Ricky Skaggs is readying "Brand New Strings," a new album due Sept. 28 on his own Skaggs Family Records label. The studio set will be the follow up to last year's "Live at the Charleston Music Hall."

Ricky Skaggs is readying "Brand New Strings," a new album due Sept. 28 on his own Skaggs Family Records label. The studio set will be the follow up to last year's "Live at the Charleston Music Hall."

"Brand New Strings" once again finds the contemporary bluegrass artist collaborating with his band, Kentucky Thunder. Also featured on the album is fiddler Stuart Duncan, accordionist Jeff Taylor and Ricky's wife, singer Sharon White, as well as former Kentucky Thunder guitarist Bryan Sutton.

"Live at the Charleston Music Hall" bowed at No. 2 on Billboard's Top Bluegrass Albums chart and No. 32 on the Top Country Albums tally. The track "A Simple Life" won Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder the Grammy Award for best country performance by a duo or group with vocal.

Skaggs, who in February was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, is in the midst of a tour that will keep his band on the road into December. The trek touches down tonight (July 30) in Norfolk, Va., and will visit such events as North Carolina's 22nd annual Cherokee Bluegrass Festival (Aug. 21), San Francisco's Strictly Bluegrass Festival (Oct. 3) and the South Carolina Bluegrass Festival in Myrtle Beach (Nov. 27).

Here is Skaggs' tour scheduled:

July 30: Norfolk, Va. (Town Point Park)
Aug. 1: Camrose, Alberta (Big Valley Jamboree)
Aug. 5: Rockland, Maine (Maine Lobster Festival)
Aug. 7: Ashland, Ky. (Paramount Arts Center)
Aug. 14: Alburg, Vt. (Lake Champlain Bluegrass Festival)
Aug. 20: Atlanta (Mable House Amphitheatre)
Aug. 21: Cherokee, N.C. (Cherokee Bluegrass Festival)
Aug. 28: Fredricksburg, Va. (Fredricksburg Fairgrounds)
Sept. 4: Owensville, Ohio (B105 Jammin N the Country)
Sept. 11: Claremore, Ok. (Bluegrass & Chili Festival)
Sept. 14: Abingdon, Va. (Washington County Fair)
Sept. 18: Green Bay, Wis. (Weidner Center for the Performing Arts)
Sept. 24: Pigeon Forge, Tenn. (Dollywood Celebrity Theatre)
Sept. 25: Bentonville, Ark. (Ole Applegate Place Harvest Music Festival)
Oct. 2: Chattanooga, Tenn. (Memorial Auditorium)
Oct. 3: San Francisco (Strictly Bluegrass Festival)
Oct. 8: Cerritos, Calif. (Cerritos Center)
Oct. 10: El Cajon, Calif. (East County Performing Arts Center)
Oct. 15: Boone, N.C. (ASU Convocation Center)
Oct. 17: Awendaw, S.C. (Kickin Horse Saloon)
Oct. 23: Cary, N.C. (Regency Park)
Oct. 24: High Point, N.C. (High Point Theatre)
Oct. 26: New York (Frederick P. Rose Hall)
Oct. 30: Alma, Ark. (Alma Performing Arts Center)
Nov. 5: Augusta, Ga. (Imperial Theatre)
Nov. 6: Nashville, Ind. (Little Nashville Opry)
Nov. 7: Gallipolis, Ohio (Ariel Theater)
Nov. 27: Myrtle Beach, S.C. (South Carolina Bluegrass Fest)
Dec. 10-11: Conway, Ark. (Reynolds Performance Hall)