Musician Spotlight: Cody Kilby

Cody Kilby is a bluegrass musician from Cowan, Tennessee, who has played on recordings by Beck, Bruce Hornsby, Michael W. Smith, Rhonda Vincent and Country Music Hall of Fame members Ronnie Milsap and Dolly Parton. In 2001, he joined Country Music Hall of Fame member Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder as the band’s lead guitarist, a position he held for 14 years. During Kilby’s time with the band, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder won four Grammys and seven International Bluegrass Music Association awards. In 2015, Kilby became a full-time member of the Travelin’ McCourys, a group he had been performing with since 2009. The band’s first album with Kilby, The Travelin’ McCourys, won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. Kilby is a two-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year (2022, 2024), and the Travelin’ McCourys have won three IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year awards (2018, 2023, 2024).