CMT News

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder will release their first-ever instrumental album on Aug. 1. The album traces the roots of acoustic string band music back to the British Isles with an array of reels, jigs, breakdowns, chanteys and dirges. "All of us in the band listen to a lot of different styles of music," Skaggs says. "Some of us like jazz, some swing, some old-time or big-band music. So each of us was able to put his own fingerprints on these tunes. I wrote them all, but the band members heard them their own ways." The album, Instrumentals, will be issued on Skaggs Family Records.