Ricky Skaggs

Is Doctor Skaggs in?

That will be an appropriate question later this month when Ricky Skaggs is conferred with an honorary doctorate of music from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

The degree will be awarded March 18 as part of Skaggs’ performance on the Tuesday Night Opry at the Grand Ole Opry house in Nashville, Tenn.

Dr. Larry Simpson, Berklee’s senior vice president for academic affairs will bestow the honor.

“At Berklee, we admire musicians of extraordinary talent who follow their artistic inclinations fearlessly,” said Berklee College of Music President Roger Brown. “Ricky Skaggs is a master musician with sky-high standards who achieved mainstream success his own way, on his own terms. By honoring Ricky Skaggs, we shine a light on the present and future of bluegrass; its heritage and its infinite potential. And besides all that, the man can pick.”

Skaggs’ virtuosity, his rich musicality, and his commitment to the deep roots of American music make him a deserving recipient of a Berklee Honorary Doctorate, the Boston-based school said in a news release.

Current CD:

Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass - Tribute to 1946 and 1947 (Skaggs Family Records)
Website:
Skaggs Family Records
Achievements:

• 13 Grammy Awards
• 11 IBMA awards
• 8 Country Music Assoc. Awards
• Grand Ole Opry Member since May 15, 1982

Other country music legends that have earned the degree are Loretta Lynn and Earl Scruggs.

Skaggs’ degree will join a lengthy list of awards and recognitions during his career. Included are 13 Grammy awards, 11 International Bluegrass Music Association awards and eight Country Music Association awards.

Scores of Berklee students – including some from Malaysia, Indonesia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom - will be in Nashville for spring break and will join local alumni, members of Berklee’s Boston community, and friends of Skaggs for the presentation and performance.

For more than 20 years, Berklee students have come to Nashville to gain an insider’s knowledge of the music industry by meeting and learning from top performers, songwriters, publishers, producers, and engineers.

Berklee professors Pat Pattison and Stephen Webber have organized a stellar lineup of artists this year to meet with students, including Grammy-winning performers and songwriters Mike Reid, Gary Burr, Janice Ian, Jon Vezner and Kathy Mattea.

The students will tour Nashville’s top studios, and participate in an interactive recording session experience at the Tracking Room, with A-list players including Brent Mason, Eddie Bayers and potentially one very special guest TBA. Platinum-selling producer Kyle Lehning and Grammy-winning songwriter Mike Reid will also talk shop with the students. Berklee’s spring break in Nashville runs from March 15 – 19.

Among other performers scheduled for the Tuesday Opry when Skaggs becomes Dr. Skagss are Country Music Hall of Famers Bill Anderson and Jimmy Dickens, The Del McCoury Band, and The Whites, with whom Skaggs won a Grammy Award last month.

Present in the audience will be 120 Berklee students who will have the special privilege of a private Q &A session with Skaggs after the ceremony.

Share This

Dailey & Vincent’s Opry Debut - photo by Chris Hollo / Hollo Photographics

Nashville, Tenn. — Rounder Records duo Dailey & Vincent will be this week’s special guests of host Kyle Cantrell on the XM Bluegrass Junction Studio Special Series, beginning tomorrow, March 7, at 8 a.m. (EST) on XM 14.

Encore times are as follows:

• Saturday, March 8 - 11 AM EST
• Sunday, March 9 - 6 PM EDT
• Monday, March 10 - 8 PM EDT
• Tuesday, March 11 - Midnight EDT
• Thursday, March 13 - 3 PM EDT

The Studio Special Series features exclusive, live music and interviews with top bluegrass acts. Dailey & Vincent will perform songs from their self-titled debut album and trade stories and laughs with Cantrell. Their song “Sweet Carrie” is currently at #13 on the Bluegrass Junction Top 30 Tracks, for airplay during the month of February.

Dailey & Vincent were featured on the cover of the February issue of Bluegrass Now, and they grace the cover of the March/April issue of Bluegrass Music Profiles. This weekend finds them performing in Columbia, Mississippi; Argyle, Texas and Elgin, Texas. For tour updates and information, please visit http://www.daileyvincent.com/ and www.myspace.com/thedaileyvincentband.

Share This

The Two-Man Gentlemen Band will be dishing out a heaping helping of original music from their latest release Heavy Petting (Serious Business Records) on WDVX’s “Blue Plate Special.”

The group will perform on the Wednesday, March 12 edition of the Blue Plate Special. The Blue Plate begins at Noon, Eastern Time, broadcasting live from the Knoxville Visitors Center, home of WDVX studios, located at the corner of gay and Summit, in downtown Knoxville, Tenn. If you’re in the area stop by and be a part of the studio audience.

