I seem to recall Dean Martin (on his show) introducing the Rolling Stones for a song and stating, "I've been rolled when I was stoned" which had me thinking it was still a grog related impairment.
-
AFLW 2024 - Round 6 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Country Music
- Thread starter Mitchell Madness
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Lol for so Long I thought rainy day women was another word for a mistress
Actually, by the time Waylon came out with his 'Rainy Day Woman' in the mid 70's, he most probably was literally meaning it as a woman he sees when feeling blue - but the lyrics could work either way.
Thats what I thought as Waylon wasn’t a pot man. Perhaps his version of a “rainy say woman” is a big brick of peruvian booga sugar
I'm back to the history series, but no artist or actual music today - just a pause and a summary of where this is at as we proceeds into the 1980's. If you've followed this whole history through, I've occasionally paused the music to include a general piece outlining where things were at with country music at the time. Examples are -
Post # 146 - The Grand Ole Opry as the catalyst for the rise of Nashville as "Music City".
Post # 175 - The "Motherchurch of country music", Thé Ryman Auditorium.
Post # 354 - Chet Atkins and the development of the Nashville Sound.
Post # 404 - Rise of the Nashville Sound, and the death of the first wave of Rock'n'roll in the late 1950's.
Post # 455 - The Bakersfield Sound of the early 1960's.
Post # 527 - Rehash of the 1960's and setting the scene for the 1970's.
Post # 528 - Influence of the Mississippi Delta
Post # 772 - The rise of the Outlaws, what they were - and were not (busting a few modern day myths).
In addition, post # 181 on Bill Monroe briefly outlined his development of the new sub-genre of Bluegrass, while post # 908 on Mickey Gilley and post # 1,004 on Johnny Lee looks at the influence of the the movie Urban Cowboy on the rise of pop-country.
The Outlaw movement was already declining by 1978 when Waylon's hit song 'Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand' attributed the decline to pressures from drug (cocaine) use. The movement was falling victim to the same pigeonholing and commercialisation as mainstream country music; Mickey Newbury, a prominent influence on many outlaw artists, rejected the "outlaw" label, stating "I quit playing cowboys when I grew up". Hank Williams also noted in his song 'All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)', that many of the core "outlaws" were growing up and older, abandoning the drugs and hard partying that had driven much of their lives in the 1970s in favour of their home lives and other healthier pursuits. As we have seen here, by 1980 mainstream country music was practically dominated by country pop artists and crossover acts, as epitomised and further popularised by the Urban Cowboy movie.
But by the mid-1980s, country music audiences - even the suburban middle class that got drawn in by pop-country) were beginning to tire of it (maybe just like the followers of this thread?), and by 1985, a NYT article declared country music "dead". The emergence of Neo-Traditionalism changed all that. As the 1980's progressed, a new crop of country artists emerged who eschewed the pop-laden sounds of Nashville. Neo-traditional country took inspiration from country music's traditional roots and particularly emphasised the instrumental background (in contrast to pop influences like synthesisers and disco drum machines etc) and a traditional country vocal style. In addition, the neo-traditional movement encompassed stage presence. Many neo-traditional artists sported styles typical of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
While this sort of creative renaissance can be attributed to a talented new bunch of country artists, quite a lot of it was also due to a fresh influx of Nashville music executives. Many of these new names came far from Music Row, the established group of labels who dictated what country music was supposed to sound like. Some of these new execs, including Garth Fundis and Jimmy Bowen, were producers and working studio musicians with strong foundations in classic country music.
The new batch of artists found inspiration especially the honky tonk-tinged sounds of Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell (one artist in particular based his sound on Lefty), Ernest Tubb, Ray Price, amongst others and also, in Texas, from the western swing of Bob Wills, while others looked to the bluegrass that Bill Monroe developed from its Appalachian roots. But this new style of country music blended the old school instrumentation with contemporary, smooth production (hence "neo") - afterall the goal wasn't really to resurrect the music of the past but to use the past as a base to develop a new commercially successful sound, appealing to modern-day listeners on radio - and the charts showed people took a liking to the more traditional sound.
There wasn't one sound that defined the Neo-Traditional movement, as different artists made use of different influences -
Bluegrass
Honky tonk
The Blues
Bakersfield Sound
Texas country/dancehall
Western Swing
Rockabilly
But whichever influence or influences the artist chose, an emphasis on traditional instrumental accompaniment (in whole or at least in part - keep in mind the sound was aimed to appeal to the contemporary commercial market of the 1980's, not just re-create the past), was an essential element of the Neo-Traditional movement.
The first Neo-Traditional artist who actually broke through with some chart topping hits did so as early as 1982 - hence he will be coming up next in this history series - but the movement didn't really fully hit its strive until the mid 1980's. So that means the history series ain't quite completely done with pop-country just yet - but it mostly has. Anyway, I'll be back in a couple of days with the first of the neo-traditional performers.
Post # 146 - The Grand Ole Opry as the catalyst for the rise of Nashville as "Music City".
Post # 175 - The "Motherchurch of country music", Thé Ryman Auditorium.
Post # 354 - Chet Atkins and the development of the Nashville Sound.
Post # 404 - Rise of the Nashville Sound, and the death of the first wave of Rock'n'roll in the late 1950's.
Post # 455 - The Bakersfield Sound of the early 1960's.
Post # 527 - Rehash of the 1960's and setting the scene for the 1970's.
Post # 528 - Influence of the Mississippi Delta
Post # 772 - The rise of the Outlaws, what they were - and were not (busting a few modern day myths).
In addition, post # 181 on Bill Monroe briefly outlined his development of the new sub-genre of Bluegrass, while post # 908 on Mickey Gilley and post # 1,004 on Johnny Lee looks at the influence of the the movie Urban Cowboy on the rise of pop-country.
The Outlaw movement was already declining by 1978 when Waylon's hit song 'Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand' attributed the decline to pressures from drug (cocaine) use. The movement was falling victim to the same pigeonholing and commercialisation as mainstream country music; Mickey Newbury, a prominent influence on many outlaw artists, rejected the "outlaw" label, stating "I quit playing cowboys when I grew up". Hank Williams also noted in his song 'All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)', that many of the core "outlaws" were growing up and older, abandoning the drugs and hard partying that had driven much of their lives in the 1970s in favour of their home lives and other healthier pursuits. As we have seen here, by 1980 mainstream country music was practically dominated by country pop artists and crossover acts, as epitomised and further popularised by the Urban Cowboy movie.
But by the mid-1980s, country music audiences - even the suburban middle class that got drawn in by pop-country) were beginning to tire of it (maybe just like the followers of this thread?), and by 1985, a NYT article declared country music "dead". The emergence of Neo-Traditionalism changed all that. As the 1980's progressed, a new crop of country artists emerged who eschewed the pop-laden sounds of Nashville. Neo-traditional country took inspiration from country music's traditional roots and particularly emphasised the instrumental background (in contrast to pop influences like synthesisers and disco drum machines etc) and a traditional country vocal style. In addition, the neo-traditional movement encompassed stage presence. Many neo-traditional artists sported styles typical of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
While this sort of creative renaissance can be attributed to a talented new bunch of country artists, quite a lot of it was also due to a fresh influx of Nashville music executives. Many of these new names came far from Music Row, the established group of labels who dictated what country music was supposed to sound like. Some of these new execs, including Garth Fundis and Jimmy Bowen, were producers and working studio musicians with strong foundations in classic country music.
The new batch of artists found inspiration especially the honky tonk-tinged sounds of Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell (one artist in particular based his sound on Lefty), Ernest Tubb, Ray Price, amongst others and also, in Texas, from the western swing of Bob Wills, while others looked to the bluegrass that Bill Monroe developed from its Appalachian roots. But this new style of country music blended the old school instrumentation with contemporary, smooth production (hence "neo") - afterall the goal wasn't really to resurrect the music of the past but to use the past as a base to develop a new commercially successful sound, appealing to modern-day listeners on radio - and the charts showed people took a liking to the more traditional sound.
There wasn't one sound that defined the Neo-Traditional movement, as different artists made use of different influences -
Bluegrass
Honky tonk
The Blues
Bakersfield Sound
Texas country/dancehall
Western Swing
Rockabilly
But whichever influence or influences the artist chose, an emphasis on traditional instrumental accompaniment (in whole or at least in part - keep in mind the sound was aimed to appeal to the contemporary commercial market of the 1980's, not just re-create the past), was an essential element of the Neo-Traditional movement.
The first Neo-Traditional artist who actually broke through with some chart topping hits did so as early as 1982 - hence he will be coming up next in this history series - but the movement didn't really fully hit its strive until the mid 1980's. So that means the history series ain't quite completely done with pop-country just yet - but it mostly has. Anyway, I'll be back in a couple of days with the first of the neo-traditional performers.
Monocle
And the rebuild begins.
- Sep 18, 2003
- 12,169
- 38,255
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Other Teams
- Claremont NE Patriots Eagles AFLW
What an absolutely totally shit month it’s been for Country Music fans.
Firstly with the passing of J D Souther and then the best Country Music songwriter EVER Kris Kristofferson.
Fell on love with KK’s music in my late teens and been a fan and student of his work ever since.
Both will be up there in that Honky Tonk in the sky, listening to Hank, having a drink with Merle and waiting on Willie to turn up
latter with something to smoke.
As I said, it’s been a sad month.
While I knew this was coming as his health has reportedly been in decline for some time now, it still hurts and has hit me hard.
The lyrics he penned, what a wordsmith and poet.
He was able to write and deliver melancholy, with a level of sophistication and depth.
He had the ability to see and appreciate life as it is, made up with many layers and parts.
He described life’s challenges in word so eloquently and yet so poignantly, that his songs resonated with people from all positions and stations of life and that’s called, mastery of communication.
His passing also opens up another of life’s vagaries, how can you miss someone you never met, so much.
Firstly with the passing of J D Souther and then the best Country Music songwriter EVER Kris Kristofferson.
Fell on love with KK’s music in my late teens and been a fan and student of his work ever since.
Both will be up there in that Honky Tonk in the sky, listening to Hank, having a drink with Merle and waiting on Willie to turn up
latter with something to smoke.
As I said, it’s been a sad month.
While I knew this was coming as his health has reportedly been in decline for some time now, it still hurts and has hit me hard.
The lyrics he penned, what a wordsmith and poet.
He was able to write and deliver melancholy, with a level of sophistication and depth.
He had the ability to see and appreciate life as it is, made up with many layers and parts.
He described life’s challenges in word so eloquently and yet so poignantly, that his songs resonated with people from all positions and stations of life and that’s called, mastery of communication.
His passing also opens up another of life’s vagaries, how can you miss someone you never met, so much.
Last edited:
Wow - I never expected the Country Roland Band to appear in this thread! Unless one's been to the mostly Spanish speaking South Texas, how does one get to know of them? This band, mixing Spanish lyrics with traditional Mexican, Tejano and Texan country influences (often including the Ray Price shuffle beat), probably had their peak popularity in the 1970's and '89's, with singer Rolando Garcia Jr, using the name "Country Roland", becoming very well known across the Texas South and even beyond. The last 10 years has seen something of a revival in the band under Rolando's son, Rolando Garcia Jr, who has inherited the "Country Roland" name after Senior passed away in 2012. Of course, it helps to know some Spanish to fully follow their music.
Actually, I'm a bit of a fan of the hybrid Latin/Country Tejano music that evolved in South Texas - keeping in mind that Tejanos, descendants of Spanish and Mexican settlers, were in Texas well before the first Anglo-Americans arrived (at this stage, I better avoid being sidetracked into a long rundown of Texan history, and/or an even longer discourse on Texan music history - there are just too many elements to cover). Suffice to say that two of the great Tejano singers, who had big hits performing in a mix of English and Spanish, made it into the history series -
Johnny Rodriguez (posts # 713-716) and Freddy Fender (posts # 764-766),
Now that song, 'Haya En El Rancho Grando' is a Mexican ranchero mariachi standard about the simple joys of ranch life with a bit of humour thrown in. Bing Crosby had a # 6 hit in 1939 with a half English half Spanish rumba version. Gene Autry sang it in one of his cowboy films and recorded it before going off to fly bombers in WW2. Amongst others, Elvis Presley and Dean Martin also recorded it. In Country Roland's version, he's thrown in verses from some famous country songs -
'Pistol Packin Mama', a big 1943 hit for Al Dexter, was also covered by Bing Crosby..
