Sometimes in life, things come full circle. That’s the story of Ricky Skaggs. By age 21, he was already considered a “recognized master” of one of America’s most demanding art forms. But his career took him in other directions, catapulting him to popularity and success in the mainstream of country music. Now the road has brought him back to where it all began—bluegrass music.
2001 marked Ricky’s 30th year as a professional musician, and this eight-time Grammy Award winner continues to do his part to lead the recent roots revival in music. With five consecutive Grammy nominated classics behind him, all from his self-owned record company, Skaggs Family Records--1998’s Bluegrass Rules!, 1999’s Ancient Tones, and 2000’s Soldier of the Cross and Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe, and 2001‘s History of the Future—bluegrass music is undoubtedly in good hands, with the masterful Ricky Skaggs at the helm.
Ricky was born on July 18, 1954 in eastern Kentucky and was already an accomplished singer and mandolin player by the time he reached his teens. In 1971 he entered the world of professional music with his friend, late country singer, Keith Whitley, as the two young musicians were invited to join the band of bluegrass pioneer, Ralph Stanley. Ricky soon began to build a reputation for creativity and excitement through live appearances and recordings with acts such as J.D. Crowe & The New South. He performed on their 1975 debut album for Rounder Records, which was widely regarded as one of the most influential bluegrass albums ever made. A stint as a bandleader with Boone Creek followed, bringing the challenges of leadership while giving him further recording and performing experience.
Beginning in the late 1970s, Ricky turned his attention to country music. Though still in his twenties, the wealth of experience and talent he possessed served him well, first as a member of Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band and later as an individual recording artist on his own. With the release of Waitin’ For The Sun To Shine 1981, Skaggs reached the top of the country charts, and remained there throughout most of the 1980s. As his popularity soared, he garnered eight awards from the Country Music Association (CMA), including “Entertainer of the Year” in 1985, four Grammy Awards and dozens of other honors. These achievements also placed him front and center in the neo-traditionalist movement, bringing renewed vitality and prominence to sound that had been somewhat subdued by the commercialization of the urban cowboy fad. Renowned guitarist and producer Chet Atkins, credited Skaggs with “single-handedly” saving country music.
In 1997, after Ricky’s current recording contract was coming to an end, he decided to establish his own record label, Skaggs Family Records. The label became the recording home to Ricky Skaggs and his band, Kentucky Thunder, a carefully assembled team that shares his delight in creating a sound at once familiar and now excitingly new. Kentucky Thunder is an all-star band that includes veteran fiddler Bobby Hicks (who performed on many of Bill Monroe’s best-known recordings), Andy Leftwich (fiddle), Paul Brewster (tenor vocals, rhythm guitar), Mark Fain (bass), Jim Mills (banjo), Cody Kilby (lead guitar) and Darrin Vincent (baritone vocals, rhythm guitar). The media has referred to Kentucky Thunder as the “Blue Angels” of music. They have the talent and dedication to fulfill Ricky’s vision of bluegrass music---entertaining audiences with a contemporary style, while remaining true to the traditional core of its origin. A Kentucky Thunder appearance, with its non-stop, no-holds-barred energy reflects both sincere enthusiasm and consummate professionalism, It is an awesome experience, one that brings both old and new audiences to their feet.
Ricky also founded a sister label to Skaggs Family, Ceili Music. Ceili (pronounced “kaylee “) is defined as “an informal gathering of family and friends for music and song.” That being the theme, Ceili Music features recordings by a variety of artists, with an emphasis on bluegrass and other forms of roots music. With Ricky’s enthusiasm for this music and experience as a producer, Ceili promises to be, as he told an interviewer, “a home to great music.” The Ceili roster of talent currently includes: The Del McCoury Band, The Whites, Mountain Heart, Jerry and Tammy Sullivan, and Paul Brewster. Ricky is currently paving the way to a return to country music’s most down-to-earth form—bluegrass. From his string of high-profile tour dates with the Dixie Chicks in 2000 — to his recent position as host of the unprecedented ‘All*Star Bluegrass Celebration,’ set to air on PBS nationwide in 2002 - to his participation in this summer’s highly anticipated 41-city ‘Down From the Mountain’ tour to regular Grand Ole Opry performances, Ricky has become one of bluegrass’ most talented and dynamic performers.
Ricky’s first release from Skaggs Family Records, Bluegrass Rules!, set a new standard for bluegrass-- breaking new sales records in the genre, winning Skaggs his sixth Grammy Award, and taking the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) ‘Album of the Year’ award. Since then, Ricky has been on a mission to promote bluegrass music with non-stop touring, TV appearances and countless interviews. In 1999, his album Ancient Tones won a Grammy Award for ‘Best Bluegrass Album’—his second in that same category. In 2000, Ricky won his eighth Grammy Award in the ‘Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album’ category, for Soldier of the Cross. That same year, Ricky and his band Kentucky Thunder received their third consecutive award in the ‘Instrumental Group of the Year’ category, from the IBMA.
