Brand New Strings, released by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder on Skaggs Family Records in September 2004, is a thirteen-song set that mixes new songs with three instrumentals. Skaggs produced it with the band he had toured for most of a decade: Andy Leftwich on fiddle and mandolin, Cody Kilby on guitar, Jim Mills on banjo, Mark Fain on bass, and Paul Brewster and Darrin Vincent on harmony vocals. The second track, “Sis Draper,” brought the Guy Clark and Shawn Camp song about an Arkansas fiddler into the bluegrass repertoire, its melody built on “Arkansas Traveler.” Elsewhere the album leans on gospel (“I Corinthians 1:18,” “My Father’s Son”) and drive (“Sally Jo,” “Monroe Dancin’”). The album won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 2005, Skaggs’s tenth.
Tracklist
- 1 Sally Jo 4:27
- 2 Sis Draper Source Recording 3:44
- 3 1st Corinthians 1:18(instrumental) 3:48
- 4 Enjoy The Ride 3:25
- 5 Lonesome And Dry As A Bone 3:17
- 6 Brand New Strings 3:47
- 7 Spread A Little Love Around 2:35
- 8 Appalachian Joy 3:23
- 9 If I Had It All Again To Do 3:21
- 10 Love Does It Everytime 3:34
- 11 Why Did I Wait So Long? 3:08
- 12 My Father's Son 3:00
- 13 Monroe Dancin'( instrumental) 3:10
