100 Greatest Men: The Complete List
A brilliant bluegrass musician that became the unlikeliest of superstars, Ricky Skaggs moved seamlessly into mainstream country music and popularized bluegrass among a wide and willing audience.
Many musicians can claim mastery of their instruments at an early age, but few can compete with Skaggs, who taught himself to play the mandolin at age five and was performing on stage the same year. As early as seven, he made a television appearance on Flatt & Scruggs, and he was a featured player in his family’s band throughout his childhood. As a teenager, he met up with Keith Whitley and joined Ralph Stanley’s supporting band, the Clinch Mountain Boys.
After a few more stints in other bands, he recorded a solo album for an indie label, then formed his own group, Boone Creek. This caught the attention of Emmylou Harris, who invited him to join her Hot Band several times. He finally accepted and replaced outgoing member Rodney Crowell. While influencing Harris’ sound, he also continued to release albums with Boone Creek and on his own. Finally, his Sugar Hill setSweet Temptation caught the attention of Epic Records, and they signed him to their label.
Without any concessions to the Urban Cowboy sound of the time, Skaggs was a surprisingly huge success, and throughout the eighties he dominated the charts. In 1982, he was the first artist to win both the Horizon Award and Male Vocalist of the Year at the CMA’s. His bluegrass sets received huge critical acclaim while selling gold and platinum. He recorded old classics mixed in with new material, with his musicianship front and center. He even innovated on the video front, releasing the eye-popping “Country Boy” music clip, still widely regarded as one of the best country music videos of all time.
Once the Epic hits slowed down in the nineties, Skaggs returned to the bluegrass scene. Amazingly, his work became more prolific than ever, winning him multiple Grammy awards as he collaborated with everyone from the Whites to Bruce Hornsby. He drew heavily on his southern Gospel roots, and became a mainstay at festivals around the world. The award-winning albums have continued ever since, now being released on his own Skaggs Family record label.
Today, he is the symbol of the very bluegrass traditions that he has always honored and preserved, and despite artists like Alison Krauss and Nickel Creek making waves in recent years, he remains the bluegrass star who has had the most mainstream success in country music.
Essential Singles:
- Crying My Heart Out Over You, 1982
- Heartbroke, 1982
- Highway 40 Blues, 1983
- Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown, 1983
- Honey (Open That Door), 1984
- Uncle Pen, 1984
- Country Boy, 1985
Essential Albums:
- Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine, 1981
- Highways & Heartaches, 1982
- Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown, 1983
- Country Boy, 1984
- Live in London, 1985
- Ancient Tones (with Kentucky Thunder), 1999
- Salt of the Earth (with the Whites), 2007
Next: #35. Gene Autry
Previous: #37. The Louvin Brothers
I have been a Ricky Skaggs fan since the days of Boone Creek and Skaggs & Rice. While I still occasionally purchase his albums, my favorite Skaggs recordings are the bluegrass-influenced country records he made while on Epic
I think I would have rated him slightly higher but you’ve got him in the right ballpark
I admittedly am not very knowledgable about much of Skaggs’ material, as I was born 8 years after the last of your essential singles was released, but I would probably say that “Same Ol’ Love” is my favorite song of his.