'Blue Moon Of Kentucky', the only non-Texan song snippet here) is a bluegrass waltz written and recorded by the founder of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe in 1947, and later recorded as an up-tempo 4/4 version by Elvis Presley as the B-side of 'That's All Right Mama', becoming his second big hit.
Heaps have recorded it since, even Paul McCartney.
'Drivin Nails In My Coffin' was originally released in 1945 by Jerry Irby and became a hit in 1946 for both Floyd Tillman (# 2) and Ernest Tubb (# 5). Charley Crockett also released a worthy version a couple of years ago.
'Walk-in The Floor Over You' was penned and recorded by Ernest Tubb in 1941 and eventually sold over a million. It's credited with establishing honky tonk as a major country music sub-genre.
Last edited:
- Dec 26, 2010
- 5,766
- 7,638
- AFL Club
- Fremantle
- Other Teams
- Matildas
RIP KK. Life's too short (to watch the five and half hour director's cut of "Heaven's Gate" and listen to the countless cover versions of this song.)
I'm finally back to the history with first of the neo-traditionalists. Our next artist was also a true, natural, child prodigy. He was born and named Rickie (but subsequently spelled as Ricky) Skaggs into a musical family in 1954, in the Appalachian heartland of Bluegrass music of rural far Eastern Kentucky. His father played guitar and was a big fan of bluegrass while his mother enjoyed singing and composing songs. Mrs Skaggs would ofttimes sing while doing chores around the house and little Ricky, starting at age 3, would spontaneously join in, singing harmony. Like so many others in this series, Sunday church provided another forum for hearing and singing music, as well as radio - there was no TV for alternative entertainment.
Ricky received his first mini-mandolin as a gift at age 5 after his father, Hobert, heard him harmonising with his mother from across the house as he played with his toys. Two weeks after teaching him the G, C and D chords, Hobert returned from working out of town and was shocked to see young Ricky making chord changes and singing along. He soon earned quite a reputation among the community locals. When the legendary Bill Monroe (posts # 181-183) came 7 months later to nearby Martha, Kentucky for a concert, the crowd kept shouting to let “little Ricky Skaggs” play. At first, Monroe, known for his toughness and prickly temper, ignored the annoying calls, but sensing the audience wasn’t going to let up, he finally relented.
The tall Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass, towered over the pint-sized first-grader he’d just pulled on stage. The kid wasn’t supposed to be part of the show, but Monroe unstrapped his own mandolin and hung it on the boy, adjusting the strap to fit his small frame. Skaggs recalls how the mandolin felt as bulky as an adult guitar. No one could have imagined what a defining moment that would be in the life of the young prodigy. Monroe asked what he wanted to sing. “Ruby,” Skaggs replied - and then astonished Monroe and his band with his performance. Skaggs, speaking years later, recalled how that night changed his life - “It was the first time I had ever been on the stage other than with Mom and Dad or at church. It was the first time I ever played with a band. I went away from there really loving Bill Monroe".
In 1961, at age 7, Ricky's family moved from Kentucky to Nashville. His dad figured if they moved to Music City, Ricky might have a shot at being able to sing on the Grand Ole Opry, a sure ticket to success - but he was ruled too young to audition. However, the elder Skaggs cannily made friends with a security guard who agreed to let him sneak his son in backstage. Ricky brought his mandolin and leaned against the wall to play as the Opry’s members and guests wandered through. In another turning point, none other than bluegrass banjo legend, Earl Scruggs heard him sing and invited Ricky to audition for Flatt & Scruggs' (posts # 194-195) Martha White TV show. Young Ricky, probably copying Earl Scruggs famous inscruitable, deadpan delivery style, performed the bluegrass standards, 'Foggy Mountain Special' and, the highlight of this historic video, from 2m50 in, when he sings “Ruby,” the same bluegrass standard he’d performed the year before on Monroe’s mandolin -
Skaggs commented many years later "I didn't know what Ruby was mad about at the time and had no idea the singer had dug her grave and was waiting to murder her. Not really a song a 5 year old should be singing, but I loved that song".
After this well-received performance on Flatt & Scruggs’ TV show, The Skaggs family moved back to Kentucky about 3 years later and in 1963 went to see the star bluegrass duo The Stanley Brothers (posts # 187-188) in nearby Olive Hill. Again, by popular local demand, little Ricky found himself on stage for a guest appearance and when the Stanley Brothers returned in 1964, he was again invited for up on stage for a performance.
By the middle 1960's, the British beat invasion had begun and even young Ricky, in rural eastern Kentucky, was not immune to its influence - for a time he flirted with electric guitar - and of course he was really good at it. But other changes were taking place. The family moved to the large city of Columbus, Ohio, where Hobert and Ricky, although underage, frequented the Astro Inn to see Earl Taylor - a Bluegrass troubadour who never quite made the big time - perform. It was during this period that Ricky also began a several-year fascination with the fiddle - and was really good at it. In the early part of 1969, the Skaggs family moved back to their eastern Kentucky homeland. There a bevy of old-time musicians continued to inform the now 15 y.o. Ricky Skagg's musical tastes.
A chance appearance at a 1970 talent show charted Skagg's destiny. It was there he met his musical soulmate, a like-minded talented prodigy - Keith Whitley, then a young pianist, guitarist and singer who, like Ricky, was enthralled by the music of the Stanley Brothers. Keith and Ricky formed a group known as the Lonesome Mountain Boys, mostly playing old Stanley Brothers songs.and in 1970 they secured a spot on a radio station in nearby Grayson, Kentucky.
In 1970, Skaggs and Whitley were at a bar in West Virginia, waiting to watch bluegrass patriarch, Ralph Stanley perform. When the bluegrass legend called to say he’d be late, the bar owner promptly put the teenage boys on stage to keep the crowd happy. Stanley arrived shortly thereafter - and was floored by the teenagers’ note-perfect renditions of his material. He invited them to join his band, the Clinch Mountain Boys. In short order, they entered the world of professional music, making select appearances with Stanley and, upon graduation from high school in 1971, signed on full-time. So at age 16, Skaggs was traveling with Ralph Stanley to festivals and bars, his star continuing to rise in the bluegrass world.
In their first year with Stanley, Skaggs and Whitley participated in several recording sessions, including the landmark album "Cry From the Cross", reviewed in Bluegrass Unlimited thus - “Anyone who has seen these kids performing with Ralph knows what hair-raising sounds they are capable of, especially on the older Stanley songs ...” The duo, along with their fathers, helped to construct the stage at Ralph’s annual Memorial Day bluegrass festival. The pair also recorded 2 albums of their own - "Tribute to the Stanley Brothers" and "Second Generation Bluegrass"..But at age 18 in 1972, Skaggs got married and left Stanley and the rolling hills of Kentucky for Washington, D.C., briefly taking a job at a power company before refocusing his full attention on music.
Skagg's dalliance with a full-time non-musical job was cut short when an offer came to join the influential progressive bluegrass band, The Country Gentlemen, on fiddle. In short order, he was in the studio with them recording an album. Proximity to the vibrant Washington bluegrass scene landed him numerous opportunities for session work, including the Seldom Scene’s "Old Train" in 1974 and Tony Rice’s "California Autumn" in 1975. Skaggs also released a solo bluegrass album called "That’s It" in 1975.
By 1975, the 20 y.o. Skaggs had already built build a reputation in the Bluegrass world not only for his multi-instrumental mastery and plaintive vocals, but also for creativity and excitement through live appearances and recordings. An offer then came for Skaggs to join noted banjo player J.D. Crowe’s New South Band. The Lexington, Kentucky, band enjoyed steady club work, often consisting of 4 sets per evening, giving Skaggs the opportunity to broaden his repertoire and also hone his skills as an M.C. With Crowe, Ricky participated in what is widely regarded as one of the most influential bluegrass albums ever made, the landmark 1975 self-titled album, "J.D. Crowe and the New South".
By now a veteran sideman in 3 of the nations top bluegrass bands, an increasingly confident and ambitious Skaggs, at age 21, already considered a “recognised master” of one of music's most demanding art forms, was ready to make his own mark by forming the contemporary bluegrass band Boone Creek, bringing him the challenges of leadership while giving him further recording and performing experience. The band, which included 2 young members in Vince Gill and dobro and lap steel master, Jerry Douglas, released 2 albums - "Boone Creek" in 1977 and "One Way Track" in 1978. With Boone Creek, Skaggs wanted to create a music that approached traditional bluegrass with a progressive attitude. To achieve this sound, he added electric guitar, drums, and piano to the traditional bluegrass lineup set by its founder, Bill Monroe.
By the age of 25, in 1979, the restless and ambitious Skaggs was again re-assessing his career, looking to move beyond the commercial limitations of the blue grass sub-genre by seeking an education in classic country. As fate had it, opportunity soon arose when Emmylou Harris (posts # 960-973) sought Skaggs out as a replacement for departing Rodney Crowell in her Hot Band. Harris was Skaggs’ bridge to mainstream country music as he gained working knowledge of a band with electric instruments and drums. Straightaway, he was in the studio for her 1979 album "Blue Kentucky Girl". Subsequent projects included 2 acoustic/bluegrass-inflected albums - "Light of the Stable in 1979 and "Roses in the Snow" in 1980. Skaggs was responsible for adding several Stanley songs to Emmylou’s repertoire, notably 'The Darkest Hour Is Just before Dawn'.
While working in the Hot Band, when Harris took time off to be with her new baby, Ricky also released a new solo album, "Sweet Temptation" in 1979. A fusion of traditional country music with tinges of bluegrass, it attracted the attention of several Nashville producers. On a flight from L.A. to Nashville, a flight attendant upgraded him to 1st class. He tossed his things under the seat and plopped down beside Jim Mazda, who just happened to be a major label, EMI executive. By the end of the flight, Skaggs had played his solo music for Mazza, who told him to bring his songs to Capitol Records. Capitol didn’t sign Skaggs, but referred him to Rick Blackburn at CBS. In 1980, Blackburn sketched Skaggs’ first major label country recording contract offer on a napkin over a dinner in Nashville. Skaggs recalled - “... That’s how it happened. I got signed with CBS. The flight attendant, Jim Mazza being in the seat, you can’t make this up ...".
Shortly thereafter in 1981, Skaggs recorded his first solo country mainstream album, albeit still with a strong bluegrass tinge, "Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine". It quickly became a top seller, peaking at # 2 and going gold. It even found its way onto the pop charts at # 77. Skaggs moved to center stage when singles from his album hit the top of the country charts. His fresh combination of traditional material and modern production, soulful singing and hot picking - really emphasised here - turned out to be a winning combination in an era when the Urban Cowboy movie was peaking in popularity and country music was trending toward pop under its influence, as we've well and truly seen here.
Skaggs first single from the album, a 1951 song by Earl Scruggs,'Don't Get Above Your Raisin', released in 1981, went to # 16. In this Austin City Limits video, Skaggs sports a 5-string electric mandolin built for him by Telecaster dubbed Tne Mandocaster. But the highlight here are the 2 solos by one of the greatest country session guitarists there ever was, Englishmen Ray Flacke, who just takes it out to the stratosphere here - but still keeps it pure country, not an easy task. Also, one of the greatest fiddle players of all time, Bobby Hicks, plays rhythm guitar, rounded out by a neat piano solo by Micky Merritt. So here the influence seems more rockabilly than bluegrass -
"Gettin’ above your raisin” is one of those very common Southern, particularly Appalachian, colloquialisms. The notion is you want to change your social class or you move to a big city then go back home and start "puttin' on city airs" or "acting uppity", then you’re considered to be forsaking the family, you’re forsaking your place and community, you’re forgetting where you came from. There’s even a fear that you’ll become ashamed of where you came from (another still very potent Southern feeling). Kinda like the tall poppy syndrome in Australia, but in a more nuanced, Southern rural or small town way
Released in 1981 as the second single 'You May See Me Walkin', written by Tom Uhr, was Skaggs first original single and became his first Top 10 hit 1981. One of the keys to Skaggs' breakthrough success was his insistence on getting the best possible session musicians, as he knew the accompaniment would be critical to the album's success. In this studio video, we once again have guitarist Ray Flacke, this time with pedal steel wizard, Bruce Brouton -
Skaggs turned again to the catalog of one of the greatest bluegrass bands, Flatt and Scruggs, covering there hit 'Crying My Heart Out Over You' as the 3rd single released from the "Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine" album. With the accompaniment led this time by the late, great Bobby Hicks on fiddle and Broutin again on the pedal steel, it was a runaway success, becoming the first of Skaggs’ # 1 hits. If its arrangement may sound familiar, it’s because Skaggs had been heavily influenced by Emmylou Harris’ landmark bluegrass album "Roses in the Snow". It’s appropriate that his first chart topper was a Lester & Scruggs cover, which he delivers faithfully. The musicianship is outstanding, with a flawless arrangement that Skaggs led very effectively.
