Spending the Summer With Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs keeps popping up in my life this summer and that's totally OK with me. On Thursday night (July 2), I caught both of his sets at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. It's been a while since I've seen his full show and I'm so happy that he's returning his older country hits to the set list, like "Uncle Pen" and "Highway 40 Blues," rather than focusing only his newer bluegrass material. I was also tickled to hear "Crying My Heart Out Over You." That's one of my favorite songs from his Epic Records debut, Waitin' for the Sun to Shine, an album he made after writing up a recording contract on a bar napkin. Highways and Heartaches, his second album for Epic, was already reissued earlier this year, and this third one, Don't Cheat in Our Hometown, is coming on July 21.
I should also give some long overdue props to the box set, Sugar Hill Records: A Retrospective, released in 2006. Last month, I drove round-trip from Vancouver, B.C., to Whistler, B.C., and entertained myself with four discs full of roots music. I didn't grow up around bluegrass so I always gain some musical perspective when I go back and listen to those old tunes. Skaggs kicks it off with "Could You Love Me One More Time" and later partners with Tony Rice on "Bury Me Beneath the Willow." (I need to get their duet album, too.) Skaggs has such a plaintive voice in those early recordings and I'm eager to spend the rest of the year with him to see where else this journey goes.
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
solongsowrong says:
Caught one of his shows two Summers ago at the Ryman, and it is a night that I’ll always cherish and remember fondly.
Ricky Skaggs has always been one of the artists I have respected the most through the years. He feels that he is a gateway between the old and the new, and how the two can be brought together. Reading any information you can find on him and why he does the music that he performs, can leave no doubt in your mind that he lives his convictions, and is truly an artist who understands the Roots of the music, but also knows how to keep the music fresh and timeless, that even his older work can sound like it was just written.
Ricky’s music is a fine example of why a few years ago when the Opry performed at Carnegie Hall, they left most of the Pop acts back at the hotel, and featured music like his, Vince Gill’s, and Alison Krauss’, to showcase what Country music is really about.
Thanks for another great blog, Craig, where it’s about the music.
Annie says:
Love the “old” Skaggs a lot. I’m 30 and grew up with I don’t Care, Crying My Heart Out and all those songs. Meeting him about 10 years ago was amazing because I broke the vinyl record when I was 5, because I listened to it too much!!!
:)
Love that Paisley covers Highway in his shows!
Redmaz says:
Skaggs belongs in the Country Music Hall of Fame, but instead they put in Strait and Alabama? This genre has completely lost touch with the music. It’s a joke. Enterprise over art is an ugly thing.
Bobo says:
Redmaz, if you think King George and Alabama don’t belong in the CMHoF, or if you think Ricky Skaggs deserves membership more, then you don’t know Country Music, or how the CMHoF works.
Skaggs deserves membership as much as the others. It’s just that you just don’t bring everyone into the fold in one year.
Redmaz says:
I know how the cmhof works, that’s why GS and Alabama are in and Townes VanZandt, Billy Joe Shaver, Marty Stuart, Gram Parsons, Dwight Yoakam, and Ricky Skaggs are not. Not only are these people musician’s musicians, but they are some of the best songwriters, and innovators there are. I know exactly what’s going on, that’s why I know it’s a joke as I stated.