Ricky Skaggs Interview

I am Mitch Gallagher welcome to Sweetwater's guitars and gear we have a very special guest with us here today this is Ricky Skaggs great to see good to see you Mitch I appreciate you adhering to the memo because we're telling you it was amazing how did we do that I don't know this is not the shirt I wore on dan Rather either just in case I think I've only got one shirt that's got little rings in it well you know dan Rather mieze yeah that's right a day on video all right we're so glad to have you here great to be here you're doing a concert here in town with the Gettys yeah an Irish they like modern-day hem riders and there's a great great group there from a Belfast and they live in Nashville part of the year and but they're wonderful singers and songwriters and of course they they bring the best musicians of Ireland with them when they come so write really good ones Keith was over get somebody you're going didn't interview with us that's great what an amazing guy that's really exciting but you're becoming a Fort Wayne regular you were here just a couple weeks ago to the concert yeah we did we had a great time yeah we loved it the guys got to come the band got to come and and actually take a nice tour here and I decided to sleep in I had had about eight days on the road and in early mornings and late nights so I decided to does want to I had some badly needed sleep but I needed to catch up on right it's a terrible you know terrible excuse it wasn't an excuse it was a necessity all you got to do that 64 you sleep so we've had a number of what I would say our child prodigies here but you may be the the one who started the youngest was a tree or singing harmony with your mother at three years old I was I was singing harming them with mom and that's kind of what got my dad interested in getting me a mandolin because my dad had a brother that was killed in World War two and when they were kids they played together my dad played guitar and my uncle his brother played mandolin right and and sang harmony with my dad and I think my dad kind of made one of those inner vows that if you know if he ever had a son or daughter that showed musical interest at all he would get him a mandolin and that's what he did he he was working up in Lima Ohio he was a welder and a little pawn shop around the corner from the little boardinghouse he was living in you know up there and stay for three or four days and he'd drive home and and so he went and found this mandolin not this one but a mandolin for like five bucks and brought it stuck it in my bed about six o'clock in the morning you know right and I woke up there it was you know and it was amazing it just fell in love with the sound of it you know and because at three years old you don't really have a whole lot of musical heroes you know and you're just kind of listening to things that mom and dad is listening to in around the house and but when I heard the sound of that mandolin then I was able to detect it and find it you know and on the radio and records and that kind of thing and and the guy that was most famous you know playing mandolin at that time was Bill Monroe for bluegrass and country music so started really listening to him and then that was five you know five years old had bought me that and then when I was six mr. Monroe came to a little town a little small burg you know a village kind of place up above before we lived called Martha Kentucky and it came to the high school and we went up there I didn't even take a mandolin with me I didn't take it you know I just went up there to see him and and the neighbors in the hood started shouting out little little Ricky Skaggs get up and sing a song you know and after about three or four of those I think mr. Monroe was ready to put a stop to it you know so what can be worse come on get this kid up here you know and so stage is about as tall as this one of me it's amazing looks it looks a lot like it you know and so he reached down and pulled me up you know set me on a stage and said what do you play there boy and I said oh man and so he took his f5 sized mandolin that really really looked so much like this mandolin right here at the time that would have been about 1961 mhm and so and I I'm glad they knew one song that I knew Ruby are you mad at your man because my mother had pointed her finger at me right before I left the audience and said don't you sing that pinball song if you get up there I knew that that song about the pinball machine and it caused me bad luck you know it's an old country song but thank God they knew Ruby are you mad at your man and so I did that and also did that one on Flatt Scruggs next year it's kind of a hit for me anyway yeah six and seven years old yeah your first pro gig it's not a pro gigs you know but you were you were playing professionally by fifteen right yeah I was playing started playing with Ralph Ralph Stanley me Keith Whitley met when we was about 14 and we started hanging out together and playing on weekends he lived in a different County so he went to a different school than me and and but we had we'd get together and play and sang on the weekends and so we heard that Ralph Stanley had a new lead singer Roy Lee sinners and we wanted to go see him so they were coming to this beer joint over in West Virginia across the river you know from Louisa Kentucky so we won't have to get in there so dad took us down there you know and and we did take her instruments that night thank goodness you know and my dad should have got he should have got royalties on the the American