Ryan & Brennish Thomson

Opening for Ricky Skaggs at the 

Augusta Civic Center in Maine

by Ryan Thomson

I had been playing weekends with the Country Tradition band led by Paul Main. We were happy to get an opportunity to be on the bill with Ricky Skaggs. (Another fun gig that we did was to back up Hank Thompson when he toured in Maine.)

The Augusta Civic Center seats several thousand people. I found it exciting to be playing fiddle with the nine piece band in front of such a large audience. Our grand finale tune was the inevitable "Orange Blossom Special," which I fiddled at the maximum speed of our drummer. After Ricky's band performed, I got to spend some time visiting with him and he gave me a picture of himself autographed to "Captain Fiddle." What fun!

Click on the image below to enlarge it.