Justin Moses is an accomplished acoustic instrumentalist playing mandolin, guitar, banjo, fiddle, dobro and bass. He has appeared on stage with diverse artists such as Alison Krauss, Del McCoury, Emmylou Harris, Brad Paisley, Joe Diffie, Jerry Douglas, Bruce Hornsby, Peter Frampton and Barry Gibb. He made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2008 and has become in demand as a session player, appearing on such albums as the 2009 IBMA Album of the Year and Grammy nominated Wheels by Dan Tyminski and Music to My Ears by Ricky Skaggs among many others.

Justin began playing music at the age of six and soon started traveling with his family's gospel group after learning his first chords on the mandolin. He helped form the East Tennessee band Blue Moon Rising after high school and recorded two albums with them in the early 2000s. He's spent time on the road with bands NewFound Road, Band of Ruhks, The Dan Tyminski Band and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. While playing with Skaggs, he appeared on several TV shows including The Marty Stuart Show, and on Conan in October of 2013 with Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby. Justin appeared on the Today Show while filling in with Clint Black in 2015. He has been collaborating with acclaimed mandolin player and singer Sierra Hull the past few years joining her on band dates and for duo shows. The careers of many child stars are often short-lived when the attention fades; and to continue to stay at the top of their field requires more and more work, often with fewer incentives, many never reach the next level of performance. Not so with Cody Kilby, perhaps because his early success was due to his natural genius being matched only by equal parts determination and discipline.

By now, the boy-wonder beginnings of star instrumentalist Cody Kilby are well-known to fans of bluegrass and acoustic music; a true prodigy, he picked up his dad’s banjo at age 8 and by the time he was 11, he had a Gibson banjo endorsement. He started playing his mom’s guitar at 10, and by 17, he was the National Flatpicking Champion. He added mandolin and Dobro around age 13, and at 16, recorded Just Me, showcasing his mastery of all the instruments on the recording. He was at home in the spotlight, competing under the pressure of many prestigious contests, performing at the Grand Ole Opry and on television shows like TNN’s Crook and Chase and Dick Clark’s Prime Time Country. But Cody’s early success didn’t spoil him for the hard work and dedication of the life of a professional musician, it only fueled his passion for exploring the endless potential of music, and more and more, he found his dreams were inextricably bound to the creative process of playing.

When Cody Kilby walked through my door for the first time to audition for our band, he was unabashedly sporting a shiner from a slight altercation the night before, and somehow that blackened eye was a fitting symbol for his nature: a scrapper, ready for anything, not willing to back down. Even as he picked his mandolin in my kitchen, he sat on the very edge of his chair, eagerly leaning forward on the balls of his feet, as if he was ready to spring at the slightest provocation. As he flew through the changes, clean, fluid notes streaming from his instrument, I sensed more than his obvious virtuosity; there was a quality about his playing, about him, that I could only think of as... "hunger". He has an insatiable appetite for music, for musical ideas and techniques, and he consumes every new challenge. When he picked up his guitar to play lilting lines while I sang the song we’ve recorded here, "She", I knew he was more than an intense, lightning-fast player; he was a complex and complete musician, and I was privileged to have met him and played with him.

Since then, he’s proven himself as an ensemble player as the respected and valued lead guitarist in the Grammy-winning instrumental powerhouse band, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. These days, he finds himself playing beside his heroes, experiencing musical highs like trading solos with virtuoso legend Bruce Hornsby the other night in New York City. He’s called to produce and engineer recordings on his rare spare moments at his home studio.

Here, on Many Roads Traveled, Cody offers his own instrumental compositions, and he explores his love of accompanying singers; what is immediately striking is his ability to move between bold, innovative fire to intuitive, tuneful interpretation of beautiful melodies. One cannot help but be staggered by his sheer athletic ability, in the strength and agility he delivers, but at the same time, be moved by the tenderness of his approach to more sensitive treatments of ballads and vocal songs. He is surrounded here by an astounding cast of players, and he belongs among them. Let listening to this recording deepen your appreciation of this gifted artist, as it has mine. - Sally Jones