CRITICS RAVE AS "COODER-WHITE-SKAGGS" TOUR BARRELS ONWARD

Nashville, Tenn. - The touring trio of guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder, country and bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs and country songbird Sharon White has proven to be a hit show as critics around the country continue to rave.  Since kicking off in Salt Lake City last June, the "Cooder-White-Skaggs" tour has awed concertgoers and reviewers alike. 

 

After attending the group’s first concert date, Christie Gehrke of Salt Lake Magazine wrote, "The trio especially hit their sweet spot when harmonizing.  They were backed by an exceptional band, most notably the 84-year-old Buck White—father of Sharon White—on piano.  At some point in nearly every song, Skaggs would exclaim, 'Get it, Buck!' and the octogenarian would riff.  Because this tour is a family affair, it also featured Joachim Cooder on percussion and sister Cheryl White singing back-up." 

 

"The guitar giant's (Cooder) delicate, rootsy riffs swirled with Ricky Skaggs' twangy mandolin and fiddle.  His baritone crooning anchored songbird Sharon White's gospel harmonies.  His back-to-the-beginning plucking elevated the legendary tinkling of Buck White's grand piano," says Jason Blevins of the Denver Post. 

 

Jon M. Gilbertson of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel noted, "Skaggs was predictably fine on fiddle and mandolin, while Cooder added a banjo to a rack of guitars, all played with his characteristically thoughtful, exploratory confidence." 

 

On Buck White's piano playing, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Jon Bream raved, "The 84-year-old played the perfect boogie woogie, gospel riffs or honky tonk licks.  He earned probably the loudest cheers of the night when he practically turned into Jerry Lee Lewis during Skaggs' 1981 country hit, 'Don’t Get Above Your Raisin.'  Buck did his daughters (Sharon and Cheryl) and son-in-law (Skaggs) proud." 

 

The "Cooder-White-Skaggs" tour brings master multi-instrumentalists Ry Cooder and Ricky Skaggs alive on stage to deliver a revelatory program of blues, gospel, and bluegrass.  They are joined by Sharon White, one of the purest voices in country music, Joachim Cooder on drums and Mark Fain on bass with occasional guest performances by Buck White and Cheryl White of The Whites.  The tour continues through 2015 with upcoming tour stops in Charlotte, NC, Knoxville, TN, San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, New York, NY and more. 

 

Upcoming "Cooder-White-Skaggs" Tour Dates:

Aug 19 - Charlotte, NC - McGlohon Theatre at Spirit Square

Aug 20 - Rocky Mount, VA - Harvester Performance Center

Aug 21 - Charlottesville, VA - The Paramount Theatre

Aug 22 - Knoxville, TN - The Tennessee Theatre

Sept 22 - Austin, TX - Paramount Theater

Sept 24 - New Braunfels, TX - Gruene Hall

Sept 25 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater

Sept 27 - Phoenix, AZ - Musical Instrument Museum

Sept 29 - Santa Barbara, CA - Granada Theatre

Sept 30 - Saratoga, CA - The Mountain Winery

Oct 2 - San Francisco, CA -  Great American Music Hall

Oct 5 - Arcata, CA - Van Duzer Theatre

Oct 6 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater

Oct 7 - Seattle, WA - The Moore Theatre

Oct 8 - Vancouver, BC, Canada - The Vogue Theatre

Nov 10, 11 - Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere

Nov 12 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre

Nov 14 - New York, NY - Carnegie Hall 

Nov 15 - Albany, NY - The Egg Center for the Performing Arts

Nov 16 - Burlington, VT - Flynn Center for the Performing Arts

Nov 17 - Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center

Nov 18 - Portland, ME - State Theatre

Nov 20 - Chapel Hill, NC - Memorial Hall, Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 

 

For more info or tickets to a show, click the tour calendar HERE.

 

 

Ry Cooder is a virtuoso roots guitarist who is steeped in the blues but has spent much of his career exploring new musical worlds from Tex-Mex to Cuban bolero. He has won 6 GRAMMY awards, most recently for Best Traditional Latin Album (2003) and Best Pop Instrumental Album (2003). In 1997, Ry Cooder traveled to Cuba to produce and play with a group of musicians who had little exposure outside of their homeland. The resulting album, Buena Vista Social Club, was a platinum-selling international success that made stars of Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, and Ruben Gonzalez, and earned Cooder another GRAMMY. He has collaborated with an incredible variety of artists over the years including Flaco Jiménez, The Chieftains, Ali Farka Toure, John Hassell and Manuel Galban. Ry has written scores for over 16 major motion pictures for directors for Walter Hill, Mike Nichols, Louie Malle, Tony Richardson and Wim Wenders. In 2011, City Lights published his critically acclaimed book "Los Angeles Stories." Ry Cooder has released 17 solo records since 1970 as well as several compilations. 

 

For more information on Ry Cooder, visit www.nonesuch.com/artists/ry-cooder.

 

 

As a member of beloved country-gospel family band, The Whites, Sharon White has been making music alongside her father Buck and sister Cheryl for more than 40 years. Both with The Whites and as a solo artist, Sharon White has won multiple awards, including GRAMMY, CMA and Dove Awards, among others. The Whites have been esteemed members of the Grand Ole Opry since 1984, and they appear on the world famous Opry stage nearly every weekend. Sharon White and her family trio became well known for their string of Country hits in the 1980s, including "Hangin' Around," "Give Me Back That Old Familiar Feeling," and "Pins and Needles." With the release of Hearts Like Ours (2014), a dream came true for Sharon and her husband, country and bluegrass music legend Ricky Skaggs. Previously in 1987 the pair won a CMA Vocal Duo of the Year award for "Love Can’t Ever Get Better Than This." This first-ever studio album is produced by Skaggs and White and features the couple dueting on handpicked country love songs. 

 

For more information on Sharon White, visit www.skaggsfamilyrecords.com.  

 

 

Over the course of his 40 plus year career, Ricky Skaggs has won 14 GRAMMY Awards, 8 CMA Awards, 9 ACM Awards, 11 IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Assn.) Awards, 9 ICM Awards, 2 Dove Awards, 3 honorary Doctorate degrees and countless other awards.  Ricky has had 12 #1 singles on the Billboard Country charts and 12 Top 20 Country albums, along with twelve consecutive GRAMMY-nominated albums, all from his own Skaggs Family Records label. In 2012, Ricky Skaggs was inducted into the GMA’s Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Past recipients of this prestigious award include Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton. That same year, Ricky received the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music (ACM).  In 2013, Grand Ole Opry member Ricky Skaggs released his first-ever autobiography, "Kentucky Traveler: My Life In Music." The book details the life and times of Skaggs and provides a descriptive history of Country and Bluegrass music, as told by the master himself. 

 

For more information on Ricky Skaggs, visit www.rickyskaggs.com.