This weepy steel guitar and fiddle-driven hit, with a more distinct bluegrass sound than his previous 2 singles, is perhaps the sweetest love (or lost love) song in his catalog. Maybe, as a cover, it's a bit too derivative and safe to make it stand out among Skaggs’ later best work, but it surely came for many as a breath of fresh air amongst all the pop-country dominating country radio at that time -
The master fiddler, here, Bobby Hicks, recently died from a crook heart on August 16, 2024, aged 91.
The 4th single from the "Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine" album 'I Don’t Care', also released in 1982 earned Skaggs his second # 1 hit. It had originally topped the charts for 12 weeks when released by its co-writer Webb Pierce (posts # 249-250). Even more so than on his previous chart-topper, you can hear the stylistic influence of Emmylou Harris, where an old song is redone with a sombre, serious tone -
In 1981, Nashville was still at the height of the Urban Cowboy craze, and there was considerable concern then (as now) that country music was rapidly drifting on an irreversible course towards pop. Therefore, it was nothing short of remarkable that a 27 y.o. tradition-based singer, from a bluegrass background, was signed to a major label and then given free rein to produce his own album, with little interference from label executives. And that it went on to achieve great commercial success and critical acclaim, was even more astounding.
Guitarist and producer Chet Atkins credited Skaggs with "single-handedly saving country music" a somewhat ironic statement from the main architect of the Nashville Sound, but by 1982, conceding the pop influence on country had gone too far, he was pining for a return of a more traditional country sound. Skaggs was happy to oblige with more compelling records on the way, as we'll see in a day or two.
Ricky received his first mini-mandolin as a gift at age 5 after his father, Hobert, heard him harmonising with his mother from across the house as he played with his toys. Two weeks after teaching him the G, C and D chords, Hobert returned from working out of town and was shocked to see young Ricky making chord changes and singing along. He soon earned quite a reputation among the community locals. When the legendary Bill Monroe (posts # 181-183) came 7 months later to nearby Martha, Kentucky for a concert, the crowd kept shouting to let “little Ricky Skaggs” play. At first, Monroe, known for his toughness and prickly temper, ignored the annoying calls, but sensing the audience wasn’t going to let up, he finally relented.
The tall Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass, towered over the pint-sized first-grader he’d just pulled on stage. The kid wasn’t supposed to be part of the show, but Monroe unstrapped his own mandolin and hung it on the boy, adjusting the strap to fit his small frame. Skaggs recalls how the mandolin felt as bulky as an adult guitar. No one could have imagined what a defining moment that would be in the life of the young prodigy. Monroe asked what he wanted to sing. “Ruby,” Skaggs replied - and then astonished Monroe and his band with his performance. Skaggs, speaking years later, recalled how that night changed his life - “It was the first time I had ever been on the stage other than with Mom and Dad or at church. It was the first time I ever played with a band. I went away from there really loving Bill Monroe".
In 1961, at age 7, Ricky's family moved from Kentucky to Nashville. His dad figured if they moved to Music City, Ricky might have a shot at being able to sing on the Grand Ole Opry, a sure ticket to success - but he was ruled too young to audition. However, the elder Skaggs cannily made friends with a security guard who agreed to let him sneak his son in backstage. Ricky brought his mandolin and leaned against the wall to play as the Opry’s members and guests wandered through. In another turning point, none other than bluegrass banjo legend, Earl Scruggs heard him sing and invited Ricky to audition for Flatt & Scruggs' (posts # 194-195) Martha White TV show. Young Ricky, probably copying Earl Scruggs famous inscruitable, deadpan delivery style, performed the bluegrass standards, 'Foggy Mountain Special' and, the highlight of this historic video, from 2m50 in, when he sings “Ruby,” the same bluegrass standard he’d performed the year before on Monroe’s mandolin -
Skaggs commented many years later "I didn't know what Ruby was mad about at the time and had no idea the singer had dug her grave and was waiting to murder her. Not really a song a 5 year old should be singing, but I loved that song".
After this well-received performance on Flatt & Scruggs’ TV show, The Skaggs family moved back to Kentucky about 3 years later and in 1963 went to see the star bluegrass duo The Stanley Brothers (posts # 187-188) in nearby Olive Hill. Again, by popular local demand, little Ricky found himself on stage for a guest appearance and when the Stanley Brothers returned in 1964, he was again invited for up on stage for a performance.
By the middle 1960's, the British beat invasion had begun and even young Ricky, in rural eastern Kentucky, was not immune to its influence - for a time he flirted with electric guitar - and of course he was really good at it. But other changes were taking place. The family moved to the large city of Columbus, Ohio, where Hobert and Ricky, although underage, frequented the Astro Inn to see Earl Taylor - a Bluegrass troubadour who never quite made the big time - perform. It was during this period that Ricky also began a several-year fascination with the fiddle - and was really good at it. In the early part of 1969, the Skaggs family moved back to their eastern Kentucky homeland. There a bevy of old-time musicians continued to inform the now 15 y.o. Ricky Skagg's musical tastes.
A chance appearance at a 1970 talent show charted Skagg's destiny. It was there he met his musical soulmate, a like-minded talented prodigy - Keith Whitley, then a young pianist, guitarist and singer who, like Ricky, was enthralled by the music of the Stanley Brothers. Keith and Ricky formed a group known as the Lonesome Mountain Boys, mostly playing old Stanley Brothers songs.and in 1970 they secured a spot on a radio station in nearby Grayson, Kentucky.
In 1970, Skaggs and Whitley were at a bar in West Virginia, waiting to watch bluegrass patriarch, Ralph Stanley perform. When the bluegrass legend called to say he’d be late, the bar owner promptly put the teenage boys on stage to keep the crowd happy. Stanley arrived shortly thereafter - and was floored by the teenagers’ note-perfect renditions of his material. He invited them to join his band, the Clinch Mountain Boys. In short order, they entered the world of professional music, making select appearances with Stanley and, upon graduation from high school in 1971, signed on full-time. So at age 16, Skaggs was traveling with Ralph Stanley to festivals and bars, his star continuing to rise in the bluegrass world.
In their first year with Stanley, Skaggs and Whitley participated in several recording sessions, including the landmark album "Cry From the Cross", reviewed in Bluegrass Unlimited thus - “Anyone who has seen these kids performing with Ralph knows what hair-raising sounds they are capable of, especially on the older Stanley songs ...” The duo, along with their fathers, helped to construct the stage at Ralph’s annual Memorial Day bluegrass festival. The pair also recorded 2 albums of their own - "Tribute to the Stanley Brothers" and "Second Generation Bluegrass"..But at age 18 in 1972, Skaggs got married and left Stanley and the rolling hills of Kentucky for Washington, D.C., briefly taking a job at a power company before refocusing his full attention on music.
Skagg's dalliance with a full-time non-musical job was cut short when an offer came to join the influential progressive bluegrass band, The Country Gentlemen, on fiddle. In short order, he was in the studio with them recording an album. Proximity to the vibrant Washington bluegrass scene landed him numerous opportunities for session work, including the Seldom Scene’s "Old Train" in 1974 and Tony Rice’s "California Autumn" in 1975. Skaggs also released a solo bluegrass album called "That’s It" in 1975.
By 1975, the 20 y.o. Skaggs had already built build a reputation in the Bluegrass world not only for his multi-instrumental mastery and plaintive vocals, but also for creativity and excitement through live appearances and recordings. An offer then came for Skaggs to join noted banjo player J.D. Crowe’s New South Band. The Lexington, Kentucky, band enjoyed steady club work, often consisting of 4 sets per evening, giving Skaggs the opportunity to broaden his repertoire and also hone his skills as an M.C. With Crowe, Ricky participated in what is widely regarded as one of the most influential bluegrass albums ever made, the landmark 1975 self-titled album, "J.D. Crowe and the New South".
By now a veteran sideman in 3 of the nations top bluegrass bands, an increasingly confident and ambitious Skaggs, at age 21, already considered a “recognised master” of one of music's most demanding art forms, was ready to make his own mark by forming the contemporary bluegrass band Boone Creek, bringing him the challenges of leadership while giving him further recording and performing experience. The band, which included 2 young members in Vince Gill and dobro and lap steel master, Jerry Douglas, released 2 albums - "Boone Creek" in 1977 and "One Way Track" in 1978. With Boone Creek, Skaggs wanted to create a music that approached traditional bluegrass with a progressive attitude. To achieve this sound, he added electric guitar, drums, and piano to the traditional bluegrass lineup set by its founder, Bill Monroe.
By the age of 25, in 1979, the restless and ambitious Skaggs was again re-assessing his career, looking to move beyond the commercial limitations of the blue grass sub-genre by seeking an education in classic country. As fate had it, opportunity soon arose when Emmylou Harris (posts # 960-973) sought Skaggs out as a replacement for departing Rodney Crowell in her Hot Band. Harris was Skaggs’ bridge to mainstream country music as he gained working knowledge of a band with electric instruments and drums. Straightaway, he was in the studio for her 1979 album "Blue Kentucky Girl". Subsequent projects included 2 acoustic/bluegrass-inflected albums - "Light of the Stable in 1979 and "Roses in the Snow" in 1980. Skaggs was responsible for adding several Stanley songs to Emmylou’s repertoire, notably 'The Darkest Hour Is Just before Dawn'.
While working in the Hot Band, when Harris took time off to be with her new baby, Ricky also released a new solo album, "Sweet Temptation" in 1979. A fusion of traditional country music with tinges of bluegrass, it attracted the attention of several Nashville producers. On a flight from L.A. to Nashville, a flight attendant upgraded him to 1st class. He tossed his things under the seat and plopped down beside Jim Mazda, who just happened to be a major label, EMI executive. By the end of the flight, Skaggs had played his solo music for Mazza, who told him to bring his songs to Capitol Records. Capitol didn’t sign Skaggs, but referred him to Rick Blackburn at CBS. In 1980, Blackburn sketched Skaggs’ first major label country recording contract offer on a napkin over a dinner in Nashville. Skaggs recalled - “... That’s how it happened. I got signed with CBS. The flight attendant, Jim Mazza being in the seat, you can’t make this up ...".
Shortly thereafter in 1981, Skaggs recorded his first solo country mainstream album, albeit still with a strong bluegrass tinge, "Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine". It quickly became a top seller, peaking at # 2 and going gold. It even found its way onto the pop charts at # 77. Skaggs moved to center stage when singles from his album hit the top of the country charts. His fresh combination of traditional material and modern production, soulful singing and hot picking - really emphasised here - turned out to be a winning combination in an era when the Urban Cowboy movie was peaking in popularity and country music was trending toward pop under its influence, as we've well and truly seen here.
