Bruce Hornsby & Ricky Skaggs to release Bluegrass album in March

Singer-pianist Bruce Hornsby and country music legend Ricky Skaggs have joined forces on a new album that will be released in the spring. The album features Hornsby, Skaggs, and Skaggs's band Kentucky Thunder playing bluegrass music, which Skaggs has championed his whole life. Included on the project are the bluegrass standards "Across The Rocky Mountain" and "Hills Of Mexico," along with newly-done versions of the Hornsby's "A Night On The Town" and his Top Five hit "Mandolin Rain." The Hornsby-Skaggs album comes out March 20th.

Hornsby said, "Ricky Skaggs is a deep musical soul, one of the great keepers of the traditional and mountain music flame. It was so inspiring -- and educational -- to make this record with these virtuoso musicians. And equally important, I learned a lot about Porter Wagoner and Lester Flatt, and we had a lot of laughs."

Skaggs added, "It's one of the most memorable projects I've ever done... The cross pollination was a great gift to both of us. Bruce turned me on to his heroes like Bud Powell, Bill Evans, (and) Keith Jarrett... I turned him on to Roscoe Holcomb, Doc Boggs, some old banjo players and singers from the mountains of Kentucky, Carolina, and Tennessee."

Skaggs and Hornsby will take the stage before an invitation-only Nashville audience today (Thursday, January 18th) to shoot an episode of CMT Crossroads. The show will premiere on CMT on February 24th at 9 p.m. ET.

They'll also perform at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City on Sunday (January 21st), and a spring tour is in the works.