Cody Kilby is a flatpicker from Tennessee who won the National Flat Pick Guitar Championship at Winfield in 1998 at age 17. He played lead guitar for Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for 14 years, from 2001 to 2015, then joined the Travelin’ McCourys. He has won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year twice and holds Grammy awards with both bands.
Why Kilby matters
Kilby is the guitarist other guitarists mention when they talk about clean playing at speed. Kentucky Thunder played some of the fastest bluegrass on the road, and Kilby’s breaks came out clean every night. With the McCourys he plays the same way inside a band that stretches tunes out for jam crowds. For a picker, Kilby is proof that speed comes from accuracy.
Life and career
Kilby was born in 1981 and grew up in Tennessee. He started on his father’s banjo at age 8 and his mother’s guitar at age 10. By age 11 he had a Gibson banjo endorsement. He added Dobro and mandolin around age 13. As a teenager he played the Grand Ole Opry.
He built his name at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. From 1995 to 1999 he placed in eight contests there on guitar, banjo, and mandolin. He won the mandolin championship in 1996 and the National Flat Pick Guitar Championship in 1998.
In 1997, at age 16, he recorded his first album, Just Me, for Rebel Records, and played every instrument on it. In 2001 he joined Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder as lead guitarist. The band won Grammy awards for Best Bluegrass Album during his run. He released a second solo album, Many Roads Traveled, in 2011.
In November 2015 Kilby left Skaggs to become the first full-time guitarist in the Travelin’ McCourys. Ronnie McCoury said he fit the band because he could straddle the fence between traditional and progressive. The band’s self-titled 2018 album won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 2019. The IBMA has named the McCourys Instrumental Group of the Year four times and named Kilby Guitar Player of the Year in 2022 and 2024.
Playing style
Kilby’s right hand is a model of clean alternate picking. Every note has the same weight, and the tone stays even from the low strings to the high ones. His lines run fast but do not blur. That comes from years of contest playing, where judges score clarity as much as speed.
His breaks lean on the melody first, then add runs and slides that fit the chord changes. He can play a short break for Skaggs or a long improvised solo for a McCourys jam. He also plays banjo, mandolin, and Dobro, and that shows in his phrasing. His site lists a Bourgeois flat-top, and he has played Collings guitars and a 1941 Martin D-18 on camera.
Influences and legacy
Kilby learned in a musical family and grew up in the Winfield contest scene. He played the 1993 IBMA awards with the Bluegrass Youth All-Stars beside Chris Thile and Josh Williams. Fourteen years beside Ricky Skaggs shaped his time and drive.
He has recorded with Bruce Hornsby, Dolly Parton, and Rhonda Vincent, and he played on Beck’s Morning Phase, the Grammy Album of the Year in 2015. Billy Strings names him as one of the guitarists he admires. He teaches at camps such as Bryan Sutton’s Blue Ridge Guitar Camp.
Signature tunes and songs
Billy in the Lowground Lonesome Road Blues Dixie Hoedown.
Essential recordings
Just Me (Rebel, 1997) Brand New Strings, with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder (2004) Instrumentals, with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder (2006) Many Roads Traveled (2011) The Travelin’ McCourys (2018)
Awards and honors
Walnut Valley Festival, second place, flat pick guitar (1995, 1997) and third place (1996) Walnut Valley Festival Mandolin Championship (1996) National Flat Pick Guitar Championship, Walnut Valley Festival (1998) Walnut Valley Festival, second place, bluegrass banjo (1995) and third place (1998, 1999) Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Brand New Strings (2005) Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Instrumentals (2007) Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, with the Travelin’ McCourys, The Travelin’ McCourys (2019) IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year, with the Travelin’ McCourys (2018, 2023, 2024, 2025) IBMA Guitar Player of the Year (2022, 2024)
Watch and listen
Kilby and Kenny Smith trade breaks on Billy in the Lowground at a guitar camp. Watch how Kilby’s pick hand stays small and steady at speed.
Kilby plays Lonesome Road Blues on a phone-camera session. Listen for the even tone across all six strings.
What to learn from Kilby
Learn Billy in the Lowground from the video above. It is a jam standard in C, and Kilby’s version stays close to the tune while adding runs at the chord changes. The technique to steal is his pick control. Play the tune at half speed with a metronome and make every note the same volume. Raise the tempo ten beats at a time and stop when the notes start to blur. A clean break at 120 beats per minute beats a messy one at 160.
Sources
Cody Kilby, IBMA award recipients The Travelin’ McCourys, IBMA award recipients Walnut Valley Champions and Prizes Won 1972 thru 2025, Walnut Valley Festival Cody Kilby leaves Skaggs for the Travelin’ McCourys, Bluegrass Today The Travelin’ McCourys Win GRAMMY Award for Best Bluegrass Album, WNCW Cody Kilby, official site Cody Kilby, Wikipedia Cody Kilby, AllMusic Cody Kilby, The Picker’s Guide Ricky Skaggs, Wikipedia Interview: How Billy Strings Became the Most Electrifying Bluegrass Artist of His Generation, Acoustic Guitar
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more flatpickers. Kilby won Winfield the way Steve Kaufman did in 1978, 1984, and 1986, and Allen Shadd did the year before him in 1997. He came up beside Josh Williams, and Billy Strings counts him as an influence. He plays with fiddler Jason Carter in the Travelin’ McCourys.