Ricky made further progress with the release of his fourth bluegrass album in 2000, Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe. This project injects new fire and energy into the fertile fields of traditional bluegrass, celebrating the music and the life of Ricky’s mentor Bill Monroe. By assembling an all-star cast of musicians ranging from The Dixie Chicks and Travis Tritt to Joan Osborne and Bruce Hornsby, Big Mon has received much critical acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for ‘Best Country Collaboration With Vocals.’ The album has recently been re-released by Lyric Street Records, under a new name--Ricky Skaggs & Friends Sing the Songs of Bill Monroe, containing an added bonus track “Uncle Pen.”
Earlier this year, Ricky and Kentucky Thunder’s latest album, History of the Future, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the ‘Best Bluegrass Album’ category. The recent nomination adds to an incredible track record for the new label—all albums released on Skaggs Family Records have been nominated for a Grammy, and incredibly, three albums by Ricky and Kentucky Thunder have earned a Grammy. Ricky Skaggs has often said that he is “just trying to make a living” playing the music he loves. But it’s clear that his passion for bluegrass puts him in the position to bring this lively, distinctively American form of music out of isolation and into the ears and hearts of audiences across the country and around the world. This has rarely been done in the half-century since Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys first gave shape to bluegrass. Blessed with a close-knit family, an abundance of talent, a lifetime of musical experience and a tight band behind him, Ricky Skaggs is well on the way to showing the world that “country rocks, but Bluegrass Rules!” reminding people not to forget those “Ancient Tones,” that lay the groundwork for the “History of the Future.”
RICKY SKAGGS DISCOGRAPHY
Country
WAITING FOR THE SUN TO SHINE, 1981
HIGHWAYS AND HEARTACHES, 1982
DON’T CHEAT IN OUR HOMETOWN, 1983
COUNTRY BOY, 1984
FAVORITE COUNTRY SONGS, 1985
LIVE IN LONDON, 1985
LOVE’S GONNA GETYA!, 1986
COMIN’ HOME TO STAY, 1988
KENTUCKY THUNDER, 1988
MY FATHER’S SON, 1989
RICKY SKAGGS PORTRAIT, 1992
SUPER HITS, 1993
SOLID GROUND, 1995
LIFE IS A JOURNEY, 1997
Bluegrass
BLUEGRASS RULES!, 1997
ANCIENT TONES, 1999
BIG MON (PICKY SKAGGS & FRIENDS), 2000
HISTORY OF THE FUTURE 2001
Gospel
SOLDIER OF THE CROSS, 1999
RICKY SKAGGS AWARDS
GRAMMY AWARDS
Best Country Instrumental Performance-1983, 1984, 1986
Best Country Vocal Collaboration (with Vince Gill & Steve Wariner)-1991
Best Country Vocal Collaboration for “Same Old Train”-1998
Best Bluegrass Album (for “Bluegrass Rules!”)-1998
Best Bluegrass Album (for “Ancient Tones”)-1999
Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album of the Year (for “Soldier of the Cross”)-2000
DOVE AWARDS
Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year for “Are You Afraid to Die?”-2001
COUNTNY MUSIC ASSOCIATION (CMA) AWARDS
Male Vocalist of the Year-1982
Horizon Award-1982
Instrumental Group of the Year-1983, 1984, 1985
Entertainer of the Year-1985
Vocal Duo of the Year (Sharon White Skaggs)-1987
Vocal Event of the Year (with Mark O’Conner & New Nashville Cats)-1991
ACADEMY OF COUNIRY MUSIC (ACM)
New Male Vocalist-1981
Touring Band of the Year-1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986
Best Specialty Instrument (Mandolin)-1984, 1987
INN MUSIC CITY NEWS AWARDS.
Bluegrass Act of the Year-1982, 1983, 1984
Star of Tomorrow-1983
Instrumentalist of the Year-1988, 1989, 1990
Vocal Collaboration of the Year (with Vince Gill & Patty Loveless)-1996
INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION (IBMA) AWARDS
Album of the Year (for “Bluegrass Rules!”)-1998
Instrumental Group of the Year (with Kentucky Thunder)-1998, 1999, 2000
Recorded Event of the Year (with “Mandolin Extravaganza”)-2000
Instrumental Album of the Year (with “Mandolin Extravaganza”)-2000
FRETS MAGAZINE READERS’ POLL
Best Instrumentalist-1980
Overall Best Instrumentalist- 1981
Best Multi-Instrumentalist-1980, 1982, 1987
MISCELLANEOUS AWARDS
White Dove Award, Ralph Stanley’s Bluegrass Festival-1982
Country A #1 Best-March 12, 1983
Super Country Band-March 12, 1983
Country’s Best of the Best-August 26, 1984
Best Selling Country Album by Male Artist, “Don’t Cheat in our Hometown”,
NARM “Gift of Music” Award-1984
Most Popular International Male Solo, Country Music Round-Up International Award- 1986
Country String Instrumentalist, Playboy Music Poll-1986
Best Country Album, Edison Award, The Netherlands-1987
Best Country Guitarist, Guitar Player Readers’ Poll-1987
Edison Award-1987 -
USO 5Qt Anniversary Award-1989
Top 100 Guitarists of the 20th Century, Musician Magazine, 1993
Christian Country Artist of the Year, Gospel Voice Diamond Award, 1993
Musician of the Year, Christian Country Music Association-1994
Bluegrass/Old Time Music Album of the Year (for “Bluegrass Rules!”),
Nashville Music Awards-1999
Artist of the Decade, BBC Radio 2, The Wally Whyton Show
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