Ricky Skaggs - Biography
By J Poet
Ricky Skaggs helped kick start the roots music revival that led to the creation of the category called Americana. His success as a country and bluegrass artist – he’s taken home 12 Grammys in the country and bluegrass genres - has won him respect from Nashville and roots music fans alike, and his Skaggs Family label is a powerhouse of traditional music.
Skaggs was born in 1954 in Cordell, Kentucky. His dad gave him a mandolin for his fifth birthday and by age six he was invited on stage to play mandolin with Bill Monroe. When he was seven, he sat in with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs on their Martha White TV show. He played local TV and radio shows with his pal, guitarist Keith Whitley, during high school. They got an opening spot on a bill with Ralph Stanley and he hired both of them for his Clinch Mountain Boys. When he was 17, J.D. Crowe added Skaggs to his newgrass ensemble J.D. Crowe & the New South. He made his recording debut on J. D. Crowe and the New South (1973 Starday, 1986 Rounder) a groundbreaking bluegrass album that included several Skaggs originals. He left Crowe to start Boone Creek with Jerry Douglas and made Boone Creek (1977 Rounder) and One Way Track (1978 Sugar Hill) before signing on with Emmylou Harris and her Hot Band.
Skaggs was with Harris for Luxury Liner (1977 Reprise), Blue Kentucky Girl (1979 Reprise), Roses in the Snow (1980 Reprise), Evangeline (1981 Reprise), and four other seminal albums before striking out on his own with Waitin' for the Sun to Shine (1981 Epic), which blended bluegrass and mainstream country. It included two #1 hits "Cryin' My Heart Out Over You" and "I Don't Care." Skaggs joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1982 and spent the rest of the decade on top of the charts with the platinum Highways & Heartaches (1982 Epic), the gold Don't Cheat in Our Hometown (1983 Epic), which included the #1 single "Honey (Open That Door)," Country Boy (1984 Epic) with special guest Bill Monroe - another gold album, the mainstream country set Love's Gonna Get Ya! (1986 Epic), Comin' Home to Stay (1988 Epic), Kentucky Thunder (1989 Epic), and My Father's Son (1991 Epic.) He started his string of Grammy wins in 1983 with Best Country Instrumental Performance Grammys for “Fireball” a collaboration with J.D. Crowe & the New South in 1983, “Wheel Hoss” from Country Boy in 1984 and “Raisin' The Dickins” from Love's Gonna Get Ya! in 1986.
Skaggs launched a syndicated radio show called The Simple Life in 1994 and made two albums for Atlantic - Solid Ground (1995 Atlantic) and Life Is a Journey (1997 Atlantic) – before launching his own Skaggs Family logo in 1998 with the Grammy winning Bluegrass Rules! (1998 Skaggs Family.) Bluegrass Rules! also won the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) Album of the Year Award.
Skaggs Family put out records by The Del McCoury Band, Jerry and Tammy Sullivan, Blue Highway, The Whites, Mountain Heart, Melonie Cannon, Ryan Holladay, Keith Sewell, Cherryholmes, and Cadillac Sky, as well as Skaggs’ own albums. Skaggs helped bluegrass music win new fans with his albums for his own logo and his constant touring. His albums include the Best Bluegrass Album Grammy winner Ancient Tones (1999 Skaggs Family), Soldier Of The Cross (1999 Skaggs Family) which won the Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album in 2000, Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe (2000 Skaggs Family), a tribute to the Father of Bluegrass featuring the Dixie Chicks, John Fogerty, Dolly Parton, and Dwight Yoakam, History of the Future (2001 Hollywood), Live at the Charleston Music Hall (2003 Skaggs Family) which won a Best Country Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal Grammy for the track “A Simple Life,” Brand New Strings (2004 Skaggs Family) and Instrumentals (2006 Skaggs Family), two more Best Bluegrass Album Grammy winners, Salt of the Earth (2007 Skaggs Family), a collaboration with The Whites that won a Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album, and Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 & 1947 (2008 Skaggs Family) with Earl Scruggs adding his tasty banjo picking to Kentucky Thunder’s usual extemporary musicianship.
