Ricky Skaggs Revives Country Hits With ‘Bluegrass Style’

Any musician would be happy to achieve success in one musical genre, but Ricky Skaggs has been twice blessed. Over the course of his career, the Kentucky native has been proclaimed the savior of country music when such '80s hits as 'Uncle Pen,' 'Heartbroke' and 'Highway 40 Blues' signaled a return to traditional country on the radio airwaves. Then in the '90s, he returned to his first love, bluegrass music, and took up the torch passed to him by Bill Monroe.

Now Ricky is combining both his musical loves on 'Country Hits Bluegrass Style.' Set for release July 19 on his own Skaggs Family Records, the album finds Ricky putting a bluegrass stamp on 'You've Got a Lover,' 'Honey, Open That Door,' 'Country Boy,' 'Cajun Moon' 'I Wouldn't Change You If I Could' and other hits from his country catalog.

"One of the reasons we did this is we've had so many requests because it's hard to find the old records anymore," Ricky tells The Boot, sitting in his dressing room at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium before a recent show. "It was time to go back and do these old songs. We did some of them all acoustic but then we also cut hits like 'I Don't Care' and 'He Was Onto Something (So He Made You).' We really cut those pretty much straight-ahead country like I did them in '81 or '82 -- just to show my undying love for country music. It was so good to me in the '80's. That was a sound that really put me on the map."

Indeed it did. Ricky exited Emmylou Harris' famed Hot Band to embark on a solo career and his 1981 country debut album, 'Waitin' for the Sun to Shine,' catapulted him to country stardom. He's since scored 12 No. 1 country hits, and won numerous accolades, among them 14 Grammy Awards and five Country Music Association Awards, including Male Vocalist in 1982 and Entertainer of the Year in 1985.

The legendary Chet Atkins credited Ricky with "single-handedly saving country music" with his unabashedly country sound ushering in the neo-traditionalist movement, even if Ricky wasn't aware of the impact he was having on the genre at the time.

"Had no clue and I'm glad I didn't," he says. "I'm glad I never dwelled on it. I didn't wake up with that kind of yoke around my neck. I've always moved by my heart. I've moved by the spirit of what I feel was right for me next. I always pray and ask God: 'What's the next thing? What am I supposed to do next?' This 'Country Hits Bluegrass Style' was definitely the thing to do coming out of 'Mosaic.'"

His 2010 release, 'Mosaic,' was a critically acclaimed album of faith-based songs, written or co-written by Gordon Kennedy, who also co-produced that album with Ricky. "Gordon is still writing songs. I've got them in a folder and it's called 'More Saic,'" Ricky says with a chuckle. "So I'm sure that at some point we're going to go back in and record more of that type of songs -- and it's not because it's sold big numbers, blazed the charts and we've won awards. It's none of that because it didn't happen with that record. We didn't have the success that man would call success or the record company would call success or what Music Row would call success, but if you want to talk about changing lives and seeing people's hearts get really moved, then we had tremendous success. I've never had a record where people would call the office and order 100 copies at a time to give away to friends and loved ones. So I know in that that it was a very successful record in heaven's economy."

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Ricky is hoping both bluegrass and country fans will appreciate his new album and is excited about reviving some of his classics. "'Country Boy' was something that we really wanted to do and I honestly believe that we did a better cut on this new record. I was surprised when we got it all finished that it came out as a more exciting cut. It's not as heavy drums as we had on the original. It's a little bit softer and I just love it. It was a fun cut. 'You've Got a Lover' came out real nice. We had Paul Franklin come out and play steel guitar on that and it was really sweet. I love the way 'Don't Get Above Your Raisin'' came out. We had Buck White [Ricky's father-in-law] come back in and play piano again. He played on the original cut."

Ricky knows people might not have been expecting this type of record from him and that suits the multifaceted musician just fine. "After 'Mosaic,' I think a lot of people didn't know what my next record was going to be," he says. "And that's what I love. I just love doing music because I'm not going to follow the patterns and formulas of Music Row. I never could, never did. When I came here it wasn't that I was anti-Music Row, but it was like I was going against the grain of what everybody on Music Row was doing, and that's what has made me successful."

