15 Grammys and still plucking: Ricky Skaggs performs at Brown County Music Center
Discussing cussing, you won't hear any Friday at the Brown County Music Center coming from the performer on stage. Among other things, Ricky Skaggs has 15 Grammy Award wins, but he's still unpretentious — and profanity-free.
"It'll be safe to bring kids to the show," Skaggs said over the phone. In fact, he believes that if kids experience live music it can spark an interest and gas up their curiosity. He should know: He started playing the mandolin and singing at 6.
Ricky Skaggs, one of country music's best selling performers, just celebrated his 41st wedding anniversary. He and performer-wife Sharon White are not surprised, and he admitted other country and western stars also have long marriages, such as "Faith and Tim."
"We knew (from the start) that we were going to stay married and told each other there's nothing we can't work out."
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White has been a strength to Skaggs, he said, as he has been to her. For example, White's father moved in with the couple, requiring care, which they happily provide for "Mr. Buck." "We're lovin' him right where he is," Skaggs said.
White's and Skaggs' "Love Can't Ever Get Better Than This" (1987) won Country Music Association's Vocal Duo of the Year, and it's worth a listen — or 20. And today, in 2022, they're "closer and more in love than ever," Skaggs said.
A multiple Hall of Famer, Skaggs set out neither to win prestige nor awards.
"I didn't even know about halls of fame. It was never on my screen. You can let (recognition) go to your head, or make you humble."
You can also use it to help others, as he and his cohort did by giving a benefit concert on Feb. 20 to help tornado victims in Mayfield, Kentucky, raising more than $200,000.
A Kentuckian, he came to Nashville, Tennessee, simply to play; music was ingrained in him. A mandolin wizard, he picked and sang "Ruby" at age 7, the video of which is available on YouTube under "Flatt & Skruggs."
Skaggs' genres are American neotraditional country and bluegrass. He sings, produces, composes and in addition to his primary instrument, the mandolin, he plays banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandocaster, an electric mandolin.
If he had to live, now, on a desert island, he would pack a guitar: "More accommodating."
Skaggs carefully picks songs for each performance
"Choices cost you, either way."
So Skaggs is careful when he decides which songs the band will perform. Trying to squeeze in all their hits, within 75-90 minutes, is as easy as playing mandolins and guitars without strings.
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Many know Skaggs for his country music, but he returned to bluegrass in the 1990s. His "Bluegrass Rules!" raised the bar for that genre and brought him his sixth Grammy and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Album of the Year Award. In 1999, "Ancient Tones," his next purely bluegrass album, grabbed a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, his second Grammy in the same category. Soon after, his "Soldier of the Cross" won in the Gospel Album section; it was his inaugural recording endeavor that was totally gospel.
"God's faithful," he said, "and He provides. We're so grateful."
On Aug. 26, fans can expect to hear bluegrass and gospel along with plenty of instrumentals — "the band loves to play" — and songs from his "Mosaic" album (2010).
If you go
WHAT: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder
WHEN: 8 p.m. Aug. 26
WHERE: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Blvd., Nashville
TICKETS: $25-$70; available online at browncountymusiccenter.com
MORE: Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Bags must be clear. Parking is $10 per vehicle.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder perform at Brown County Music Center