Skaggs first single from the album, a 1951 song by Earl Scruggs,'Don't Get Above Your Raisin', released in 1981, went to # 16. In this Austin City Limits video, Skaggs sports a 5-string electric mandolin built for him by Telecaster dubbed Tne Mandocaster. But the highlight here are the 2 solos by one of the greatest country session guitarists there ever was, Englishmen Ray Flacke, who just takes it out to the stratosphere here - but still keeps it pure country, not an easy task. Also, one of the greatest fiddle players of all time, Bobby Hicks, plays rhythm guitar, rounded out by a neat piano solo by Micky Merritt. So here the influence seems more rockabilly than bluegrass -
"Gettin’ above your raisin” is one of those very common Southern, particularly Appalachian, colloquialisms. The notion is you want to change your social class or you move to a big city then go back home and start "puttin' on city airs" or "acting uppity", then you’re considered to be forsaking the family, you’re forsaking your place and community, you’re forgetting where you came from. There’s even a fear that you’ll become ashamed of where you came from (another still very potent Southern feeling). Kinda like the tall poppy syndrome in Australia, but in a more nuanced, Southern rural or small town way
Released in 1981 as the second single 'You May See Me Walkin', written by Tom Uhr, was Skaggs first original single and became his first Top 10 hit 1981. One of the keys to Skaggs' breakthrough success was his insistence on getting the best possible session musicians, as he knew the accompaniment would be critical to the album's success. In this studio video, we once again have guitarist Ray Flacke, this time with pedal steel wizard, Bruce Brouton -
Skaggs turned again to the catalog of one of the greatest bluegrass bands, Flatt and Scruggs, covering there hit 'Crying My Heart Out Over You' as the 3rd single released from the "Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine" album. With the accompaniment led this time by the late, great Bobby Hicks on fiddle and Broutin again on the pedal steel, it was a runaway success, becoming the first of Skaggs’ # 1 hits. If its arrangement may sound familiar, it’s because Skaggs had been heavily influenced by Emmylou Harris’ landmark bluegrass album "Roses in the Snow". It’s appropriate that his first chart topper was a Lester & Scruggs cover, which he delivers faithfully. The musicianship is outstanding, with a flawless arrangement that Skaggs led very effectively.
This weepy steel guitar and fiddle-driven hit, with a more distinct bluegrass sound than his previous 2 singles, is perhaps the sweetest love (or lost love) song in his catalog. Maybe, as a cover, it's a bit too derivative and safe to make it stand out among Skaggs’ later best work, but it surely came for many as a breath of fresh air amongst all the pop-country dominating country radio at that time -
The master fiddler, here, Bobby Hicks, recently died from a crook heart on August 16, 2024, aged 91.
The 4th single from the "Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine" album 'I Don’t Care', also released in 1982 earned Skaggs his second # 1 hit. It had originally topped the charts for 12 weeks when released by its co-writer Webb Pierce (posts # 249-250). Even more so than on his previous chart-topper, you can hear the stylistic influence of Emmylou Harris, where an old song is redone with a sombre, serious tone -
In 1981, Nashville was still at the height of the Urban Cowboy craze, and there was considerable concern then (as now) that country music was rapidly drifting on an irreversible course towards pop. Therefore, it was nothing short of remarkable that a 27 y.o. tradition-based singer, from a bluegrass background, was signed to a major label and then given free rein to produce his own album, with little interference from label executives. And that it went on to achieve great commercial success and critical acclaim, was even more astounding.
Guitarist and producer Chet Atkins credited Skaggs with "single-handedly saving country music" a somewhat ironic statement from the main architect of the Nashville Sound, but by 1982, conceding the pop influence on country had gone too far, he was pining for a return of a more traditional country sound. Skaggs was happy to oblige with more compelling records on the way, as we'll see in a day or two.
Last edited:
By 1982, 27 y.o. Ricky Skaggs, after a decade of performing professionally at Bluegrass, had branched out to become a mainstream country star with two # 1 hits. In the process, he had brought traditional, roots music back into mainstream country. Skaggs, with his Bluegrass soaked background, would have been an unlikely star in any era, but during the Urban Cowboy days, it was an especially impressive feat. The first of a truck load of awards came his way when the ACM named him as best new male vocalist for 1981. In 1982, his band took out the ACM Touring Band of the Year and the CMA awarded Skaggs Best New Artist (a year late perhaps). He also became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, the youngest musician ever to be inducted at that time.
Whatever fears there may have been about a second year slump after Skaggs' breakthrough 1981 "Waitin' For The Sun To Shine' album were quickly alleviated, when 1982's "Highways & Heartaches" quickly outsold its predecessor, becoming Skaggs’ only platinum album, producing 3 more #1 singles and one that just missing the top spot, at #2. A roster of top-notch musicians was again assembled for this project, from pianist Buck White (Skagg’s father-in-law) to steel-guitarist Weldon Myrick, who had played in Connie Smith’s band, to Dobro master player Jerry Douglas, and Sharon White (Skaggs’ wife) who provided the background vocals on several tracks. And then, of course, there is Skaggs himself, providing not only the lead vocals but also playing several instruments, including guitar, mandolin and fiddle.
As we’ve noted before in this series, a commercial breakthrough does wonders for a rising artist’s confidence. Skaggs returned to the studio as a bona fide mainstream star, and his 1982 "Highways & Heartaches" demonstrates his increasing assertiveness and vision. He doesn’t sound like he’s singing over Emmylou Harris’ backing tracks anymore. However, he learned all the right lessons from Harris, as evidenced by his sophisticated taste in material, starting with the Guy Clarke penned 'Heartbroke'.
Previously recorded by Rodney Crowell, the tune was also cut by rising Texan singer, George Strait, not knowing it had just been recorded by Skaggs just 2 weeks earlier. It was Skaggs' version that defined the song, taking Clark’s previously dead-on arrival singlegoing, adding a few upbeat production flourishes to the recording, and hey presto - it shot all the way to # 1. In keeping with his policy of not recording any songs he wouldn't feel comfortable singing in front of his parents, Skaggs changed one line to omit a cuss word - “… pride is a bitch …” to the radio and mass-market friendly “… pride when you’re rich …”. Taking a Guy Clark (posts # 848-856) song to the top of the charts in 1982 demonstrates astonishingly good taste, and his growing skill as a producer is evident -
A vintage country song, 'I Wouldn't Change You If I Could' was originally recorded in 1959 by Jim Eanes (better known for bluegrass than mainstream country, though he recorded and performed both styles) and credited himself as the songwriter
(it was actually penned by Arthur Q. Smith, a great songwriter but a notorious alcoholic, who always sold his songs for a "song", usually for his bar tab for the night). It was more successfully recorded by Skaggs, released in January 1983 as the second single from his "Highways & Heartaches" album, becoming his fourth #1.
It's another track that allowed Skaggs to demonstrate he could handle mid-tempo, vocal-oriented material as effectively as scorching instrumental fare. But the track is still perfectly framed in pedal steel and twin fiddles, adding just the right traditional touch for yet another # 1 hit. Skaggs thankfully did little to modernise the song for the eighties and the arrangement is strong. The instrumentation is still where Skaggs has always shined the brightest.
Skaggs' tender rendition of this classic country ballad captures the sweetness and vulnerability of young love. The song's simple arrangement of acoustic guitar and fiddle allows the lyrics to shine, evoking a gentle nostalgia for simpler times.
Written by Larry Cordle but first recorded by Skaggs, 'Highway 40 Blues' was released in 1983 as the 3rd single from the "Highways & Heartaches" album, resulting in Skaggs' 5th consecutive # 1. Skaggs is probably the only commercially successful artist of his generation who could have even attempted 'Highway 40 Blues' as a single and gotten away with it, let alone go all the way to # 1. The song tells the story of a traveling musician who's wandered the highway for years and "... squandered youth in search of truth ...", but it's the impressive instrumental solos that dominate the track and make it something truly special, with Skaggs' inimitable touch. Furthermore, Skaggs masterfully proves that the steel guitar can in fact, also be used in bluegrass music.
Inspired by the winding State Highway 40 in Kentucky (not the Interstate freeway 40 that runs from California all the way to
North Carolina, where key parts were destroyed by floods caused by Hurricane Helene last week) this bluegrass-flavoured wandering man’s anthem captures a dreamer on his way down, looking for home now that his money has run out and his fantasies of stardom are further away than they’ve ever been. The song conveys classic narrative tropes regarding the notorious highway ballad archetype. Cordle was an inspired wordsmith and he’s especially adept at capturing the moral and spiritual prices paid along the way when you fall short of your dream. Skaggs counters the darkness of the lyric with a jaunty production and the vocal performance of a false narrator - listen closely and you’ll hear how he’s singing about letting his dream go, but he sounds happiest when singing about the prices he’s paid for chasing it, suggesting he’ll be back on the other side of the highway soon, heading away from home and giving his fantasy one more shot. The call of the open road can be hypnotic -
"...You know I've rambled all around / Like a rolling stone from town to town /
Met pretty girls I have to say / But none of them could make me stay /
Well I've played the music halls and bars / Had fancy clothes and big fine cars /
Things a country boy can't use / Dixieland, I sure miss you / Got the Highway 40 blues ..." -
The then little known songwriter, Larry Cordle, would go on to become a bluegrass icon and also a surprisingly successful country songwriter, penning the CMA Song of the Year winning 'Murder On Music Row' and writing excellent singles for Kathy Mattea ('Lonesome Standard Time') and Diamond Rio ('Mama Don’t Forget to Pray For Me'). It is to Skaggs’ eternal credit that he encouraged Cordle to pursue his craft. Skaggs’ version of “Highway 40 Blues” remains Cordle’s highest charting single as a songwriter, 41 years since it topped both the U.S. and Canadian charts.
'You've Got A Lover',written by Shake Russell and released in 1978. was the 4th single released by Skaggs on his "Highways & Heartaches" album, released in 1983, reaching #2 in the U.S. and # 1 in Canada. Grounded more in classic country storytelling than bluegrass picking, it tells the painful story of a man whose heart has been broken knowing that his lover found a new man. Paul Franklin’s steel tears heighten the heartbreak in Skaggs’s plaintive mountain voice -
Skaggs maintained his status on the country charts in 1983 with his next studio album, "Don't Cheat in Our Hometown", which, just like his previous album, "Highways & Heartaches", also topped the album chart. Skaggs' combination of bluegrass, honky tonk and classic country was really challenging the reign of pop-country at the centre of country music in the early to mid-'80s. The album provided Skaggs with 3 more big hits.
As we saw yesterday, Skaggs had a long career before his solo stardom, and he effectively weds his past and his present with his revival of 'Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown' - penned by Ray Pennington and Roy E. Marcum it was originally recorded by The Stanley Brothers in 1963. Skaggs first recorded it in 1971, when he was part of the bluegrass duo with fellow Hall of Famer Keith Whitley.
Skaggs brought the tempo down for the first single and title song of his 6th studio album. 'Don't Cheat in Our Hometown'. Released in 1983, features a decidedly traditional slant, with steel, a classic groove and the high lonesome sound of Skaggs' lead vocal. Skaggs is a bit of a sad sack on this one, as he plays the cuckold husband reduced to begging his wife to do her cheating in another town to save him face with his friends. Skaggs plays the pathetic part well, carrying himself with just enough dignity to keep from fully humiliating himself. It's also good advice - in a town where everyone knows everyone, cheating just ain't a good idea - best to look further afield, to a different town, for that! -
So that's today's quota. Skaggs finished 1983, after having chalked up 2 more # 1 hits - 3 in Canada - and his third single reaching # 2, by being awarded his first Grammy - for the Best Instrumental Performance. He and his band also won the CMA Instrumental Group of the Year - a credit not just to himself, of course, but to the fine group of musicians he had assembled. The importance of having high quality instrumentation and emphasis on the accompaniment and not just the vocal, was a lesson not lost to the rising ride of neo-traditional artists soon to follow the course set by Skaggs in returning country music to a distinctive country sound. For now, as we leave off at the end of 1983, it was Skaggs, now with six # 1 hits behind him, still leading the way.
Whatever fears there may have been about a second year slump after Skaggs' breakthrough 1981 "Waitin' For The Sun To Shine' album were quickly alleviated, when 1982's "Highways & Heartaches" quickly outsold its predecessor, becoming Skaggs’ only platinum album, producing 3 more #1 singles and one that just missing the top spot, at #2. A roster of top-notch musicians was again assembled for this project, from pianist Buck White (Skagg’s father-in-law) to steel-guitarist Weldon Myrick, who had played in Connie Smith’s band, to Dobro master player Jerry Douglas, and Sharon White (Skaggs’ wife) who provided the background vocals on several tracks. And then, of course, there is Skaggs himself, providing not only the lead vocals but also playing several instruments, including guitar, mandolin and fiddle.
As we’ve noted before in this series, a commercial breakthrough does wonders for a rising artist’s confidence. Skaggs returned to the studio as a bona fide mainstream star, and his 1982 "Highways & Heartaches" demonstrates his increasing assertiveness and vision. He doesn’t sound like he’s singing over Emmylou Harris’ backing tracks anymore. However, he learned all the right lessons from Harris, as evidenced by his sophisticated taste in material, starting with the Guy Clarke penned 'Heartbroke'.
