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Ricky SkaggsBy Linda FaheyDecember 18, 2000 
Born in eastern Kentucky in 1954,
Ricky Skaggs has been an accomplished singer and mandolin
player since his early teens. His 1981 debut album Waitin'
For the Sun To Shine rocketed to the top of the country
charts. He spent the remainder of the 1980s winning eight
Country Music Association awards and four Grammy Awards.
In recent years though, Skaggs has been returning to his
musical roots: Bluegrass. His 1997 release Bluegrass
Rules (Rounder Records) earned the International Bluegrass
Music Association’s 1998 Album of the Year honor, as well
as a 1999 Grammy nomination. In October, Skaggs and his
band Kentucky Thunder, were named the International Bluegrass
Music Association’s Instrumental Group of the Year, the
third time they have received that honor. Skaggs' latest
CD, Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe (Skaggs Family
Records), is a tribute to Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass,
and features performances by John Fogerty, Bruce Hornsby,
Charlie Daniels, and Joan Osborne. Linda Fahey, Associate
Producer for A Prairie Home Companion, talked with Ricky
in NYC during his recent appearance on the show.
Ricky Skaggs: The Town Hall Theater, New York City 12/16/2000 LF: How did you get your start in music, and who would you consider to be your biggest influences? RS: I started out playing the mandolin when I was 5. My father bought me a mandolin, and I grew up listening to the Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Skruggs, and Bill Monroe - they were kinda my heroes. So I did study the classics. I got to play with Bill Monroe when I was six years old, and got to play with Flatt & Skruggs when I was seven. I met Ralph Stanley when I was 9. So I was ruined after that. Those guys influenced me so strong and so deeply that my music really took roots in those early days - so roots music has always been strong in my life. LF: Would you consider getting to play with all those guys as your "big break"? RS: It's hard to say exactly what my big break was. I've had so many of what you would call "breaks". When I was 15, I started working for Ralph Stanley and got to meet quite a few people. I worked for him full time for about 3 years. I met Emmylou Harris right after that and started working for her. It seemed like one break lead to another. But I guess one of the biggest breaks I had was getting a record deal in Nashville in 1981. I just left Emmylou, and moved to Nashville. I recorded my first album, "Waiting for the Sun to Shine", and that did really well - we had two #1 records from that. "Highways & Heartaches" was the next album, and that did really well. So I guess I could say my biggest break - as far as the last 15-20 years anyway - was getting the major record deal, and starting to have #1 records. LF: How did it come about starting Skaggs Family Records? RS: Well after I had had a long stand in country music, and realized my country records weren't selling gold and platinum like they once did, there was doubt whether I should stay in country music or not. With country music changing, going so pop, it just felt like it was time to go back and start doing some real roots music again. I wanted to get back to bluegrass, and we went into the studio to record, "Bluegrass Rules!". We needed a label to put it out on, and that's what kinda birthed Skaggs Family. Then the more we got to thinking about it - we thought this would be a great home for other artists too. Then we started another label called, "Ceili" - we have Del McCoury, The Whites, Jerry & Tammy Sullivan, Blue Highway, and a new group we just signed called Mountain Heart. So we have a lot of good things going on there. Hopefully it'll be a place were we can continue to grow new artists, and we're hoping to expand the roster slowly. I mean we don't want to just have our shingle out there to sign every group - that's crazy - but try to help the ones that are there in what we really want to do. We're trying to get them more recognition, more records sold, and that sort of thing. And let them record in a really good studio-which we have. LF: In your experiences, what would you say is the major difference between recording for a major label vs. a self-published or independent label? RS: When I was on the major labels, there was always this stress. There was no stress for the first record because I didn't have any idea what I was doing. There were really no goals other than to make a great record. But from the second album on, we had to start making hit records because we had already had some from the first one - there was a lot of pressure there to continue having hit records. So once we did that - later on - I would wake up and I would think - well, I wonder if George Strait is gonna jump me this week. Or, I'd