Express commercial you know don't leave home without it you know he was I mean he invented that thing you know don't tow it out we're not just put him in the car just in case somebody asking her be ready and and he never was a boy scout but he was always ready so anyway we Ralph's bus had a flat tire and they had to fix it and so they called a called the club owner and well the beard went on that Club but truly a beer joint and so he asked us if we you know and how he knew that we played in saying it was crazy I mean we'd never been in there playing him before but anyway said you know y'all get up saying someone told Ralph gets here would be great because the the place was filling up with people to see Ralph and so so we we started singing the only songs we knew Keith and I and it was Stanley Brothers songs which was kind of weird Ralph would come walking in and you know 45 minutes later and we're singing singing he and Carter's songs when they were kids you know and Ralph told me many times he said I I really thought they were playing the jukebox he said I really thought it was mining Carter's old stuff to tell you that you and Keith play those things and because Keith's brother played it was playing banjo and my dad was playing guitar and Keith was playing guitar so because I play some fiddle in place I'm mandolin then and so anyway it was it was quite a quite a first 1516 years you know getting to work with Ralph I guess till I was about 17 right I moved up to to Washington DC and got a job when I was 18 and just I didn't really quit the business but I just kind of I'm when I left round if I didn't know where I was going was gonna be doing you know I didn't know what my my next deal was and and so the Country Gentlemen want me to play go to New York and record a record with them playing fiddle and I thought fiddle you guys have never had a fiddle on your records you know and shouldn't have been such a smart aleck you know but I didn't mean it that way but it's like that's really strange right but they they'd never used a fiddle but they wanted to they wanted something a little different than they were going to be used my cauldre John the dobro as well so anyway that was for Vanguard Records and so we did that record and went along after that they they wanted to hire me you know full-time and I was really glad to give up the job that I was doing I was an assistant high pressure boiler operator at Virginia electric and Power Company affectionately known as vet oh right and so man I've got stories about that but we don't have time so did you go then from from that group to new south was that next on the it was it was when I left JD or when I left of the country gentlemen JD had called me while I was still living in in Northern Virginia and said Tony was going to be leaving or Larry Larry Toni's brother Larry Roscoe's going to be leaving and they needed a mandolin player you know an antenna singer and I thought about it and I told JD then I said well I'd like I'd like to do more singing because in the country gentlemen I'm playing fiddle and not really getting to play mandolin and I'm not really getting to sing harmony because they got all the harmony covered you know and so but I said just know that I wanted me and Keith want to do a band together cause me and Whitley had been talking for years that we wanted to do our own band since erm you know we left Ralph and he said well that's fine hits come stay here as long as you want to and we have to leave that's fine you know so yeah that'll be good right so I've moved to Lexington Kentucky and took a job with JD and it was he's one of the best things I ever did musically getting worked with Tony rice every night and and we did we did I think it was six nights a week we played uh I guess maybe five nights we I think we had Sunday and Monday off and went back on Tuesdays but good lord we played four shows a night Wow to the same audience so you couldn't just be you know recycling songs for hell you have enough material you know and that was about the time that we we recorded the the new South record that around her that was so incredibly popular you know in so many groups beginnings young groups heard that record and because Tony was such a dynamic guitar player and lead singer and of course we'd hired Jerry Douglas by the Aero to come because JD didn't really want to to have anything other than than us for you know and I and and some of the songs that we were rehearsing on and working on to just to do on the record I said Janie I said man that would be really great to have have dobro on somebody's Irina and I said you know we all think about getting Jerry Douglas you know I said he'd been playing you know I mean Country Gentlemen is he he's really really good you know and he's well aren't with maybe one or two you know and oh we get up there and Jerry just comes in just you know real humble and everything you know starts playing on the songs and okay well that's good well let's play that other one you know that we and he played on that one then he ended up playing on like like six or seven more songs you know right and he just really made a made a place for himself you know because his rhythm plan was so great you know when I because I was you know a mandolin you know when you know is the two in the floor I mean it's the snare drum you know of the beat you know and bass is playing one and three mandolin chop is two and four and so you know when when I was playing a solo Tony's kind of playing more like ones and threes you know on the guitar and JD's kind of rolling