The first thing one sees upon visiting Ricky Skaggs’ website is the headline “A Hall of Fame Career.” Below that is a list of the various halls of fame that have inducted Skaggs: Country Music, IBMA Bluegrass Music, The National Fiddler, Musicians, GMA Gospel Music Association and Kentucky. That’s an impressive list for those who care about such things. Even more impressive is that it’s impossible to argue against Skaggs’ inclusion if such institutions must exist — the 71-year-old singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is a pillar of bluegrass, country and whatever adjacent genres you can conjure, a man of multiple talents and an unceasing devotion to the music he loves. Then there is the fact that in January 2021 President Trump awarded Skaggs the National Medal of the Arts — a sign of the recipient’s enduring Christian faith, if questionable sense of optics and political acumen.
Skaggs grew up in Cordell, a tiny Kentucky town 150 miles southeast of Cincinnati. He started singing and playing mandolin at age 6, soon after performing onstage with Bill Monroe, the “Father of Bluegrass.” At 16, he joined Ralph Stanley’s backing band, the Clinch Mountain Boys, the beginning of a road-dog life that shows no signs of slowing. Skaggs has been touring since 1997 with his revolving backing band, dubbed the Kentucky Thunder, a crew more than willing to support their leader’s impeccable taste and technique. Then there is Skaggs’ mastery of genre, which critic Robert Christgau succinctly described back in 1983, the same year the Kentuckian won the first of his many Grammys: “Nothing if not an astute traditionalist, Skaggs understands that what makes country music go is the tension between heaven and hell.”
That tension is there in Skaggs’ pair of Christmas albums, which include his takes on staples like “Joy to the World,” “White Christmas,” “Silent Night,” The First Noel” and more. In a world gone mad, there’s something reassuring about Skaggs’ straightforward, largely acoustic-based takes of these holiday classics. And, as consistent as the change in seasons, he and his band are back for a Christmas tour through the heartland.
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder play Memorial Hall on Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. More info: memorialhallotr.com.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Dec. 10 print edition.
This article appears in Dec. 10-23.