Ricky Skaggs Celebrates Landmark 'Solo' Release With Local
University Students and Faculty
Ricky Skaggs will celebrate the release of his landmark solo
masterwork, Ricky Skaggs Solo: Songs My Dad Loved, with students
and faculty from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and a
unique in-store appearance at Murfreesboro, Tennessee's Barnes &
Noble bookstore on Tuesday, September 15th. Beginning at 6 PM,
Ricky will host a "Question and Answer" session with students and
faculty (all attendees are encouraged to participate) followed by a CD
signing at 7 PM.
Skaggs' first-ever solo album, out September 15th on Skaggs Family
Records, is exactly what the title implies. Ricky Skaggs - solo. No
studio musicians. No guest artists. Just Ricky Skaggs doing what
Ricky Skaggs does best. Highly regarded as an award winning
country and bluegrass music master, Skaggs is legendary for
bringing renewed hope and vitality to the country music mainstream
in the early 1980's with scores of #1 hits and numerous awards and
for his triumphant return to his first love, bluegrass, with his
successful Skaggs Family Records label. But the true story behind
his remarkable career can be traced back to the first music he
remembers hearing - the songs his dad loved.
When Hobert Skaggs' brother and musical partner died in World War
II, he vowed that if one of his children ever showed interest in music,
he would teach them how to play the mandolin. Now, fifty years after
picking up that mandolin, Ricky Skaggs celebrates the man who
caused him to fall in love with music. Esteemed for his
unmistakable vocals, Skaggs raises the bar even higher serving as
his own duet partner on the Monroe Brothers' "What Is A Home
Without Love" and "Sinner, You Better Get Ready" as well as Albert
Brumley's "This World Is Not My Home," Roy Acuff's "Branded
Wherever I Go" and the classic hymn, "God Holds The Future In His
Hands." Couple that with his unmatched instrumental expertise -
Skaggs plays every instrument on the album - and you might start to
think your ears are playing tricks on you! Fiddle and clawhammer
banjo are prominent, featured on instrumentals "Colonel Prentiss,"
"Calloway" and Skaggs' own "Pickin' In Caroline." Stirring
arrangements of gospel tunes "City That Lies Foursquare" and
"Green Pastures in the Sky" are signatures of a seasoned producer
while classics such as "Foggy River," "Little Maggie" and "I Had But
Fifty Cents" produce images of an old fashioned front porch jam.
The consummate music education advocate, Skaggs received an
Honorary Doctorate of Music in 2008 from Berklee College of Music.
From a child prodigy to one of today's musical heroes, Ricky Skaggs
continues to inspire his audiences with the heritage and the history
of the old time songs embedded into his soul by his very first music
teacher - his father.
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