythm guitar
Paul Brewster - lead fiddle
Justin Moses – 5-string banjo, Dobro
For more info on Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, visit www.rickyskaggs.com.
- reviewed by Stanislove
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