Ricky has always pursued his musical passion without regard to trends or protocol. After redefining the country music landscape in the '80s, he returned to bluegrass in 1996. It was a natural step. Ricky began playing mandolin when he was five years old and a year later Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass Music, got the young prodigy up on stage to perform. By his teens, Ricky and his friend Keith Whitley had joined bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley's band. He later performed with J.D. Crowe & the New South and led the group Boone Creek before embarking on his country career.

Ricky's return to bluegrass came from a desire to see the music Bill Monroe had created continue to flourish after his mentor's death in 1996. "I saw in his eyes there for a while that he was really concerned that when he passed away where was bluegrass going to go?" Ricky says. "Toward the end, I really tried to let his heart be at rest and just said, 'Don't worry. This music has become bigger than you. Believe it or not, it's bigger than Bill Monroe. People like me and Marty [Stuart], Vince [Gill] and Alison [Krauss], we're going to keep the music going. We're going to honor you and tell people about you. We're going to tell your story, so you can rest at peace knowing that your kids are taking it over, doing well with it and respecting it and respecting you.'"

Ricky admits today's bluegrass is different from what fans heard during Bill's heyday. "When I hear bluegrass today, I hear so many new sounds in it," he says. "It's almost like country music in a way. There's a lot of young people doing a lot of experimentation and their influences are everything coming from everywhere, but I guess being 56 and living through the Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Osborne Brothers, Jim and Jessie time period in the '50s, '60s and 70s, it's in my blood to continue playing that traditional sound."

Ricky has found fresh ways to expose the traditional bluegrass sound to a new crowd. "Last weekend we had two sold-out shows with the Boston Pops. The Pops love playing this type of music," he says of he and his band Kentucky Thunder performing with the legendary symphony. "We've played with the Pops before and we've done the Boca Raton Symphony and played with symphonies in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Oklahoma City and Dayton, Ohio. You can hardly believe how well it meshes together. One of the things that I absolutely love when I'm on stage and the symphony is playing is to look out and read the audiences faces. They are sitting there [thinking], 'I get it. I get it now. I didn't know how this was going to work,' but when they hear it together it makes sense."

As to where he sees bluegrass music headed in the next 10 years, Ricky admits, "It's hard to tell. Alison [Krauss] is trying so many different things. She's been the one that's kind of been leading the pack as far as doing things out of the box. She is so good at what she does. She can sing the telephone book. She's just always going to do good music, so a lot of people look at her as kind of a flagship indicator for where bluegrass is going. But I don't think she really sees herself as being someone that's taking bluegrass necessarily to new levels or to new markets. I just think she loves to play music."

Between Alison, Dailey & Vincent and Del McCoury and his sons, Ricky feels the genre is in good hands. And of course, Ricky and Kentucky Thunder will continue to carry the torch. This summer, they are out on the road for the Treasure Chest tour, which will be a blend of Ricky's country hits and bluegrass favorites.

"There's an old scripture that says, 'a good man even takes things from his treasures chest, things old and new.' I read that one day and I thought, 'treasure chest, things old and new, that would be an awesome name for a tour.'" Ricky says. "I'm doing new songs from 'Mosaic.' I'm doing my old country songs and we're doing new things, too, and some bluegrass. On Treasure Chest you get the country, the bluegrass and the gospel stuff. You get all three. That was the whole reason for calling it that."

In August, Ricky will be taking time off to celebrate his 30th wedding anniversary with wife, Sharon White, a member of the Whites with her dad, Buck, and sister Cheryl. "Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, is calling a prayer and fasting day," Ricky says of the event to be held Aug. 6 at Reliant Stadium in Houston. "He's invited every Governor of every state to join him in Houston for a day of prayer for the nation so we're thinking about going to Houston. Sharon said, 'If you want to do something for our anniversary, you take me to Houston. That's where my heart is. That's where I want to go.'"

When asked what advice he has for young couples looking to sustain a long, happy marriage, Ricky offers some tips that have worked for them. "The Bible says 'don't let the sun go down on your wrath,' so we try not to go to bed angry," he says. "We try to pray together every day. There's a great book called 'Couples Who Pray' and it's really a handbook for couples to start praying together. It's powerful. Also, don't take the world too seriously. Don't take yourself serious. Laugh a lot. Watch funny movies. Tell jokes. Pull pranks and just try to laugh because scripture also says that laughter is like a medicine that does your soul good."