Ricky Skaggs

For the punk rock musician, see Ricky Scaggs.

Ricky Lee Skaggs (born July 18 1954, in Lawrence County, Kentucky) is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He plays fiddle, guitar, banjo, and, primarily, mandolin.

Biography

Early career

Ricky Skaggs started playing music after he was given a mandolin by his father. At age 5, he played mandolin on stage with Bill Monroe. At age 7, he appeared on television's Martha White country music variety show, playing with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. He also wanted to audition for the Grand Ole Opry at that time, but was told he was too young.

In his mid-teens, Skaggs met a fellow teen prodigy, fiddler Keith Whitley, and the two started playing together with Whitley's banjoist brother Dwight on radio shows. By 1970, they had earned a spot opening for Ralph Stanley and Skaggs and Keith Whitley were thereafter invited to join Stanley's band, the Clinch Mountain Boys

Skaggs later joined J. D. Crowe's New South. For a few years, Skaggs was a member of Emmylou Harris's Hot Band. He wrote the arrangements for Harris's 1980 bluegrass-roots album, Roses in the Snow. In addition to arranging for Harris, Skaggs sang harmony and played mandolin and fiddle.

Move to Nashville

Skaggs moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1980 and was signed to Epic Records, where he produced his debut album, Waitin' For The Sun to Shine. The album produced four successful singles, including two number one hits with "Cryin' My Heart Out Over You" and "I Don't Care" in 1982, songs that sparked the birth of the neotraditional country movement.

Skaggs' lifelong dream of joining the Grand Ole Opry finally became reality in 1982. He racked up 12 number one hits and six top 10 singles during the 1980s. Skaggs picked up dozens of industry awards in the ensuing years, including four Grammy Awards and eight awards from the Country Music Association including Entertainer of the Year in 1985.

He married Sharon White of the family group The Whites in 1982. Together they have two children, a daughter Molly Kate and a son Lucas. Ricky also has a son, Andrew, and a daughter, Mandy, from his first marriage.

Neotraditionalism and experimentation

Into the 1990s and 2000s, Skaggs has embraced his bluegrass roots, as well as experimenting with new sounds. With his band, Kentucky Thunder, he is a perennial winner of Grammy Awards and International Bluegrass Music Association for best bluegrass album.

"I always want to try to promote the old music, as well as trying to grow, and be a pioneer too," Skaggs once said.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, he shared the stage with the now defunct jam band, Phish.^{[citation needed]} On March 20, 2007, Skaggs released an album with rock musician Bruce Hornsby.

In 2007, Skaggs is slated to release an album he recorded with The Whites on his Skaggs Family Records label.

Discography

Second Generation Bluegrass (with Keith Whitley) 1971
That's It 1975
Sweet Temptation 1979
Skaggs & Rice (with Tony Rice) 1980
Waitin' For The Sun To Shine 1981
Highway & Heartaches 1982
Family & Friends 1982
Don't Cheat In Our Hometown 1983
Country Boy 1984
Favorite Country Songs 1985
Live In London 1985
Love's Gonna Get Ya! 1986
Comin' Home To Stay 1988
Kentucky Thunder 1989
My Father's Son 1991
Ricky Skaggs Portrait 1992
Super Hits 1993
Solid Ground 1995±
Life Is A Journey 1997
Bluegrass Rules (with Kentucky Thunder) 1997
Ancient Tones (with Kentucky Thunder) 1999
Soldier of The Cross (with Kentucky Thunder) 1999
History of the Future (with Kentucky Thunder) 2001
Bluegrass Rules! 2001
Weapon of Prayer (with Kentucky Thunder) 2001
Live at the Charleston Music Hall (with Kentucky Thunder) 2003
The Three Pickers (with Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs) 2003
Brand New Strings (with Kentucky Thunder) 2004
Hunting Dog Blues (with Ole Smucker) 2005
Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby 2007
Salt of the Earth 2007

Awards

Grammy awards

1983 Best Country Instrumental Performance: New South (J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs) for Fireball
1984 Best Country Instrumental Performance: Ricky Skaggs for Wheel Hoss
1986 Best Country Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist): Ricky Skaggs for Riaisin' The Dickins
1991 Best Country Vocal Collaboration: Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner & Vince Gill for Restless
1998 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Bluegrass Rules!
1998 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: Clint Black, Joe Diffie, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt & Dwight Yoakam for Same Old Train
1999 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Ancient Tones
2000 Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Soldier Of The Cross
2003 Best Country Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for A Simple Life
2004 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Brand New Strings
2006 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Instrumentals

CMA (Country Music Association) Awards

1982 Male Vocalist of the Year: Ricky Skaggs
1982 Horizon Award: Ricky Skaggs
1983 Instrumental Group of the Year: Ricky Skaggs Band
1984 Instrumental Group of the Year: Ricky Skaggs Band
1985 Entertainer of the Year: Ricky Skaggs
1985 Instrumental Group of the Year: Ricky Skaggs Band
1987 Vocal Duo of the Year: Ricky Skaggs & Sharon White

IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Awards

1998 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
1998 Album Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder for Bluegrass Rules!
1999 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
2000 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
2000 Instrumental Album Of The Year: David Grisman, Ronnie McCoury, Sam Bush, Frank Wakefield, Bobby Osborne, Jesse McReynolds, Ricky Skaggs & Buck White for Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza
2000 Recorded Event Of The Year: David Grisman, Ronnie McCoury, Sam Bush, Frank Wakefield, Bobby Osborne, Jesse McReynolds, Ricky Skaggs & Buck White for Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza
2002 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
2003 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
2004 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
2005 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
2006 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder

Other Awards and Accomplishments

R&R Best New Artist
Billboard magazine's Artist of the Year
Musician Magazine- Voted One of the Top 100 Guitarists of the Century
Artist of the Decade- Listeners' Poll Award BBC Radio 2
CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music rank #37 in 2003.

References

1997 Interview with Ricky Skaggs
Himes, Geoffrey. (1998). "Ricky Skaggs". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 486-7.
Ricky Skaggs, age 7, plays with Flatt & Scruggs on the Martha White Show
Ricky Skaggs articles, interviews and CD reviews at Country Standard Time
Ricky Skaggs Biography

External links