you know with a banjo and he kind of missed that missed that drive you know right and so anyway Jerry planned that too and for rhythm on that dobro was just like man that's just the stank it was so so good you know and so that was a that was a great thing because you know Jerry and I had known each other and he came and lived with me for a while you know me and my wife lived with us for a while when we first moved to you know the DC and and we've just been friends he's one of my oldest friends you know and really friends for all these years since God 70 73 all right so that's awesome yeah that's awesome yeah and then Boone Creek Boone Creek right after that yeah you know I kept talking to Whitley you know of Manny are you ready to do a group I don't know I'm working Jimmy Goudreau right now and I said okay okay well so anyway long story we never got that we never got together it with a band but I really did want to start a band I you know I've had it in the back of my mind cause when Tony left to go to California work the David Grisman with the day brisket point at when he left and moved moved out town I hated it so bad because I mean I I hated leaving JD having to replace you know Tony having to replace me singing playing mandolin and singing tenor he saw you had to find a lead singer you had to find a tenor singer and of course Jerry left you know when we put the group together and so I felt sorry for JD you know I mean that's just that was a hard thing but I mean he was you know he thinks on his feet you know and I mean he he had he had a great band together and you know two months I mean there they were doing great you know but so we put Boone Creek together and and and travel all over the country and and that was a that was another really influential group because we were trying to take old old bluegrass tunes and just kind of giving them a shot of insulin or something you know just trying to kick them up a little bit you know and try to do some different arrangements you know on them and that kind of thing and so you know it worked and of course West golden was the lead singer in that band and and Vince Gill was there for a minute or two and but West was a really good songwriter and wrote most all the the new material that we were doing and so we had some new things but we had a lot of cool old things that we were doing you know and and while I was in DC working with a country gentleman I've met Emmy Lou Harrison and Linda Ronstadt met him same party one night at John Starling was a ear nose and throat specialist at Walter Reed you know and and he was in the group called the seldom-seen right I was John Duffy an old ex country gentleman member you know and so John would invite me over if everyone have a pick and you know over his house and so I went over there one I brought my fiddle mandolin and and I had no idea who was gonna be there you know and so I knew Linda Ronstadt was working the cellar door I didn't get down there to see her but I came over a little later in and so she comes in in Laurel gorge she was dating him at the time of the Little Feat and so he came in and we sang and did some you know some Stanley Brothers songs I'm living for other things you know she really loved the she loved the encyclopedia of old music that was up in my noggin she loved that and I loved to sing those harmonies and you know wanted me to show her how to do certain little little twists and turns and how to go from the singing of the third up to the fifth you know how to move up there and how the baritone that's singing the fifth how he would move up and sing you know sing the third right you know from a low up to the third and they would switch parts because the Stanley Brothers did that so effortlessly you know they were the ones really that they didn't come up with that's that sound you know when pee-wee Lambert was in the band they did you know Lonesome River angels are singing in heaven tonight you know fields of turn brown white dove all those were classics you know for the Stanley Brothers because Ralph didn't saying bear Tony's his voice was so high he just he just naturally heard the third over Carter and in peewee Lambert you know he had this yeah this really really hot voice he wasn't he was like a Bill Monroe clone you know it had this really high voice and played this not ever he had an old 1922 Lloyd Loar that I have in my house now thank and anyway but that mandolin recorded all those all those songs and but they they were able to create a sound that was really there's you know nobody else had and to me that's what I think I've when I when I hear the words high lonesome sound because that was that was really that really high singing and mr. Monroe always sung the third nobody sung over him ain't nobody going to sing over me you know and and he didn't really he didn't saying baritone he didn't hear that part you know so anyway he was he was stuck having to saying the third you know and would sing a lead singer to death getting getting them up there you know to sing high but anyway we we just absolutely loved getting to meet Linda and show show her this this stuff and then here comes this long-legged you know beautiful lady you know comes walking in with j-200 and and sits down on the floor just squats down on her knees and start singing and it was emmy lou as my first time to meet her right and we just became instant friends you know and recorded some together and she had just signed with Warner Brothers and Brian Aherne which he ended up being her husband a few years later was that was her producer and