Previously recorded by Rodney Crowell, the tune was also cut by rising Texan singer, George Strait, not knowing it had just been recorded by Skaggs just 2 weeks earlier. It was Skaggs' version that defined the song, taking Clark’s previously dead-on arrival singlegoing, adding a few upbeat production flourishes to the recording, and hey presto - it shot all the way to # 1. In keeping with his policy of not recording any songs he wouldn't feel comfortable singing in front of his parents, Skaggs changed one line to omit a cuss word - “… pride is a bitch …” to the radio and mass-market friendly “… pride when you’re rich …”. Taking a Guy Clark (posts # 848-856) song to the top of the charts in 1982 demonstrates astonishingly good taste, and his growing skill as a producer is evident -
A vintage country song, 'I Wouldn't Change You If I Could' was originally recorded in 1959 by Jim Eanes (better known for bluegrass than mainstream country, though he recorded and performed both styles) and credited himself as the songwriter
(it was actually penned by Arthur Q. Smith, a great songwriter but a notorious alcoholic, who always sold his songs for a "song", usually for his bar tab for the night). It was more successfully recorded by Skaggs, released in January 1983 as the second single from his "Highways & Heartaches" album, becoming his fourth #1.
It's another track that allowed Skaggs to demonstrate he could handle mid-tempo, vocal-oriented material as effectively as scorching instrumental fare. But the track is still perfectly framed in pedal steel and twin fiddles, adding just the right traditional touch for yet another # 1 hit. Skaggs thankfully did little to modernise the song for the eighties and the arrangement is strong. The instrumentation is still where Skaggs has always shined the brightest.
Skaggs' tender rendition of this classic country ballad captures the sweetness and vulnerability of young love. The song's simple arrangement of acoustic guitar and fiddle allows the lyrics to shine, evoking a gentle nostalgia for simpler times.
Written by Larry Cordle but first recorded by Skaggs, 'Highway 40 Blues' was released in 1983 as the 3rd single from the "Highways & Heartaches" album, resulting in Skaggs' 5th consecutive # 1. Skaggs is probably the only commercially successful artist of his generation who could have even attempted 'Highway 40 Blues' as a single and gotten away with it, let alone go all the way to # 1. The song tells the story of a traveling musician who's wandered the highway for years and "... squandered youth in search of truth ...", but it's the impressive instrumental solos that dominate the track and make it something truly special, with Skaggs' inimitable touch. Furthermore, Skaggs masterfully proves that the steel guitar can in fact, also be used in bluegrass music.
Inspired by the winding State Highway 40 in Kentucky (not the Interstate freeway 40 that runs from California all the way to
North Carolina, where key parts were destroyed by floods caused by Hurricane Helene last week) this bluegrass-flavoured wandering man’s anthem captures a dreamer on his way down, looking for home now that his money has run out and his fantasies of stardom are further away than they’ve ever been. The song conveys classic narrative tropes regarding the notorious highway ballad archetype. Cordle was an inspired wordsmith and he’s especially adept at capturing the moral and spiritual prices paid along the way when you fall short of your dream. Skaggs counters the darkness of the lyric with a jaunty production and the vocal performance of a false narrator - listen closely and you’ll hear how he’s singing about letting his dream go, but he sounds happiest when singing about the prices he’s paid for chasing it, suggesting he’ll be back on the other side of the highway soon, heading away from home and giving his fantasy one more shot. The call of the open road can be hypnotic -
"...You know I've rambled all around / Like a rolling stone from town to town /
Met pretty girls I have to say / But none of them could make me stay /
Well I've played the music halls and bars / Had fancy clothes and big fine cars /
Things a country boy can't use / Dixieland, I sure miss you / Got the Highway 40 blues ..." -
The then little known songwriter, Larry Cordle, would go on to become a bluegrass icon and also a surprisingly successful country songwriter, penning the CMA Song of the Year winning 'Murder On Music Row' and writing excellent singles for Kathy Mattea ('Lonesome Standard Time') and Diamond Rio ('Mama Don’t Forget to Pray For Me'). It is to Skaggs’ eternal credit that he encouraged Cordle to pursue his craft. Skaggs’ version of “Highway 40 Blues” remains Cordle’s highest charting single as a songwriter, 41 years since it topped both the U.S. and Canadian charts.
'You've Got A Lover',written by Shake Russell and released in 1978. was the 4th single released by Skaggs on his "Highways & Heartaches" album, released in 1983, reaching #2 in the U.S. and # 1 in Canada. Grounded more in classic country storytelling than bluegrass picking, it tells the painful story of a man whose heart has been broken knowing that his lover found a new man. Paul Franklin’s steel tears heighten the heartbreak in Skaggs’s plaintive mountain voice -
Skaggs maintained his status on the country charts in 1983 with his next studio album, "Don't Cheat in Our Hometown", which, just like his previous album, "Highways & Heartaches", also topped the album chart. Skaggs' combination of bluegrass, honky tonk and classic country was really challenging the reign of pop-country at the centre of country music in the early to mid-'80s. The album provided Skaggs with 3 more big hits.
As we saw yesterday, Skaggs had a long career before his solo stardom, and he effectively weds his past and his present with his revival of 'Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown' - penned by Ray Pennington and Roy E. Marcum it was originally recorded by The Stanley Brothers in 1963. Skaggs first recorded it in 1971, when he was part of the bluegrass duo with fellow Hall of Famer Keith Whitley.
Skaggs brought the tempo down for the first single and title song of his 6th studio album. 'Don't Cheat in Our Hometown'. Released in 1983, features a decidedly traditional slant, with steel, a classic groove and the high lonesome sound of Skaggs' lead vocal. Skaggs is a bit of a sad sack on this one, as he plays the cuckold husband reduced to begging his wife to do her cheating in another town to save him face with his friends. Skaggs plays the pathetic part well, carrying himself with just enough dignity to keep from fully humiliating himself. It's also good advice - in a town where everyone knows everyone, cheating just ain't a good idea - best to look further afield, to a different town, for that! -
So that's today's quota. Skaggs finished 1983, after having chalked up 2 more # 1 hits - 3 in Canada - and his third single reaching # 2, by being awarded his first Grammy - for the Best Instrumental Performance. He and his band also won the CMA Instrumental Group of the Year - a credit not just to himself, of course, but to the fine group of musicians he had assembled. The importance of having high quality instrumentation and emphasis on the accompaniment and not just the vocal, was a lesson not lost to the rising ride of neo-traditional artists soon to follow the course set by Skaggs in returning country music to a distinctive country sound. For now, as we leave off at the end of 1983, it was Skaggs, now with six # 1 hits behind him, still leading the way.
Last edited:
We left left Ricky Skaggs yesterday at the end of 1983 with the first single, the # 1 hit title song from his 6th studio album, "Don't Cheat in Our Hometown" album. This also produced 2 more chart-topping singles, released in 1984 - the Mel Tillis penned “Honey (Open That Door),” and Bill Monroe’s 'Uncle Pen'. Let's get straight to them.
Honky tonk great Webb Pierce (posts # 249-250) recorded the Mel Tillis (posts # 648-657) penned 'Honey (Open That Door)' for his 1962 album "Hideaway Heart". It was also a non-charted single by Pierce released in 1974. Ricky Skaggs did what songwriter Tillis and Pierce couldn’t pull off - making 'Honey (Open That Door)' into a big hit - and one of his most spirited. Honey' is one of Mel Tillis' cleverest compositions, and Skaggs has a ball with it. It doesn’t hurt Skaggs is (once again) backed by stellar musicianship and lovely harmony vocals from the Whites. Now Skaggs isn’t terribly convincing as a wild man - which makes this all the more fun, as he plays the sad loser to perfection, begging his partner to let him back into the house after he's "... lost everything but my name..." in an ill-fated all-night poker game. Turns out the wild life just isn’t for him, and he’ll take sleeping on the floor as a win, as long as he’s indoors.
The track contains some sweet instrumental fills and solos but really centres around Skaggs' vocal performance, as well as some enormous harmony vocal stacks that sounds panoramic. As for the lyrics, note when the narrator first thought he got an actualproblem -
"... I honky tonked around Dallas / I got in a poker game / Somebody musta been a cheatin' /
I lost everything but my name / Well, I walked halfway to Memphis / I finally got back home /
But I'd been better off where I was / 'Cause here's where things went wrong ..." -
It’s difficult to overstate how impressive it was Ricky Skaggs got a pure bluegrass cover of 'Uncle Pen' to # 1 in 1984. We’re still a year away from the infamous 1985 New York Times article claiming country music was dead, yet here he is covering the father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe (posts # 181-183) brilliantly and being fully embraced by the then pop-country dominated radio. Skaggs gives a big nod to his roots (as we saw 2 days back, his first stage performance was with Monroe, using Monroe's famous mandolin, at age 6) with this, which Bill Monroe wrote as a tribute to his uncle and musical mentor, Pendleton (post # 183). The uptempo, tune is a perfect match for Skaggs' vocal and instrumental skills, and it gave him a # 1 hit that was quite unlike the kind of music that was being recorded by any of his contemporaries. Skaggs gives his strongest vocal performance on a radio single so far, and the musicianship is simply extraordinary -
Known primarily for its now classic title track, Skaggs' 7th studio album, "Country Boy" has held up beautifully since its release in 1984. Another # 1 one gold selling album, it wasn’t as prolific as the string of single releases from the 3 albums that preceded it, but it stands as a strong collection in Skaggs’ catalog.
'Something In My Heart' is fine slice of neo-traditional country, something you would imagine as a Ray Price orifginal from the 1950's, but it ain't so - Wayland Patton penned it specifically for Skaggs and it was released in 1984 as the first single of 2 from his "Country Boy" album and just missed topping the chart, reaching #2 - but got to # 1 in Canada, his 8th consecutive Canadian # 1. The honky tonk track is most pleasant on the ear (at least to my honky tonk loving ear), even if it's not quite memorable enough to stand out among Skaggs’ most iconic hits -
Perhaps the most defining song of Skaggs' career is the album's title song 'Country Boy', which brings together all of the elements that make his music special. It features long instrumental interludes that may very well be the hottest bluegrass-style solos ever to appear on a commercial # 1 hit, his 9th in both the U.S. and Canada, while none other than the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, appears in the entertaining video as Skaggs' Uncle Pen - a humorous nod to his # 1 song above.
Besides the single’s excellent use of storytelling and classical bluegrass techniques, 'Country Boy' also has a memorable music video that includes cameos from Monroe, including him doing an Appalachian jig (itself traced far back to traditional Scottish
and Irish jigs) in a NYC subway of all places to film the hard edged mountain man, Monroe. His dancing along with the urban breakdancing of some locals suggests a common origin! The video also has the then high profile NYC mayor Ed Koch (one of the very few good ones they've had) leaning on a taxi and actor David Keith. The creative video for 'Country Boy' has helped it endure more than other Skaggs classic, and it deserves every bit of its evergreen status.
The theme of a country boy gone to the city but still being a country boy at heart (I should know!) goes all the way back to early Carter Family songs. It almost always works because of the way that nostalgia evokes a rose coloured glasses view of the past, softening out the rough edges as you long for days gone by. 'Country Boy' fits perfectly into Skaggs’ persona. Perhaps joining Emmylou’s Hot Band was his “country comes to town” moment. Fact is, he sings and plays spectacularly well and every moment of 'Country Boy' is pure bluegrass euphoria, presented in a way that was palatable to country radio playlists that still predominantly playing pop-country, though the winds of change were now sweeping through -
"Live in London" was Skaggs' first live album,released in 1985, and just like his 3 previous studio albums, it went all the way to
# 1. This is one of the most compelling live albums of its era, the one Skaggs album to have if you only get one - it's still worth seeking out. Much like with his former bandleader, Emmylou Harris’ live album a few years earlier, Skaggs was uniquely positioned to make such an exceptional live album.. Because it's a live recording, the picking is just that much more exciting and the album serves as an unofficial "best-of". Its highlights include 'Heartbroke' 'Uncle Pen' and a version of 'Don't Get Above Your Raising' that features noted country groupie fan Elvis Costello.