wonder if Dolly or Kenny Rogers was gonna knock me outta the #1 spot this week. There were always those things, and so you would second-guess yourself going into the studio - or at least I would anyway.Now, recording for my own label, there's so much freedom in going in and recording what's in my heart. I never ever consider anymore whether the radio is going to play it or not because radio has never really dictated what's cool and what's not cool about bluegrass music the way it does with country. If you don't make hit records with country you're not going to stay on level very long, and your not going to sell a lot of records. But with bluegrass it's a totally different thing. It's not really radio driven the way country music or popular music is. LF: Can you tell us a little about the songs you are going to play tonight on A Prairie Home Companion? RS: We're going to do "Christmas Time's A-Comin'" - which was recorded by Bill Monroe, but was written by a man named Tex Logan who used to play with Bill Monroe. He's up at Bell Labs in Boston now - he's a mathematician. It's amazing that he has such brains between his ears, and he still loves playing fiddle. He wrote this great song, and it's become a standard in bluegrass music - of the all-time great Christmas bluegrass songs. We're also doing a song that James Taylor and I recorded back in 1986 called, "New Star Shining" - a song written by John Hall of Orleans. And then we're doing another Bill Monroe chestnut - a song that he and Lester Flatt sung together when Lester was in the group back in 1946. It's called, "Mother's Not Dead, She's Only Sleeping". Then we're going to do on of my instrumentals. It's from Bluegrass Rules!, and it's called "Amanda Jewell". LF: On A Prairie Home Companion, we hear lots of Bill Monroe tunes. And with your new tribute album, "Big Mon" a lot of new attention is being paid to the Father of Bluegrass. What's your opinion on the importance of Bill Monroe to bluegrass and music in general? RS: I think Bill Monroe's importance to American music is as important as someone like Robert Johnson was to blues, or Louis Armstrong. He was so influential; I think he's probably the only musician that had a whole style of music named after his band, and what he was doing. Bill Monroe influenced everyone from the Everly Brothers to the Beatles to Buck Owens, George Jones, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, and Elvis Presley. Elvis's first hit was Blue Moon of Kentucky. And Terry Stewart, from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, sites Bill Monroe as being the major influence behind rockabilly music. LF: Can you tell us a bit about the "Big Mon" CD? How did this come about, and how were the guest performers chosen? RS: Well this album is something I've wanted
to do for a long time. Even before Bill Monroe passed away I wanted
to do a tribute to him. Then after he did pass away, we were up at the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his induction and I met a lot of rock
'n rollers that really loved Bill Monroe. They came up and were talking
about how much his music really influenced them. So I got to thinking
- I've gotta do this record, it's gotta be done. But because he and
I were very close friends - he was really like a musical father to me
- I didn't want to take advantage of his death, or have people thinking
I was taking advantage of his death - I wanted to wait until I could
really celebrate his life. So we waited 'til the smoke cleared and the
dust settled and everyone else did their tributes. And I really wanted
his son to be able to do a tribute to his dad. So once he did that,
I felt like it was kinda fair game to go ahead. | | | |
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A national holiday in Lake Wobegon is always gaudy and joyful. But what is going on between Clint Bunsen and Miss Liberty?Everyone is here—Pastor Ingqvist, the Sons of Knute, Sister Arvonne of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility and her ocarina band, the Norwegian bachelor farmers, Dorothy and the Chatterbox Café, Wally in the Sidetrack Tap—as crowds converge on the little town to celebrate American independence, even as the chairman of the event broods on the great question of the day: Shall we struggle on valiantly here or shall we burst the bonds and find beautiful life in the golden west? |
 
Scripts and bits from A Prairie Home Companion celebrate the secret society of men and women who possess excellent spelling and punctuation skills. (You know who you are.)
Selections include "The Six-Minute Hamlet," a tribute to Emily Dickinson, a Guy Noir adventure that exposes an MFA scam, a riveting "Professional Organization of English Majors" drama, and guests Billy Collins, Robert Bly, Roy Blount Jr., and Calvin Trillin. |
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