so we recorded a whole lot of stuff with you know with George Massenburg up in DC when he was up there and so we caught recorded stuff there and then Brian he would want to you know he had the truck the enact on Tron truck that was in Toronto for so long he moved that to out to Los Angeles and they started recording a lot of stuff out there so I'd fly out there and do records but it ended up being herb and then from 1978 79 until August of 1980 she was about to give birth to her youngest baby girl and and now she's not a baby girl anymore that Megan Emmys daughter and so she said Amy said oh we're taking the year off I said okay so anyway that's when I moved to Nashville and got they got a record deal and got my country country record deal started cuz I I'd started them kind of dabbling around a little bit trying to blend bluegrass and country together right well that was actually when I first discovered you I guess you would say was with the highways and heartaches that woman in fact the band I was in we used to play highway 40 blues oh yeah and heart broke yeah so so tell us I guess what is the difference in your mind between bluegrass and Country well acoustic definitely the you know the acoustic element of country or of bluegrass it's based around an acoustic guitar a mandolin banjo fiddle and acoustic bass that's the elements long before the dobro came into it you know and not that the dobro is not found to found a home in the music certainly has but those were the traditional instruments that that that mr. Monroe used in starting this music and and I tell people bluegrass is is built around a band you know what I'm saying I mean it's a band sound it's band involvement not that country's not involved a country band but you rely on you know soloists you know with with a bluegrass band in country music it's really built around a singer a frontman you know a guy out front and and one of the things I did when I came you know when I came to Nashville and got my record deal with CBS is I wanted to be able to bring the greatness of bluegrass bring the elements of bluegrass and use drums piano steel guitar and blend those with you know with you know the acoustic instruments right and so that worked it really did I mean I had a lot of I took some music around town and played it for you know for some people trying to get a record deal you know back then and and you know people would say you know this music you know this is not you know you can't sell this music you know and in this bluegrass stuff why you got this banjo you know and right and but I kept noticing and I told I told them but they didn't listen but I said you know if banjos and fiddles and mandolins are not ear worms for commercials you know that it these get in people's heads the sound of a man sound of a banjo sound of a fiddle it draws your attention because it's you don't hear it a lot right now and it's got something good going for it because you don't hear it a lot you know just because you don't hear it doesn't mean that it doesn't sell you know why does you know why does American Express why does MasterCard why does all these huge companies Chevrolet forward you know all these people they uses those instruments and their commercials you know and so you know there's something they know that you don't serve and but anyway a lot of that too we were kind of coming off the heels of Emmy Lou's roses in the snow record but but roses in the snow was not really I mean it was truly acoustic you know and and we did you know we would use maybe a kick drum or we might use a guitar case with a microphone Brian Brian Ahern it was just a brainiac with coming up with really cool sounds you know and right and so but he didn't know anything about bluegrass and he you know he'd tell you to this day you know he didn't know anything about recording bluegrass how to get the best sound how to get you know how to Mike it I mean he knew miking but because he was brilliant at that and had some had the best my collection ever but as far as how to produce someone someone's overdubs you know okay Tony I'm gonna take you know let's just take this the first part of the cell will play along I'll take you out you know and and of course that of course we we were doing all analog back then too so there so it was you know it wasn't wasn't you know it wasn't easy in and easy out of rubber splicing tape back in those days but anyway that was the fun part of getting to collaborate with Amy and Brian on the Christmas album you know a lot of us table and then roses in the snow her bluegrass record and Warner Brothers had a fit when she turned he turned you know roses in the snow and I said what is this and she said this is my new record you know and there just kind of look at each other like no right this is this is not your new record doesn't sound like luxury liner at all and she said yeah this is what I want to do right and of course Brian he you know he backed her up 100% you know and Mary Martin was the lady that signed her and she was a big a big deal Warner Brothers and so it was like you let him me do what she wants to do you know and so and to to her credit you know the record went crazy and it and it it sold so much in bluegrass I mean the bluegrass people loved it as well you know to hear here's someone that they really loved a lot you know singing the music that they play with their John read music you know so it was it was really cool you know those were great days in formative years you know for sure but that's I don't know if I answer your question about the difference in