Skaggs' own stellar band supported his already impressive musicianship, and his history of balancing classic country, bluegrass and new material lent itself well to also incorporating songs that hadn’t been included on previous albums. So here, Skaggs expanded his repertoire to include some Louisiana influences for 'Cajun Mion', written, upon Skaggs’ own request, by Jim Rushing, the second single released from "Live in London". It was another excellent showcase for Skaggs and his top-notch band, and another # hit.. he adds some Louisiana flavour to this cross between a country hit and a bluegrass breakdown.
it’s understandable why Skaggs chose to have a Cajun-flavored track in his set list. His band gets a chance to cut loose. It’s the band’s work that’s most compelling here, the Cajun accordion, although kept in the background, that makes 'Cajun Moon' one of the most delightful, upbeat love songs in his entire catalogue. Skaggs’ initially tentative vocal blossoms when it reaches the chorus. The Cajun accordion, a very loud instrument even without an amplifier, is here kept in the background (for me, little bit too much so) with the rest of the band -
"The moon is full and my heart is high / I love to dance, oh me, oh my / Gonna have more fun than a tree in a coon /
Tonight's the dance of the cajun moon / Pick ups and wagons 'round the river road shack / Bonfires draw in a crowd out back / Step through the door and I see my cherie / That's when I feel her mama's eyes on me ..." -
If you ever find yourself in Louisiana, you will, of course, find a number of Cajun clubs and bars in the New Orleans French Quarter (along with all the jazz, rock and country bars) But for the real authentic experience, head over the Mississippi and up the road to the Cajun heartland of Lafayette. Ask around there and you may well find yourself lucky enough to be partying and dancing on the banks of a bayou with a willing cherie by a bon fire under a moon filled night to the contagious Cajun dance music, going hog wild.
That's all for today. As we finish for now in 1986, the 32 y.o. Ricky Skaggs and his band had already collected a raft of rewards, including the CMA Instrumental Group of the Year for 3 consecutive years - 1983, 1984, 1985 and the CMA's p most prestigious award, the Entertainer of the Year for 1985. He and his band were also named the ACM Touring Band of the Year for 5 consecutive years - 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986 and Best Specialty Instrument (Mandolin) in 1984 (and will again in 1987. And to top it all the off, Skaggs had by now won 3 Grammys for Best Instrumental Performance – 1983, 1984 and 1986.
Tomorrow will chart Ricky Skaggs' extraordinary and still unfinished career up to the present day - including a defining change in direction which ensured his production of chart topping commercial hit came to a thudding end. Yet his standing and respect in the music world, especially amongst his peers, went still higher as he followed his heart and his art instead of chasing the next commercial hit - and in doing so, has cemented his own place in American music history.
Honky tonk great Webb Pierce (posts # 249-250) recorded the Mel Tillis (posts # 648-657) penned 'Honey (Open That Door)' for his 1962 album "Hideaway Heart". It was also a non-charted single by Pierce released in 1974. Ricky Skaggs did what songwriter Tillis and Pierce couldn’t pull off - making 'Honey (Open That Door)' into a big hit - and one of his most spirited. Honey' is one of Mel Tillis' cleverest compositions, and Skaggs has a ball with it. It doesn’t hurt Skaggs is (once again) backed by stellar musicianship and lovely harmony vocals from the Whites. Now Skaggs isn’t terribly convincing as a wild man - which makes this all the more fun, as he plays the sad loser to perfection, begging his partner to let him back into the house after he's "... lost everything but my name..." in an ill-fated all-night poker game. Turns out the wild life just isn’t for him, and he’ll take sleeping on the floor as a win, as long as he’s indoors.
The track contains some sweet instrumental fills and solos but really centres around Skaggs' vocal performance, as well as some enormous harmony vocal stacks that sounds panoramic. As for the lyrics, note when the narrator first thought he got an actualproblem -
"... I honky tonked around Dallas / I got in a poker game / Somebody musta been a cheatin' /
I lost everything but my name / Well, I walked halfway to Memphis / I finally got back home /
But I'd been better off where I was / 'Cause here's where things went wrong ..." -
It’s difficult to overstate how impressive it was Ricky Skaggs got a pure bluegrass cover of 'Uncle Pen' to # 1 in 1984. We’re still a year away from the infamous 1985 New York Times article claiming country music was dead, yet here he is covering the father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe (posts # 181-183) brilliantly and being fully embraced by the then pop-country dominated radio. Skaggs gives a big nod to his roots (as we saw 2 days back, his first stage performance was with Monroe, using Monroe's famous mandolin, at age 6) with this, which Bill Monroe wrote as a tribute to his uncle and musical mentor, Pendleton (post # 183). The uptempo, tune is a perfect match for Skaggs' vocal and instrumental skills, and it gave him a # 1 hit that was quite unlike the kind of music that was being recorded by any of his contemporaries. Skaggs gives his strongest vocal performance on a radio single so far, and the musicianship is simply extraordinary -
Known primarily for its now classic title track, Skaggs' 7th studio album, "Country Boy" has held up beautifully since its release in 1984. Another # 1 one gold selling album, it wasn’t as prolific as the string of single releases from the 3 albums that preceded it, but it stands as a strong collection in Skaggs’ catalog.
'Something In My Heart' is fine slice of neo-traditional country, something you would imagine as a Ray Price orifginal from the 1950's, but it ain't so - Wayland Patton penned it specifically for Skaggs and it was released in 1984 as the first single of 2 from his "Country Boy" album and just missed topping the chart, reaching #2 - but got to # 1 in Canada, his 8th consecutive Canadian # 1. The honky tonk track is most pleasant on the ear (at least to my honky tonk loving ear), even if it's not quite memorable enough to stand out among Skaggs’ most iconic hits -
Perhaps the most defining song of Skaggs' career is the album's title song 'Country Boy', which brings together all of the elements that make his music special. It features long instrumental interludes that may very well be the hottest bluegrass-style solos ever to appear on a commercial # 1 hit, his 9th in both the U.S. and Canada, while none other than the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, appears in the entertaining video as Skaggs' Uncle Pen - a humorous nod to his # 1 song above.
Besides the single’s excellent use of storytelling and classical bluegrass techniques, 'Country Boy' also has a memorable music video that includes cameos from Monroe, including him doing an Appalachian jig (itself traced far back to traditional Scottish
and Irish jigs) in a NYC subway of all places to film the hard edged mountain man, Monroe. His dancing along with the urban breakdancing of some locals suggests a common origin! The video also has the then high profile NYC mayor Ed Koch (one of the very few good ones they've had) leaning on a taxi and actor David Keith. The creative video for 'Country Boy' has helped it endure more than other Skaggs classic, and it deserves every bit of its evergreen status.
The theme of a country boy gone to the city but still being a country boy at heart (I should know!) goes all the way back to early Carter Family songs. It almost always works because of the way that nostalgia evokes a rose coloured glasses view of the past, softening out the rough edges as you long for days gone by. 'Country Boy' fits perfectly into Skaggs’ persona. Perhaps joining Emmylou’s Hot Band was his “country comes to town” moment. Fact is, he sings and plays spectacularly well and every moment of 'Country Boy' is pure bluegrass euphoria, presented in a way that was palatable to country radio playlists that still predominantly playing pop-country, though the winds of change were now sweeping through -
"Live in London" was Skaggs' first live album,released in 1985, and just like his 3 previous studio albums, it went all the way to
# 1. This is one of the most compelling live albums of its era, the one Skaggs album to have if you only get one - it's still worth seeking out. Much like with his former bandleader, Emmylou Harris’ live album a few years earlier, Skaggs was uniquely positioned to make such an exceptional live album.. Because it's a live recording, the picking is just that much more exciting and the album serves as an unofficial "best-of". Its highlights include 'Heartbroke' 'Uncle Pen' and a version of 'Don't Get Above Your Raising' that features noted country groupie fan Elvis Costello.
Skaggs' own stellar band supported his already impressive musicianship, and his history of balancing classic country, bluegrass and new material lent itself well to also incorporating songs that hadn’t been included on previous albums. So here, Skaggs expanded his repertoire to include some Louisiana influences for 'Cajun Mion', written, upon Skaggs’ own request, by Jim Rushing, the second single released from "Live in London". It was another excellent showcase for Skaggs and his top-notch band, and another # hit.. he adds some Louisiana flavour to this cross between a country hit and a bluegrass breakdown.
it’s understandable why Skaggs chose to have a Cajun-flavored track in his set list. His band gets a chance to cut loose. It’s the band’s work that’s most compelling here, the Cajun accordion, although kept in the background, that makes 'Cajun Moon' one of the most delightful, upbeat love songs in his entire catalogue. Skaggs’ initially tentative vocal blossoms when it reaches the chorus. The Cajun accordion, a very loud instrument even without an amplifier, is here kept in the background (for me, little bit too much so) with the rest of the band -
"The moon is full and my heart is high / I love to dance, oh me, oh my / Gonna have more fun than a tree in a coon /
Tonight's the dance of the cajun moon / Pick ups and wagons 'round the river road shack / Bonfires draw in a crowd out back / Step through the door and I see my cherie / That's when I feel her mama's eyes on me ..." -
If you ever find yourself in Louisiana, you will, of course, find a number of Cajun clubs and bars in the New Orleans French Quarter (along with all the jazz, rock and country bars) But for the real authentic experience, head over the Mississippi and up the road to the Cajun heartland of Lafayette. Ask around there and you may well find yourself lucky enough to be partying and dancing on the banks of a bayou with a willing cherie by a bon fire under a moon filled night to the contagious Cajun dance music, going hog wild.
That's all for today. As we finish for now in 1986, the 32 y.o. Ricky Skaggs and his band had already collected a raft of rewards, including the CMA Instrumental Group of the Year for 3 consecutive years - 1983, 1984, 1985 and the CMA's p most prestigious award, the Entertainer of the Year for 1985. He and his band were also named the ACM Touring Band of the Year for 5 consecutive years - 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986 and Best Specialty Instrument (Mandolin) in 1984 (and will again in 1987. And to top it all the off, Skaggs had by now won 3 Grammys for Best Instrumental Performance – 1983, 1984 and 1986.
Tomorrow will chart Ricky Skaggs' extraordinary and still unfinished career up to the present day - including a defining change in direction which ensured his production of chart topping commercial hit came to a thudding end. Yet his standing and respect in the music world, especially amongst his peers, went still higher as he followed his heart and his art instead of chasing the next commercial hit - and in doing so, has cemented his own place in American music history.
Last edited:
So today will bring the career of Ricky Skaggs right up to now, starting from 1986, the year in which the neo-traditional movement really took hold to dominate the country music charts, 5 years after Skaggs had really started it all with the first of his chart topping bluegrass tinged hits, The last of his chart topping hits are featured - and then we will, though only in brief, leaving much out (such as his successful side career in producing records), try to cover the most important, consequential part of Skaggs' remarkable music career - the last 30 years.
As we seen, with songs like yesterdays 'Something In My Heart', Skaggs, despite all his Bluegrass influence, also made himself at home with fiddle and pedal-steel soaked honky tonk songs and here we have another perfect example. 'I've Got A New Heartache' reached # 2 when the great Texan, Ray Price (posts # 269-275) released it as the first single off his "Greatest Hits" compilation album way back in 1956. Three decades later, in 1986, with the second single released from his "Live in London" album, Skaggs brought the song back to the Top 10 -
Skaggs finally joined forces with his second wife that he married in 1981 (and still is, with 2 children), Sharon White, of the country music vocal group The Whites, from Fort Worth, Texas. Formed in 1972, they consist of sisters Sharon and Cheryl White and their father, Buck White. Though it was just their first-ever duet, 'Love Can't Ever Get Better Than This' scored a solid success - Skaggs shines as a duet partner, In addition to reaching the Top 10, it also earned them a CMA Award for Vocal Duo of the Year in 1987 -
Skaggs returned to #1 in 1989 after an absence of 2 years with the first single from his 10th studio album. His 11th and last # 1 in the U.S. (12th in Canada), written by Hillary Kanter and Even Stevens, 'Lovin' Only Me' features a mid-tempo groove, big harmony vocals and twangy guitars that are in the classic style but just different enough from the rest of Skaggs' output to stand out. 'Lovin’ Only Me' sounds like the prototypical Alan Jackson record, with a muscular traditional country sound that marries country’s insistence on being felt with rock’s insistence on being heard. Skaggs navigates the production with ease, turning in a more forceful performance than was typical of his hits from earlier in the decade -
Skaggs could’ve continued through the nineties as a mainstream country star just fine, even if he no longer had chart toppers. But it turns out it was no longer his jam. It’s telling his final # 1 hit came from an album called "Kentucky Thunder" because after just 2 more Top 29 hits, Skaggs fully embraced his bluegrass roots. Skaggs was bluegrass music’s hottest young picker and singer in the 1970s, both heir apparent to the reigning legends and a leader of the progressive bluegrass movement, before he successfully adapted his sound to become the mainstream country star from 1981, the vanguard of the neo-traditional movement that was to sweep through country music as the decade progressed. Indeed, by 1987 the major competition to Skaggs in the charts no longer came from pop country, but by the new wave of neo-traditionalists that Skaggs had paved the way for.
