Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947 is a twelve-song album by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, released on Skaggs’s own Skaggs Family Records on 25 March 2008. Its subject is the music Bill Monroe recorded in 1946 and 1947 with Lester Flatt on guitar, Earl Scruggs on banjo, Chubby Wise on fiddle and Howard Watts on bass. Skaggs set out to follow the originals closely, down to the tempos, introductions and solos.
Skaggs sings lead on most of the songs and plays mandolin, with Kentucky Thunder’s Cody Kilby on guitar, Jim Mills on banjo, Mark Fain on bass, Andy Leftwich on fiddle and Paul Brewster on tenor vocals. Two former Blue Grass Boys appear as guests: Earl Scruggs plays banjo on “Goin’ Back to Old Kentucky,” and Del McCoury sings tenor on “The Old Crossroad.” Skaggs produced the album, which was made at his Skaggs Place Studios in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
It reached number 1 on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart and won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.
Tracklist
- 1 Going Back to Old Kentucky alt version 3:05
- 2 When You’re Lonely alt version 3:03
- 3 Toy Heart alt version 2:46
- 4 Mighty Dark to Travel alt version 2:38
- 5 Mother’s Only Sleeping alt version 3:17
- 6 Bluegrass Breakdown Source Recording 2:54
- 7 Little Cabin Home on the Hill alt version 2:58
- 8 Mansions for Me alt version 3:29
- 9 Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong alt version 2:56
- 10 Why Did You Wander alt version 2:43
- 11 REMEMBER THE CROSS 2:59
- 12 The Old Crossroad alt version 2:52
