Live at the Charleston Music Hall

1	Introduction 1:02
2	Black-Eyed Suzie 2:06
3	How Mountain Girls Can Love 2:11
4	On a Lonesome Night 3:22
5	Song Intro 0:49
6	Amanda Jewell Instrumental 3:10
7	Why Did You Wander 2:37
8	Song Intro 0:32
9	A Simple Life 2:47
10	Band Intro 5:03
11	Goin' to the Ceili Instrumental 3:24
12	The Old Home Place 2:51
13	Song Intro 0:14
14	I Heard My Mother Call My Name in Prayer 3:08
15	Song Intro 0:37
16	Crossville Instrumental 3:34
17	Song Intro 0:55
18	Somewhere Nice Forever 4:04
19	Uncle Pen 2:35
20	Pig in a Pen 3:21
21	Song Intro 0:49
22	Cat's in the Cradle 4:03
23	Song Intro 0:41
24	Get Up John Instrumental 9:44
25	[Untitled Track] 7:37

Barnes & Noble

On this bristling 2002 live set, greeted by wildly enthusiastic applause, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder return the audience's affection with a blistering fiddling and picking exhibition on the traditional "Black Eyed Suzie." From there forward, Skaggs and band make it clear that Live at the Charleston Music Hall is going to be more than the usual run-through of familiar fare. Indeed, it's practically a new album, with less than half of its 24 cuts having been previously recorded. Ever respectful of history, Skaggs sprinkles the repertoire liberally with homages to the Stanley Brothers (a heartrending version of Carter Stanley's tear-jerking ballad "On a Lonesome Night" is an album highlight) and Bill Monroe, whose barn-burning instrumental standard, "Uncle Pen," is greeted by raucous whoops and rhythmic clapping that buoys the sizzling dialogues between fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and Skaggs's jubilant, hollerin' vocal. New tunes include a rustic, traditional country toe-tapper extolling the joys of "A Simple Life" and two Skaggs-penned instrumentals: the Irish jig "Goin' to the Ceili," which features Jeff Taylor on one of the happiest accordion solos in recent memory, and the up-tempo "Crossville," featuring feisty soloing by all of Kentucky Thunder's estimable members. Gospel and family being close to Skaggs's heart, he offers a stirring, mid-tempo meditation in Red Smiley's tender testimonial, "I Heard My Mother Call My Name in Prayer," and a quiet, moving treatment of Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" that apportions solos in small, tasty doses designed to add drama to the cautionary tale of an inattentive father. Suffused with the joy of life and good will toward all, Live is another absolute, unqualified triumph for one of the special artists of our time. David McGee

All Music Guide

As Ricky Skaggs career progressed, he steadily got more traditional in his aesthetic and approach. So, when he announces partway through his 2003 album Live at the Charleston Music Hall (recorded over two dates in November 2002 in South Carolina) that the band is largely playing new songs, it may come as a bit of a shock to casual listeners, since everything sounds traditional – even Harley Allen’s internet-referencing “A Simple Life” sounds as if it was written years and years ago. Since traditionalism is celebrated, not shunned, by bluegrass musicians, this is hardly unexpected or a problem, even if it does give Skaggs’ recent music a comfortable predictability. That familiarity is undercut slightly by kinetic energy on this record, since this superb band has enough energy to make the traditionalism sound energetic, even when it still sounds very familiar. All of which adds up to an enjoyable record that nevertheless embodies a paradox – it’s nothing that the serious fan hasn’t heard before, but only the serious fan will truly thrill on the nuances and interplay that makes Live at the Charleston Music Hall worth a spin. Stephen Thomas Erlewine