Ricky Skaggs’ career is easily among the most significant in recent country music history, with the legendary guitarist Chet Atkins once credited Skaggs with “single-handedly saving country music.”
First appearing on TV at the age of 7 Ricky has entertained the masses for over 50 years. Ricky has collaborated with numerous artists including Bruce Hornsby, Emmylou Harris and Jack White.
Ricky Skaggs is always forging ahead with cross-cultural, genre-bending musical ideas and inspirations, and he will bring his own inimitable take on bluegrass and roots music to light up the festival.
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QUICK FACTS
Over the course of his 40 year career, Ricky Skaggs has won 14 Grammy Awards, 8 CMA Awards, 8 ACM Awards, 11 IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Awards, 2 Dove Awards & countless others.
Ricky has twelve consecutive Grammy-nominated albums, all from his own Skaggs Family Records label.
In 1982, Ricky was made the youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry at that time.
Ricky made his television debut at the age of 7, performing with bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs on their popular syndicated television show and earning his first paycheck ever for a musical performance.
At 15, Ricky became a member of bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley’s backing band, The Clinch Mountain Boys.
Ricky and his ace backing band, Kentucky Thunder, have won 8 Instrumental Group of the Year awards from the IBMA.
Ricky has had 12 #1 singles on the Billboard Country charts & 12 Top 20 Country albums.
His album, Ricky Skaggs Solo Songs My Dad Loved, released in 2009, was nominated in the Best Traditional Folk Album category for the 2010 GRAMMY awards. Ricky played all of the notes and sang all of the songs on this project. Solo is a musical tribute to the man who caused him to fall in love with music—his father.
Ricky Skaggs’ album, Mosaic, is a return to a full band sound that mixes elements of Country music with Beatles-esque melody and lyrics that speak to Skaggs’ faith, making “music that is in my head and in my heart,” as Ricky says. It was co-produced by Grammy winning songwriter/producer Gordon Kennedy. In 2010, Mosaic was nominated for two GRAMMY’s in Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album & Best Gospel Song categories (for “Return to Sender”).