bluegrass and country but but definitely you know the acoustic part of the music would be attributed more to what you'd call bluegrass and and now that you can't play old-time country front-porch country with a guitar you know on a fiddle I mean that's where I grew up my dad was singing Jimmy Jimmy Rogers songs and you know George Jones and you know and but you know when you think about bluegrass you think about Flatt and Scruggs and Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe and great husband brothers and people like that but when you think about country you really do think that you know if you think about Merle Haggard George Jones Ray Price Webb Pierce you know Loretta Lynn these were artists that were that they they were the lead front people and they had they had a band around them and usually if anyone was taking solos it would be a steel guitar or a fiddle if they carried you know not too many piano solos in those days you know and you didn't hear a lot of you know wouldn't you didn't hear a lot of acoustic guitar solos I mean you'd hear electric guitar solos you know maybe a little turn arounds and stuff like that but it wasn't Albert Lee like what we grew up listening in Levin so right but there that's the difference to me so what was it at that time you've mentioned so many great players 20 rice jerry douglas albert lee frank record right Flacco played with you and of course you as well and all these people what was it at that time that resulted in all these great players appearing was there something going on you know a lot of this was just I think I was in the right place at the right time with the right friends and once I got once I got the blessing from Rick Blackburn you know I mean I I'll tell you the weirdest thing I mean I I had left LA I wasn't I never lived out there I've still lived in Kentucky but I left I left LA and I had like five songs I was working on what he ended up being don't cheat in our hometown I I had like there's a second record for Sugar Hill that I was supposed to do because I'd done sweet temptation I've already done that record and had some success with it for an independent label that did it did pretty good could you love me one more time and I'll take the blame those two two songs we're we're good at country radio I think it got up in maybe the 64 50s or 60 something like that for an independent label and a no-name artist yeah it was it did pretty good but I was doing the second record and so I just had it in my bag I had been working in the studio I was coming to Nashville to work for chat I was gonna be doing some some fiddle things I think oh maybe Jani Fricke's record and I was gonna be singing some harmony met Chet you know with Brian I think it might have been where I met him and anyways Chet started using me you know I'm to do overdubs and sang some stuff and so I was coming there and I I'm in the back of this plane a big ol Hill 1011 Delta I just made the flight I'm I'm all the hit back and right before we take off this flight attendant comes back and says I've got a seat for you up front if you want to come out who do I have to kill I mean there's three stages you know I grabbed my bag I didn't ask her a question I just took off and went up there first class I've never been in first class well I've been in first class but I walked through it I mean I've never said that and so I get up there and I kind of have to go you know to the window and set with this guy he you know I'm sure he was kind of hoping everyone have that for that that flight from LA to Atlanta and so anyway he was he was nice about it but I threw him a bag floor there and and I think I had my fiddle you know I put up overhead and so I'm sitting over there and we take off and not too long and put the Walkman I got this little Walkman that I've gotten from John David salad or I've traded him some tortoiseshell picks for it you know and and and so I got my first Walkman so I'm sitting there listening you know and and finally they start to bring us dinner you know I thought I really get to eat up here god this is really cool and so the guys you know the guy says what do you been listening to I said well it's some stuff I recorded he said well what is it I said what's country you know and I said he said what's your name it's Ricky Skaggs I said I work for Emilio I loved Amy Lu yeah and so yeah I said I love to hear new music he said if you wouldn't mind I'd love to take a listen to it you know I said fine so giving it to him and so I'm cutting my steak you know eating and so I look over there at him and he's going like [Laughter] you know like that you know and he's listening to honey open that door you know and he pulls his phone's off and he said that's you and I said yes sir and he said that could get you a record deal he said that is a hit I'm telling you his name was Jim Massa from from EMI Capitol oh no and he was on his way to Nashville so he said are you going as far as national I said yeah I am he said that well would you mind would you have time to bring that over to capital tomorrow you know I said sure so I get over there and all the capital people are waiting Jim Mazz is there he's waiting and so play the tape he's up rockin and dancing and there was a song called head over heels in love with you there's just kind of a thing at Albert played a lot of guitar on and it's on the don't cheat record and so they love it they're ready to sign they're offering me a deal you know and I said but you know we have to can can we make a copy of this record to send to you know don grierson he