Kentuckian Ricky Skaggs had already generated enough recordings to fill a full professional lifetime once he reached his mid-thirties. He stepped before television cameras with Flatt & Scruggs at age seven and, at fifteen, joined the bluegrass outfit of legendary Ralph Stanley alongside teenage Keith Whitley. No male or female contemporary in 1980s country music carried stronger musical credentials. The label “multi-talented” fails to capture the range of this exceptional vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Beyond his ability to sing and play at the forefront of progressive country, his extensive grounding in traditional styles sets him apart. Many observers regard him as unmatched in combining vocal and instrumental command on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo.
After three years with Ralph Stanley, Skaggs moved to the progressive bluegrass groups the Country Gentlemen and J.D. Crowe & the New South. Fronting his own band Boone Creek, he blended vintage and contemporary sounds while evoking the swinging Gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt. In 1977 he replaced Rodney Crowell in Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band, and the acclaimed album Roses in the Snow highlighted his wide-ranging abilities. Two chart-topping singles emerged from his 1981 release Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine, after which honors began to accumulate. Skaggs bears much of the credit for reviving a return-to-roots direction in country music, demonstrating that a bluegrass tenor of refined judgment and remarkable skill could market traditional country during an era when pop influences dominated rural rhythms.
Skaggs received his first mandolin from his father at age five and mastered the instrument before receiving any instruction. By the close of 1959 he had performed onstage with Bill Monroe, delivering “Ruby Are You Mad at Your Man” to an enthusiastic reception. Two years later, at seven, he appeared on Flatt & Scruggs’ television program to similar approval. Soon afterward he added fiddle and guitar to his skills and began performing with his parents in the Skaggs Family. Alongside classic bluegrass he absorbed the honky-tonk styles of George Jones and Ray Price as well as the British Invasion rock & roll of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. During adolescence he briefly performed in rock & roll groups yet never abandoned his roots-music foundation.
While attending a mid-teen talent event he met fellow fiddler Keith Whitley. The two teenagers formed a friendship and began appearing together, with Whitley’s brother Dwight on banjo, at various radio broadcasts. By 1970 they secured an opening slot for Ralph Stanley. Impressed by their performance, Stanley asked the pair to join his backing band the Clinch Mountain Boys, an invitation they accepted. Over the next two years they toured extensively with the bluegrass icon and contributed to his album Cry from the Cross. Skaggs also appeared on Whitley’s 1972 solo project Second Generation Bluegrass.
Although he had entered the bluegrass circuit and begun recording, Skaggs grew weary of the demanding schedule and modest compensation with the Clinch Mountain Boys and departed at the end of 1972. For a brief period he left music to work in a boiler room at the Virginia Electric Power Company in Washington, D.C., yet returned to performance when the Country Gentlemen recruited him in 1973. He remained with that ensemble for two years, mainly playing fiddle, before moving in 1974 to the progressive bluegrass band J.D. Crowe & the New South. The following year he recorded another duet album with Whitley titled That’s It, then assembled his own newgrass group Boone Creek in 1976. Beyond bluegrass the band performed honky-tonk and Western swing. Boone Creek attracted the notice of Emmylou Harris, who extended repeated invitations for Skaggs to join her supporting musicians. He finally accepted in 1977 after Rodney Crowell’s departure from her Hot Band.
From 1977 to 1980 Skaggs helped steer Harris toward traditional country and bluegrass, often earning strong praise. While with Harris he also pursued additional projects, completing a final Boone Creek album (1978’s One Way Track), two duet albums with Tony Rice (1978’s Take Me Home Tonight in a Song and 1980’s Skaggs & Rice), and his own debut solo effort Sweet Temptation on Sugar Hill. Sweet Temptation became a significant bluegrass success and drew the attention of major label Epic Records, which signed him in 1981 and issued Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine later that year. The album achieved broad success, receiving acclaim from both country and rock publications. By year’s end Skaggs had emerged as a star while restoring awareness of roots-oriented traditional country among country listeners.
During 1982 and early 1983 he scored five consecutive number-one singles—“Crying My Heart Out Over You,” “I Don’t Care,” “Heartbroke,” “I Wouldn’t Change You If I Could,” and “Highway 40 Blues”—along with numerous awards. Later in 1982 he became the youngest inductee into the Grand Ole Opry. For the following four years he ranked among country music’s leading artistic and commercial figures, accumulating a series of Top Ten hits and Grammy-winning albums. His achievements helped ignite the broader new-traditionalist movement, clearing paths for artists such as George Strait and Randy Travis. Toward the decade’s close Skaggs charted less frequently yet had solidified his status as an icon. Each release continued to sell well, and he collaborated with musicians including Rodney Crowell, the Bellamy Brothers, Johnny Cash, Jesse Winchester, and Dolly Parton.
In the early 1990s Skaggs and his traditional approach faced challenges from the polished production of contemporary country, causing his records to sell less steadily than a decade earlier. Columbia Records dropped him in 1992 owing to weak sales. He nevertheless maintained an active schedule of concerts and festivals while hosting the syndicated radio program The Simple Life, which debuted in 1994. The next year he resumed recording with Solid Ground, his first album for Atlantic Records. Life Is a Journey appeared in 1997, followed in 1999 by Soldier of the Cross. Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe arrived in 2000 and was reissued in 2002 on Lyric Street as Ricky Skaggs and Friends Sing the Songs of Bill Monroe. In 2003 he released Live at the Charleston Music Hall on his own Skaggs Family label, then Brand New Strings in 2004, A Skaggs Family Christmas in 2005, and Instrumentals in 2006. He teamed with the Whites for 2007’s Salt of the Earth.
Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass, issued in 2008, paid tribute to Bill Monroe’s classic mid-1940s Blue Grass Boys lineup and included guest appearances by the only surviving member of that group, Earl Scruggs. For 2009’s Solo: Songs My Dad Loved, dedicated to his father Hobert Skaggs, Skaggs performed every instrument and vocal part himself. The 2010 album Mosaic, co-produced by Skaggs and Gordon Kennedy, featured gospel-inflected country songs with pop and rock influences. Country Hits: Bluegrass Style, released in 2011, found Skaggs revisiting earlier country successes and reinterpreting them in bluegrass arrangements. Also in 2011 came the second holiday collection A Skaggs Family Christmas, Vol. 2, a ten-song set containing both studio and live tracks packaged with the bonus DVD A Skaggs Family Christmas Live, documenting the family’s holiday concert filmed at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The live album Cluck Ol’ Hen, recorded with Bruce Hornsby, appeared in summer 2013.