Throughout the 1980s, Skaggs was a major mainstream country star. Eleven #1 hits (12 in Canada), 8 CMA and ACM awards, a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and fronting one of the most successful touring acts around, he was a true ambassador of the genre, onstage and in the studio. And yet, as that mainstream country sound became more engineered and polished, country music was still too pop for Skaggs. He didn't much like the slick sounds and massive tours. Skaggs had become more and more enamoured with the bluegrass roots of his upbringing, where the legends of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and Dr. Ralph Stanley reign supreme.
By the middle 1990s, a host of younger new traditionalists, in a sound dubbed "New Country", had grabbed the spotlight. So in 1996, with nothing new to prove in the country field, Skaggs gave up his mainstream career and made the bold move to return to his musical roots, shifting his creative focus back to acoustic bluegrass, and by doing so, he become bluegrass’s leading ambassador. Since the 1990's, Skaggs has become the undisputed leader of the progressive bluegrass movement and its reigning living legend. Just as Bill Monroe was the founder and father of Bluegrass, Ricky Skaggs has become the godfather of Bluegrass.
Skaggs christened his new Bluegrass band Kentucky Thunder. Their first album, 1997's "Bluegrass Rules!", sold over 200,000 copies, proving that bluegrass was still a viable commercial product. The Grammy-winning collection took home the International Bluegrass Music Association awards for Album of the Year and also the Instrumental Group of the Year in 1998, and award they repeated in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, as well as Recorded Event of the Year in 2000 and 2008, Instrumental Album of the Year in 2000 and Gospel Recorded Performance in 2012. Indeed, Skaggs has also followed Bill Monroe in incorporating a lot of Gospel into his Bluegrass - in accordance with his strong old Southern and/or Appalachian old time religion he was brought up with, and which he started publicly speaking about from the 1990's onwards - and still does.
In the decades since, Skaggs' chart-topping mainstream country music fame has become almost incidental, nestled in between 2 lengthy and impactful bluegrass runs that are ultimately a bigger, more important, part of his musical legacy. However, I found that featuring selections from the almost 30 years of Bluegrass from Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder just doesn't suit the format I've adopted for this history series. Skaggs' bluegrass is best consumed live, of course, in small, intimate venues, (avoiding any amplification of the acoustic instruments), or alternatively listening to albums - but not on singles of a few minutes. I'm sure any Bluegrass enthusiasts will already have at least one or maybe quite a few more, Skaggs albums, so this avoidance to this essential part of his music legacy here won't really matter.
A melting pot of roots, string, gospel and mountain music, bluegrass has remained one of the last vestiges of that “lonesome” sound that still rings true in our country hearts. The foundations of bluegrass are more folk, more mountainous and old-time, with sounds and characteristics that immediately take you back to the mountains.And nobody blurs the lines between classic country and bluegrass as well as Ricky Skaggs. With the release of the "Hearts Like Ours" in 2014, a dream came true for Ricky Skaggs and his wife, celebrated artist Sharon White of The Whites. Previously in 1987 the pair won a CMA Vocal Duo of the Year award for 'Love Can’t Ever Get Better Than This' (as shown above) but White was touring with her family band and Skaggs was on fire with his solo career, so releasing a full project wasn’t possible at the time. This first-ever studio album was produced by Skaggs and White and features the couple dueting on handpicked country love songs.
As a musician, Skaggs is a brilliant, virtuoso traditionalist but is still willing to mix genres, recording and touring with many different artists such as Bruce Hornsby and Ry Cooder. In 2015, Skaggs, Cooder and Sharon White embarked upon the critically acclaimed ‘Cooder-White-Skaggs – Songs for the Good People’ tour that featured the trio singing gospel, blues and country along with superior musicianship. Skaggs played his first full country show in Nashville in 20 years in 2017 then appeared on the long running Country’s Family Reunion TV show, backed by a studio band of Nashville's finest session musician veterans, all well known in the industry (though the pedal steel starts on the wrong note on this unrehearsed performance below). During this 2018 show, Skaggs and his wife Sharon and her sister, Cheryl White, performed 'I'll Take the Blame', written by Bluegrass legend Carter Stanley and first recorded by The Stanley Brothers and The Clinch Mountain Boys way back in 1961. Skaggs had previously recorded 'I'll Take The Blame' back in 1978, with Emmylou Harris providing the backing harmony. As I didn't include that in my selection, here is Skaggs, aged 64 and going strong, with Sharon and Cheryl White -
Skaggs played his first full country show in Nashville in 20 years in 2017. 2018 was a stellar year for Skaggs, with no less than 3 more HoF inductions - the National Fiddler HoF, IBMA’s Bluegrass Music HoF and country music’s greatest honor, the Country Music HoF. Along with his 3 previous inductions into the Kentucky Music HoF, the Gospel Music Association’s Gospel Music HoF and the Musicians HoF, all 6 awards display his ability to masterfully cross genres with versatility in styles and instrumental prowess.
Three days back, there was a description about his first meeting with Bill Monroe as a 6 y.o. Prodigy. Here's another later description of it by Skaggs - "There was I, when I was 6 years old. My parents brought me to see Bill Monroe play. I’d only been playing mandolin for about a year, but folks in the crowd kept yelling up to the stage, “Let Ricky Skaggs play.” They kept doing it, and finally Monroe had enough of it and called for me to come up. He didn’t know who Ricky Skaggs was. I go down and Bill pulled me up onstage like a sack of potatoes. He sat me down and asked me what I played. I told him mandolin and he took off his F5 (mandolin) and placed it around me. It was so prophetic to me what that meant. It was like he was passing the baton, even at 6 years old, to a young kid that would grow up some day and play his music and tell people about him. I didn’t think any of that back then, I had no idea what my future held, but I became aware of who he was in that moment. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was his way of passing the music on to the next generation".
Just before Bill Monroe died in 1996, Skaggs promised him he would do his part to keep Monroe's legacy - bluegrass music, the very music Skaggs had grown up with from a young boy until his mid-twenties - alive. His 1996 deathbed promise to Monroe was - “I will play this music as long as I live. Don’t worry about it. It’s in good hands.
So here, from Skaggs induction into the Country Music HoF in 2018, we have, not so much a great piece of music (Skaggs seems somewhat tentatively careful and perhaps somewhat overcome by the significance of the occasion), but a great piece of music history, as he is presented with perhaps the most famous and valuable instrument in country music history (even more so than Willie Nelson's Trigger), none other than Bill Monroe's 100 year old mandolin- the very same one Skaggs had played 58 years earlier! No wionder he seems nervous here as he plays the national anthem of country music, 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken' (posts # 675 & 679) -
At the induction, Skaggs said - "Mr Monroe kicked the doors open for all of us. I made him a promise that I would tell people what a rocking cat he was. I’ve done that". Skaggs got to play Bill Monroe's mandolin again in 2022 for a fun raising event after the Covid lockdown in Nashville ended.
Speaking at Skaggs' induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Garth Brooks, who played a large role in getting Skaggs inducted, credits the Kentucky native for paving the way for the neo-traditionalist movement, which made room for himself and others, including Alan Jackson and Clint Black, who broke through in the early 1990s - “There was a cowboy out of Texas holding the fort down and a cowgirl out of Oklahoma (referencing George Strait and Reba McEntire in the early ‘80s) holding the fort down, and they needed help. Here came a kid playing country and bluegrass music out of Kentucky. And for me, I think George, Reba and Ricky held the fort down long enough for traditional country to make a comeback.”.
in 2020, Skaggs was awarded the prestigious National Medal of Arts for his contributions to the American music industry - This is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the U.S. government. As a virtuoso of the mandolin and fiddle, Skaggs creates and produces bluegrass music that preserves the musical legacy of the most talented artists of his generation. The singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist (about the only thing he hasn't done is write songs) Skaggs has earned an astounding 15 Grammys and 29 nominations over his career - so far. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, the Musicians Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (Skaggs jokes all that’s left is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame).
So, having omitted much due to being just too much to include in this format, it's time to leave again, with Skaggs still touring, mostly across the South (he is set to perform at the Grand Ole Opry several times from next week), and still being accompanied by the high quality Kentucky Thunder Band at most of his concerts, Skaggs, at age 70, and in apparent good health, living a healthy life, is showing no signs of disappearing from performing. His reputation is set in stone as a country music great, the spearhead of the neo-traditional movement, a mandolin and guitar virtuoso and Bill Monroe's heir as the godfather of Bluegrass.
So that's it for now, with another break from this history series. But as Skaggs started his 11 chart toppers in 1981, just keep in mind that this was still within the period when pop-country had the ascendancy.... so with that warning, it's goodbye for now.
Addendum - Being amongst the most awarded country musicians, here's a list, covering Ricky Skaggs' major awards - omitting many more from lesser institutions -
As we seen, with songs like yesterdays 'Something In My Heart', Skaggs, despite all his Bluegrass influence, also made himself at home with fiddle and pedal-steel soaked honky tonk songs and here we have another perfect example. 'I've Got A New Heartache' reached # 2 when the great Texan, Ray Price (posts # 269-275) released it as the first single off his "Greatest Hits" compilation album way back in 1956. Three decades later, in 1986, with the second single released from his "Live in London" album, Skaggs brought the song back to the Top 10 -
Skaggs finally joined forces with his second wife that he married in 1981 (and still is, with 2 children), Sharon White, of the country music vocal group The Whites, from Fort Worth, Texas. Formed in 1972, they consist of sisters Sharon and Cheryl White and their father, Buck White. Though it was just their first-ever duet, 'Love Can't Ever Get Better Than This' scored a solid success - Skaggs shines as a duet partner, In addition to reaching the Top 10, it also earned them a CMA Award for Vocal Duo of the Year in 1987 -
Skaggs returned to #1 in 1989 after an absence of 2 years with the first single from his 10th studio album. His 11th and last # 1 in the U.S. (12th in Canada), written by Hillary Kanter and Even Stevens, 'Lovin' Only Me' features a mid-tempo groove, big harmony vocals and twangy guitars that are in the classic style but just different enough from the rest of Skaggs' output to stand out. 'Lovin’ Only Me' sounds like the prototypical Alan Jackson record, with a muscular traditional country sound that marries country’s insistence on being felt with rock’s insistence on being heard. Skaggs navigates the production with ease, turning in a more forceful performance than was typical of his hits from earlier in the decade -
Skaggs could’ve continued through the nineties as a mainstream country star just fine, even if he no longer had chart toppers. But it turns out it was no longer his jam. It’s telling his final # 1 hit came from an album called "Kentucky Thunder" because after just 2 more Top 29 hits, Skaggs fully embraced his bluegrass roots. Skaggs was bluegrass music’s hottest young picker and singer in the 1970s, both heir apparent to the reigning legends and a leader of the progressive bluegrass movement, before he successfully adapted his sound to become the mainstream country star from 1981, the vanguard of the neo-traditional movement that was to sweep through country music as the decade progressed. Indeed, by 1987 the major competition to Skaggs in the charts no longer came from pop country, but by the new wave of neo-traditionalists that Skaggs had paved the way for.