said he's our counterpart in LA and he has to he has to agree and we got three labels that you know I'd have to agree on signing anyone I said okay so I'll go back the next day you know and it's just one person in there you know and it wasn't the secretary but I mean there's one person and there's you know and Lynne Schulze and a great guy just greatest guy and he said man they got rocks in their ears they can't hear the crap you know I mean he was so mad he said Skaggs that is that is that's hip music and they said it's fresh and it's country you know it's not you know it's not urban cowboy it's the real stuff you know and he said you got a few minutes and I said yeah he picks up the phone dialed it and Ric black from please so hey Rick this is Lynne yeah up here capital hey I just heard a kid I heard some of his music it is fantastic we can't sign him they got rocks in her head you know he said but he'd be perfect for your label can I send him down he said yeah you know okay well he'll be right down there hangs up the phone 30 minutes later I'm in rip Blackburn's office the head of CBS planning this music who produced this I did okay and I said and I don't have anything to bargain with but the music but that's part that's a that's a deal-breaker for me you know I got it I want to produce this if you like what you were hearing let me finish the record I mean let me keep it going you know and so that's he said after he heard all the all the stuff he said you hungry I said Shh yeah so we go to a little place called Ireland's it was a place that had these little steak and biscuit things you could eat them like take them like aspirin you know I mean it just look so small you know and so we're sitting there and he writes a record deal out on a table napkin says take us to your lawyer you know and I just had got an attorney Mike Nylund me steal my attorney after nearly 40 years later you know right and so that's that's how it worked back then it's not like that now but that's that's how I got with with with Rick Blackburn it at CBS and those were incredibly great great days for me I think promoting bluegrass whilst bring in country music back from years ago because you know I mean Alabama was pretty big at the time and and you know of course Mickey Gilley you know just a lot of you know a lot of girl groups that were doing I mean even Reba was doing more kind of pop sounding music you know the time George Strait hadn't really come out at the time and and and so he and I did the new faces show together and we were on the same show together so it was just a it was a new chapter and so you asked earlier that you know what was happening you know something happening something happening that was happening and I think when I played this stuff for Bruce Bowden still lair and Ray flack they really loved it they wanted to be part of it you know and of course Albert when I was with Emmy Lou he was always you know encouraging you know about my singing and my bluegrass stuff he loved that and as well I'm thinking about trying to blend them together and he saw that would be great you know and who knew that later on I'd record you know his song country border right but anyway but that that was you know right place right time and right flight attendant on the right plane sitting in the right seat and and being faithful to the only God so you he orchestrated it right yeah he sure did awesome awesome you mentioned one of the things that that interests me is is the way that you're both I guess will stay faithful to the traditional bluegrass but you also are always looking to move things forward and one of the interesting things that that I've seen you do is with Bruce Hornsby on piano oh yeah it isn't a real traditional bluegrass congressman talked a little bit about the idea behind that and how that all works out well Bruce and I we met at it was a 4th of July big outdoor show up in Horseheads New York and me and Bruce I was playing for my country band he was there with with noisemakers and and let's say Judy Collins was on that date and Bob Thomas miss American Pie publicly Don McLean he was on that show so that's that's the that's that that was the show you know and so Bruce came back to our dressing room and just kind of introduced himself he just come in said hey man you know and though he said really he said you making some noise out there you know said I love what you're doing he said man he said if you guys want to say we like we like squatters you know he said we would like folks coming in and staying a while you know and I said okay well because we had to be at another date so we couldn't stay you know real late but anyway we go out there and sit stand on the side of the stage and we hear him play a song now go maybe that one he just took some some weird chord change way over here and I thought and and and this time signature changed and I thought what's wait this will like this one out here's me and a banjo playing kid a friend of mine if he played everything but he was from Oklahoma and he said you reckon we'll find one chief it we can play on and I said oh I'm sure we will you know so after a while we I think we finally they did Valley Road you know and they did another couple of things and so we just kind of jumped out there I had my fiddle and and Bill Joe brought his banjo out so that was it and so didn't see Bruce anymore I mean they were still playing when we left you know so I didn't see him anymore I knew he came to Nashville to do the circle to record sort of circle be unbroken and I was on that record too and but