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Ernie Thacker
Though he’s still a young man, Ernie Thacker has quite a record of accomplishments in bluegrass, including a six-year stint with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mt. Boys and appearances on both the Grammy-nominated The Stanley Tradition and its IBMA award winning successor, The Stanley Gospel Tradition.
By the time he moved to Dickenson County, Virginia as a teenager, Ernie already was a serious mandolin player and singer. It wasn’t long before he caught the attention of Ralph Stanley, who invited him to travel with the Clinch Mt. Boys, and eventually made him a member of the band – first as mandolin player and then, in 1989, as lead singer and guitarist.
Ernie Thacker and Route 23 may be a young outfit, but their classic sound, energetic stage presence and commitment to professionalism have already earned notice from veterans in the bluegrass industry, resulting in their appearance among the top 20 nominees for the IBMA’s Emerging Artist Of The Year Award for the years of 1999 and 2000.