Throughout the 1980s, Skaggs was a major mainstream country star. Eleven #1 hits (12 in Canada), 8 CMA and ACM awards, a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and fronting one of the most successful touring acts around, he was a true ambassador of the genre, onstage and in the studio. And yet, as that mainstream country sound became more engineered and polished, country music was still too pop for Skaggs. He didn't much like the slick sounds and massive tours. Skaggs had become more and more enamoured with the bluegrass roots of his upbringing, where the legends of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and Dr. Ralph Stanley reign supreme.
By the middle 1990s, a host of younger new traditionalists, in a sound dubbed "New Country", had grabbed the spotlight. So in 1996, with nothing new to prove in the country field, Skaggs gave up his mainstream career and made the bold move to return to his musical roots, shifting his creative focus back to acoustic bluegrass, and by doing so, he become bluegrass’s leading ambassador. Since the 1990's, Skaggs has become the undisputed leader of the progressive bluegrass movement and its reigning living legend. Just as Bill Monroe was the founder and father of Bluegrass, Ricky Skaggs has become the godfather of Bluegrass.
Skaggs christened his new Bluegrass band Kentucky Thunder. Their first album, 1997's "Bluegrass Rules!", sold over 200,000 copies, proving that bluegrass was still a viable commercial product. The Grammy-winning collection took home the International Bluegrass Music Association awards for Album of the Year and also the Instrumental Group of the Year in 1998, and award they repeated in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, as well as Recorded Event of the Year in 2000 and 2008, Instrumental Album of the Year in 2000 and Gospel Recorded Performance in 2012. Indeed, Skaggs has also followed Bill Monroe in incorporating a lot of Gospel into his Bluegrass - in accordance with his strong old Southern and/or Appalachian old time religion he was brought up with, and which he started publicly speaking about from the 1990's onwards - and still does.
In the decades since, Skaggs' chart-topping mainstream country music fame has become almost incidental, nestled in between 2 lengthy and impactful bluegrass runs that are ultimately a bigger, more important, part of his musical legacy. However, I found that featuring selections from the almost 30 years of Bluegrass from Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder just doesn't suit the format I've adopted for this history series. Skaggs' bluegrass is best consumed live, of course, in small, intimate venues, (avoiding any amplification of the acoustic instruments), or alternatively listening to albums - but not on singles of a few minutes. I'm sure any Bluegrass enthusiasts will already have at least one or maybe quite a few more, Skaggs albums, so this avoidance to this essential part of his music legacy here won't really matter.
A melting pot of roots, string, gospel and mountain music, bluegrass has remained one of the last vestiges of that “lonesome” sound that still rings true in our country hearts. The foundations of bluegrass are more folk, more mountainous and old-time, with sounds and characteristics that immediately take you back to the mountains.And nobody blurs the lines between classic country and bluegrass as well as Ricky Skaggs. With the release of the "Hearts Like Ours" in 2014, a dream came true for Ricky Skaggs and his wife, celebrated artist Sharon White of The Whites. Previously in 1987 the pair won a CMA Vocal Duo of the Year award for 'Love Can’t Ever Get Better Than This' (as shown above) but White was touring with her family band and Skaggs was on fire with his solo career, so releasing a full project wasn’t possible at the time. This first-ever studio album was produced by Skaggs and White and features the couple dueting on handpicked country love songs.
As a musician, Skaggs is a brilliant, virtuoso traditionalist but is still willing to mix genres, recording and touring with many different artists such as Bruce Hornsby and Ry Cooder. In 2015, Skaggs, Cooder and Sharon White embarked upon the critically acclaimed ‘Cooder-White-Skaggs – Songs for the Good People’ tour that featured the trio singing gospel, blues and country along with superior musicianship. Skaggs played his first full country show in Nashville in 20 years in 2017 then appeared on the long running Country’s Family Reunion TV show, backed by a studio band of Nashville's finest session musician veterans, all well known in the industry (though the pedal steel starts on the wrong note on this unrehearsed performance below). During this 2018 show, Skaggs and his wife Sharon and her sister, Cheryl White, performed 'I'll Take the Blame', written by Bluegrass legend Carter Stanley and first recorded by The Stanley Brothers and The Clinch Mountain Boys way back in 1961. Skaggs had previously recorded 'I'll Take The Blame' back in 1978, with Emmylou Harris providing the backing harmony. As I didn't include that in my selection, here is Skaggs, aged 64 and going strong, with Sharon and Cheryl White -
Skaggs played his first full country show in Nashville in 20 years in 2017. 2018 was a stellar year for Skaggs, with no less than 3 more HoF inductions - the National Fiddler HoF, IBMA’s Bluegrass Music HoF and country music’s greatest honor, the Country Music HoF. Along with his 3 previous inductions into the Kentucky Music HoF, the Gospel Music Association’s Gospel Music HoF and the Musicians HoF, all 6 awards display his ability to masterfully cross genres with versatility in styles and instrumental prowess.
Three days back, there was a description about his first meeting with Bill Monroe as a 6 y.o. Prodigy. Here's another later description of it by Skaggs - "There was I, when I was 6 years old. My parents brought me to see Bill Monroe play. I’d only been playing mandolin for about a year, but folks in the crowd kept yelling up to the stage, “Let Ricky Skaggs play.” They kept doing it, and finally Monroe had enough of it and called for me to come up. He didn’t know who Ricky Skaggs was. I go down and Bill pulled me up onstage like a sack of potatoes. He sat me down and asked me what I played. I told him mandolin and he took off his F5 (mandolin) and placed it around me. It was so prophetic to me what that meant. It was like he was passing the baton, even at 6 years old, to a young kid that would grow up some day and play his music and tell people about him. I didn’t think any of that back then, I had no idea what my future held, but I became aware of who he was in that moment. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was his way of passing the music on to the next generation".
Just before Bill Monroe died in 1996, Skaggs promised him he would do his part to keep Monroe's legacy - bluegrass music, the very music Skaggs had grown up with from a young boy until his mid-twenties - alive. His 1996 deathbed promise to Monroe was - “I will play this music as long as I live. Don’t worry about it. It’s in good hands.
So here, from Skaggs induction into the Country Music HoF in 2018, we have, not so much a great piece of music (Skaggs seems somewhat tentatively careful and perhaps somewhat overcome by the significance of the occasion), but a great piece of music history, as he is presented with perhaps the most famous and valuable instrument in country music history (even more so than Willie Nelson's Trigger), none other than Bill Monroe's 100 year old mandolin- the very same one Skaggs had played 58 years earlier! No wionder he seems nervous here as he plays the national anthem of country music, 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken' (posts # 675 & 679) -
At the induction, Skaggs said - "Mr Monroe kicked the doors open for all of us. I made him a promise that I would tell people what a rocking cat he was. I’ve done that". Skaggs got to play Bill Monroe's mandolin again in 2022 for a fun raising event after the Covid lockdown in Nashville ended.
Speaking at Skaggs' induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Garth Brooks, who played a large role in getting Skaggs inducted, credits the Kentucky native for paving the way for the neo-traditionalist movement, which made room for himself and others, including Alan Jackson and Clint Black, who broke through in the early 1990s - “There was a cowboy out of Texas holding the fort down and a cowgirl out of Oklahoma (referencing George Strait and Reba McEntire in the early ‘80s) holding the fort down, and they needed help. Here came a kid playing country and bluegrass music out of Kentucky. And for me, I think George, Reba and Ricky held the fort down long enough for traditional country to make a comeback.”.
in 2020, Skaggs was awarded the prestigious National Medal of Arts for his contributions to the American music industry - This is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the U.S. government. As a virtuoso of the mandolin and fiddle, Skaggs creates and produces bluegrass music that preserves the musical legacy of the most talented artists of his generation. The singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist (about the only thing he hasn't done is write songs) Skaggs has earned an astounding 15 Grammys and 29 nominations over his career - so far. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, the Musicians Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (Skaggs jokes all that’s left is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame).
So, having omitted much due to being just too much to include in this format, it's time to leave again, with Skaggs still touring, mostly across the South (he is set to perform at the Grand Ole Opry several times from next week), and still being accompanied by the high quality Kentucky Thunder Band at most of his concerts, Skaggs, at age 70, and in apparent good health, living a healthy life, is showing no signs of disappearing from performing. His reputation is set in stone as a country music great, the spearhead of the neo-traditional movement, a mandolin and guitar virtuoso and Bill Monroe's heir as the godfather of Bluegrass.
So that's it for now, with another break from this history series. But as Skaggs started his 11 chart toppers in 1981, just keep in mind that this was still within the period when pop-country had the ascendancy.... so with that warning, it's goodbye for now.
Addendum - Being amongst the most awarded country musicians, here's a list, covering Ricky Skaggs' major awards - omitting many more from lesser institutions -
NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS
- National Medal of Arts Recipient – 2020
COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME
- Artist-In-Residence, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum – 2013
- Country Music Hall of Fame Member – Class of 2018
GRAMMY AWARDS (15 TOTAL)
- Best Country Instrumental Performance – 1983, 1984, 1986
- Best Country Vocal Collaboration (with Vince Gill & Steve Wariner) – 1991
- Best Country Vocal Collaboration for “Same Old Train” – 1998
- Best Bluegrass Album (for Bluegrass Rules!) – 1998
- Best Bluegrass Album (for Ancient Tones) – 1999
- Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album of the Year (for Soldier of the Cross) – 2000
- Best Country Performance by a Group or Duo with Vocals (for song, “A Simple Life”) – 2003
- Best Bluegrass Album (for Brand New Strings) – 2004
- Best Musical Album for Children – Various Artists (for Songs From the Neighborhood: The Music of Mister Rogers) – 2005
- Best Bluegrass Album (for Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder Instrumentals) – 2006
- Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album of the Year (with The Whites for Salt of the Earth) – 2007
- Best Bluegrass Album (for Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass) – 2008
- Best Contemporary Christian Music Album (as producer for Love Remains by Hillary Scott & The Scott Family) – 2016
INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION (IBMA) HALL OF FAME
- IBMA Hall of Fame Member 2018 inductee
INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION (IBMA) AWARDS
- Album of the Year (for Bluegrass Rules!) – 1998
- Instrumental Group of the Year (with Kentucky Thunder) – 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
- Recorded Event of the Year (for Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza) – 2000
- Instrumental Album of the Year (for Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza) – 2000
- Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year for song “Singing As We Rise” – The Gibson Brothers with Ricky Skaggs – 2012
- Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year for song “Sacred Memories” – Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers with Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White Skaggs – 2017 (tie)
COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION (CMA) AWARDS
- Male Vocalist of the Year – 1982
- Horizon Award – 1982
- Instrumental Group of the Year – 1983, 1984, 1985
- Entertainer of the Year – 1985
- Vocal Duo of the Year (with Sharon White Skaggs) – 1987
- Vocal Event of the Year (with Mark O’Connor & New Nashville Cats) – 1991
ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC (ACM) AWARDS
- New Male Vocalist – 1981
- Touring Band of the Year – 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986
- Best Specialty Instrument (Mandolin) – 1984, 1987
- Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award – 2012
MUSICIANS HALL OF FAME
- Musicians Hall of Fame Member 2016 inductee
TNN/MUSIC CITY NEWS AWARDS
- Bluegrass Act of the Year – 1982, 1983, 1984
- Star of Tomorrow – 1983
- Instrumentalist of the Year – 1988, 1989, 1990
- Vocal Collaboration of the Year (with Vince Gill & Patty Loveless) – 1996
GOSPEL MUSIC ASSOCIATION (GMA) HALL OF FAME
- GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame Member 2012 inductee
GOSPEL MUSIC ASSOCIATION (GMA) DOVE AWARDS
- Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year for “Are You Afraid to Die?” – 2001
- Bluegrass Recorded Album of the Year for Salt of the Earth with The Whites – 2008
AMERICANA MUSIC ASSOCIATION (AMA) AWARDS
- Lifetime Achievement Award, Instrumentalist – 2015
And many other awards too numerous to mention here
Last edited:
PatsFitztrick
Debutant
- Mar 5, 2020
- 99
- 221
- AFL Club
- Carlton
I’ve seen that footage of Ricky playing Bill’s mandolin a few times now, and for this old Bluegrass tragic, it still stirs the emotions.
So too does this tribute by Lorraine Jordon and Carolina Road, who wrote this song about that historic night.
So too does this tribute by Lorraine Jordon and Carolina Road, who wrote this song about that historic night.
Now that's the perfect post to conclude on with Ricky Skaggs.