we weren't there together but I but I knew he'd been there and so we were talking you know me and some friends were talking about it I hosted a TV show from the Ryman for three years three seasons and it was C T and n had it for a while then I think you know CMT took it and so we we did that and and it was like I was the host and I would play with most every group that came right I was kind of the the traveling either acoustic guitar fiddle or mandolin or sensing and harmony you know I love getting to do that but what the whole concept of the show was was to try to get heroes out there to play with some of the new artists like mark Chesnutt got to play with Ray Price till this day I'm you know mark still loves me for saying with his hero and you know and there was you know people that was singing with you know with Jean Watson and and stuff like that you know and and oh my god and it was just so much fun you know and and so that was kind of you know that was kind of the the concept of the show and so we you know the talent coordinator we got to talking one day she said well Bruce Hornsby he's got a new record out and it's got a picture of Bill Monroe on the front cover him and you know and I thinking it was him and Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington it was on you know and I said oh man what's he done you know and she said well maybe we can get him on and and and y'all can do something guy so I'd be great so so anyway we had Mark O'Connor on that night had Vince Gill on that night and and Bruce and after that performance that we did we we got off and we just said hey you know we got to do this for real you know and we got to do every time we're together we sparks flying we have fun and and so I was recording this this tribute to Bill Monroe after he passed away I kind of I'm still still playing country music at that time so I had my country band we still travel and planned and so I you know I wanted to get I want to let the bluegrass community have the time they needed to do their tributes to mr. Monroe I didn't want to be you know I'm what didn't want a buddy in an elbow in and you know Ricky Skaggs you know doing his big thing so after all those tributes were kind of over then I decided I would do one but I wanted mine to be a little different I wanted mine to be a tribute from artists that had been influenced by Bill Monroe from different genres not just you know not just bluegrass or not just country but the Dixie Chicks Charlie Daniels John John Fogerty you know Travis Tritt Marty Stewart in dolly and people like that so I Steve Warner so in the whites and we just we had a great great great time putting that all together but having Bruce on we did we did dig dig a hole in the middle a darlin quarry down and so we came in to do that and I think second or third take we had it it was like dang that was quick you know and and that's when we really said all right let's do this let's do a record so we put together a you know a bunch of songs and had him come over my studio and so we did it for Skaggs family my record label and and and then after we went out and played that for a year or so on the road and did shows too but support it we started recording a bunch of shows on the road and so we just decided that we're the for the fire really Falls is when we're out playing live right because we do things we take chances out there on live shows that we'd never do in the studio and I don't know why I mean you'd think you'd take more chances in a studio than you would live but you're not inspired to just look at a glass you know right or look at someone with her head down and reading the chart you know it's not too inspiring right so anyway we we did this live record and I called it cluck old hen no banjo and fiddle tenant Bruce loved and but that that was one of the the best records that I got to be ever got to be a part of and and it was just that that combination of his driving piano playing first time I heard Bruce play even like Valley Road and he's original cut of that you know hearing him play piano he was playing this you know and I thought man he's hurt he's hurt Earl Scruggs somewhere in his life because the the roles that he's doing sounds like banjo roles to me and so after we've been together for a little while I said man Jeff Jeff would go out see Earl and he said oh yes and I left or else and you know the reviews and I said me and Randy right friends and so he said yeah me and my brothers used to go bluegrass festivals over Virginia and watch him you know so anyway he just had he just had a love for bluegrass sweet man Kentucky Thunder did a live record called a lot from the Charleston Music Hall right and Bruce got that record and called me and he he was taking these kids to school one day and they were just in the car and he called me up and he had he had I think it's black-eyed Susie I thought he had that thing on stun and he was trying to talk to me at the same time you know and he said that is just so bad man he said that's just the baddest of all bad you know and so anyway I think that was that that really made it want to made him want to do a live record as well right right right that's awesome so I have to ask you through the years you played with so many great musicians and your band Kentucky Thunder always has the whole lineup is always just stellar what do you look for in a musician or what tells you that this is the right musician to add to a to a group well there's a lot of things that go into that I want to I want to hear what they've been playing mm-hmm so nowadays