The Two-Man Gentlemen Band, comprised of Andy Bean ( Plectrum Banjo, Vocals, Lead Kazoo and Piano) and Fuller Condon, better known as The Councilman (Double Bass, Vocals, Tenor Kazoo and Guitar), serve up their own brand of acoustic music featuring witty, intelligent, lyrics packed with innuendo. According to the band’s latest press release, “each is a master kazooist and badminton enthusiast, and together they combine hot jazz, old-time country, Tin Pan Alley and vaudevillian swing to create an old-fashioned, down-home hootenanny.”

The Blue Plate special is featured daily showcasing a mix of Bluegrass, Americana and Roots music.

East Tenneessee’s Own™ WDVX is broadcast on 89.9FM Clinton, Tenn., 92.7FM Sevierville-Pigeon Forge, Tenn., & 102.9FM or 105.9FM in Knoxville, Tenn. For those out of earshot WDVX also broadcasts online with 3 different audio streams available.

Bluegrass artists scheduled for March appearances on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special:

• Thurs. March 6 - John Cowan Band
• Sat. March 8 - The Greencards ( at 2pm eastern)
• Wed. March 12 - The Two-Man Gentlemen Band
• Wed. March 26 - Red Stick Ramblers
• Sat. March 29 - Tim O’Brien

Visit WDVX’s web site for a complete schedule of all artists scheduled to appear on the Blue Plate Special.

Share This

Donna Ulisse and “America’s Truckin’ Sweetheart” Marcia Campbell, host of XM radio’s Open Road on channel 171 in the studio.

Donna Ulisse recently spent an hour in the XM Satellite studios with “America’s Truckin’ Sweetheart” Marcia Campbell, host of the popular show for truckers, Open Road on XM Channel 171. Campbell played several tracks off Ulisse’s current CD When I Look Back, a collection of fourteen self-penned tunes and spent the rest of the time getting to know Donna through an in-depth interview. “By the end of the hour I felt like I had a new girlfriend!”, said Ulisse.

Marcia Campbell has long been a supporter of bluegrass artists and their music from the time she started her own show in her home town of Dickson, TN in the 1990’s on WDKN Radio called The Muleskinner Bluegrass Show.

Tune in and catch the one hour show with Ulisse this Sunday morning, March 9, 2008 at 7:00 a.m. central time on XM Channel 171.

Share This

Rhonda Vincent

In less than 4 weeks, award-winning Bluegrass acts will be heading the buses and vans towards Wilimington, OH., to take the stage at the 2008 Southern Ohio Indoor Music Festival, March 28 & 29, , at the Roberts Convention Centre in Wilmington. This is one of southwest Ohio’s most entertaining acoustic music events, occurring twice a year, in March and November.

The Southern Ohio Indoor Music Festival features Bluegrass, Old-Time and Gospel music. Nationally and internationally known acoustic music groups are billed for the March festival including Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-Press, Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, Nothin’ Fancy, ···Don Rigsby and Midnight Call, Williams and Clark Expedition, IIIrd Tyme Out, The Rarely Herd, Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers and more.

New this year is an expanded jamming area for pickers and an expanded seating area. Door prizes, raffle prizes, an instrument check, food and various vendors offer value-added extras to all attendees in a smoke and alcohol free environment. The festival will also offer a Bluegrass History Workshop hosted by Paul Williams (Paul Williams and the Victory Trio) and Blake Williams (Williams & Clark Expedition) and a Music and Memories Kids Show hosted by the VW Boys.

The Southern Ohio Indoor Music Festival is the largest indoor Bluegrass, Old-Time and Gospel event in the region and continues to grow with each event. The Roberts Centre, located 12 miles south of Xenia, 5 miles north of Wilmington at the intersection of US 68 and I-71, exit 50, is convenient to fans from all over Ohio and neighboring states. This accessible location is less than an hour drive from Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus. The Roberts Centre also includes a Holiday Inn hotel, Max and Erma’s Restaurant, and RV parking adding to the comfort and convenience of the attendees.

Classic Country Radio, WBZI AM 1500, WKFI AM 1090 and WEDI AM 1130, is the media host for this event. Listen to Classic Country Radio weekdays 2 p.m. –5 p.m. on-line at www.myclassiccountry.com.

For additional festival information, ticket purchases, hotel rooms, comments and talent suggestions, visit www.somusicfest.com.

Ticket Information
Tickets are on sale now for advance purchases online or via phone for both reserved and general admission seating. Advance ticket sales end, Tuesday, March 25th, at 5 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door during the festival. All sales final.

2-Day Reserved Seating

• $60 for Adults
• $10 Children 16 and under

General Admission Seating

• 2-Day in advance-$52
• 1-Day in advance-$27
• 2-Day at the door-$55
• 1-Day at the door-$30
• Children 16 and under free with adult purchase.

Share This