Few people have kept us captivated over the years like Ricky Skaggs.
His lifetime full of music is covered in tales that only someone so personable and so experienced could communicate. He has 12, #1 singles, 14 Grammy Awards, 11 IBMA Awards, 8 ACM Awards and 8 CMA Awards, just to touch the tip of the iceberg. In his 50 years in music, he has recorded 30 albums and is currently working on adding to the list. This man is packed full of genuine talent. Recently, Skaggs took some time to regale us with his wonder filled world of music.
Skaggs has played with an incredible array of performers from nearly every background of music. He has reinvented a genre and continues to change the world of music through his magnificent collaborations. Even now, he is hard at work on the next big thing. “Sharon (Skaggs wife) and I are working on a duet project right now. We were duo of the year back in ’86 or ’87. She was on a label and I was on another label and they were kind of arch rivals with each other. They didn’t want to share each others artist. We’ve recorded about five songs already.”
“Peter Frampton and I have done a few things here lately….but I don’t know if it would be a whole duet project, like Bruce Hornsby and I have done. He is one of the most explosive musicians that I have ever been around,” Skaggs raved. “He blows up on stage when he starts to play. Notes come flying out of this bomb he drops. His ability to hear the music that he is playing at the moment is really incredible.
Barry Gibb, from the Bee Gee’s, I have had him guest on the Grand Ole Opry a couple of times over the last year and a half. He and I have talked about doing something. He was on my last bluegrass cd called “Music to My Ears.” He came in and sang a song that he wrote called, “Soldiers Son.” That was fun to work with him and see him work in the studio. He asked me to be a part of something that he wants to do in the studio.
There are a lot of great musicians out there. Here I am talking about two, way different, genres. Barry Gibb being from his side of the tracks, and me being from my side and Peter Frampton from his side. Musically, I want to do projects that are fun. I don’t want to do a project just because I need something to do. I like having time off when I can, but I like to work when it makes sense. We’re doing a benefit for Tony Rice in Nashville at 3rd and Lindsley. It’s a club where Vince Gill and his group play, The Time Jumpers. They play there on Monday nights. (We’re) trying to help (Tony) with some medical bills and stuff that he has had recently. I think they are calling it more like a tribute more than a benefit. I think the word benefit sometimes keeps people away. They think, oh that’s not going to be any good, it’s just a benefit. But this is going to be a great show. Lots of the bluegrass community are coming out.”
Seasonally, songs affect me differently. During certain times of year, songs conjure memories of things that, unbeknownst to me at the time, would forever form my opinion of those moments. “I haven’t really written that many lyric types of songs,” explained Skaggs. “I’ve written a lot on instrumentals. I did a whole cd of instrumentals that I have written with my band, Kentucky Thunder, back about six years ago. That was a fun project to do because a lot of the songs we recorded that day, the band had never really heard before. They were things that were on a micro cd somewhere in my mandolin case. A lot of the solos that the boys played were first drafts. Sometimes, they can be the best.
There is a song that I co-wrote with a guy called “My Father’s Son.” I’ve recorded it a couple of different times. I really like that song a lot. It talks about heritage and family and faith and the mountains of Kentucky, where I am from. That song has a lot of meaning to me.”
“Gordon Kennedy and I just wrote a song from “The Music to My Ears” project called, “You Can’t Hurt Ham.” That was a saying that Gordon said one time about two day old country ham biscuits that he wasn’t afraid to eat when he was hungry and couldn’t find anything else. He wasn’t afraid to eat them, because you can’t hurt ham. I guess, in his mind, ham was indestructible, at least country ham. Kids love it. Josh Turner was at the Opry Friday night and their little boys just love “icky kaggs.” The oldest boy is taking mandolin lessons and asked me the other night if I would do “You Can’t Hurt Ham.” I love the fact that these young kids love the music and are moving on with it.”
Getting to play with your friends is one of the best parts of playing. When an audience reacts well, that is the bonus you hope to receive. “When Barry Gibb was in town, that last time he was at The Opry, which was August or September last year, (laughing) we had worked up a bluegrass version of “Staying Alive.” It was so bad and I mean in a good way,” he remembered. “It was so funky and so cool. It was the perfect bluegrass rip off of a Bee Gee’s tune. When we got out to the chorus and he did that high “Staying Aliiiiiiiiiive,” that audience, everybody in that building, it was like they had an electric shock in their behind. Everybody stood up. That was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my whole life.”
Ricky Skaggs will be performing at The Bijou Theater on Gay Street in Knoxville, TN on March 21st with his band Kentucky Thunder. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.knoxbijou.com/shows/619243. For all things Ricky Skaggs, check out https://skaggsfamilyrecords.com/.