I can hear the you know going to YouTube good lord you can get a you know five-year you know just a plan of you know what these guys have been playing over the years at playing of different people and maybe not in the not in the band that they are playing in that that sometimes will show a musicians ability to think on their feet play off the top of their head something that they may not know just seeing them up in a jam session or something like that so I'll listen to that and you know honestly I mean I do listen to the talent there's no doubt about it you know but then you know I get them in and I want to talk to him I want to get to know him a little bit you know and I want to know their heart I want to know why why they want to be here you know why you know why do you want to be here mm-hm and when Andy left which you know my fiddle players is my nephew-in-law you know and he was with me like 14 years he was such a great fiddle player mandolin player right you know I thought man it's gonna be so hard to you know to to replace him you know in same way with Cody kilby no Cody left there I go with traveling the curries and so you know and it was so funny cuz when Cody left you know he said man Jake workman you've got to call Jake workman he's the guy that can take this you know that's okay oh he said I've got his number right here Cody want to help me so much you know but but he was ready to go you know and and so so I called Jake you know and Jake fainted and then came to think that I would call him but but I'm telling you when I when I met Mike Burnett you know cuz and II had told me you know and he said Mike Barnett he can take this he'd be the guy Jason Carter from dill McCurry's man come and said man if you've heard Mike Barnett he could he could he could eat this you know he can eat this job I'm telling you he can do it you know and so I started looking at YouTube videos with him and Jake Jolliffe and some mandolin players like that and their plan wheelhouse that was just so I mean it was so jazz you know and so so crazy I thought I don't know if they would really like this because we're kind of a traditional band that plays with sass you know right I mean we love playing and playing the old classics you know but I tell you there's so many young kids out there they don't know the classics of bluegrass till they hear it from us and we tell them it's classic oh I didn't know that you sure you didn't write that you know and so you know it's it's all this new stuff now and new technology but but so what I found in Jake and what I found in my bar net their heart they wanted to learn the old stuff they said man you're the guy the guy that's carrying mr. Monroe's legacy you're carrying Ralph you're carrying Carter you're carrying all this music from the 40s and early 50s you know you're carrying this stuff in your heart and you and your music and don't matter what you did in country music you're carrying it in there then too you know but we really we want to learn this stuff we want to you know and and Mike said I want to hear the Fiddler's that that got you excited about playing fiddle you know right and and so that just did my heart good you know and and and to see kids that were humble you know and and another thing they got to be teachable you know if if you know everything and you can't take direction from me or take some advice or something like that it's not that it makes me mad or anything like that it's just like I see I see your heart I see where you are that you you don't want to you don't want to learn anything here you know you just want to you want to have a big stage you know and let people see you you know right and but all these guys I'm telling you they're just they're all humble guys they're all for me you know and when we when when I play better they play better when they play better I play better I mean it's just like it's just this love fest of you know pushing guys out and making them play you know and so that's what I look for I look for people that have a teachable spirit a kind heart and gentle you know and people that are not stuck up and think hey I'm in Skaggs bend down man I don't have you know it's like no you do have to be nice you know you have to be really nice you know right in there because what you do out there reflects on me you know and so there's no drinking before you know before a show you know and zero tolerance on any any kind of drug and that's just the way it is this way it's been and and they want to have a beer a glass of wine after show it's fine with me you know but you know I back in the country days you know rayful akan people other guys would would wear my you know tour jacket it had my name on it you know and they're just tearing up hell you know in a bar somewhere fussing and scrubbing with somebody you know and and Here I am you know my name is out there you know an assistant and the reflection that that has you know from from from the leader of the band some people don't care some leaders this they just they fanned the flames on that you know but man you know my name is way too important to me you know my character is important my life with Jesus is you know is the main thing and so when I when I when I see someone disrespecting that or bringing shame or bringing dishonor to that you know they're not will be around long you know and because it's just not the right place for them right and I do it when they I've never realized most people leave because you know they just want to go somewhere else but you know it's rare that I've that I fire people you know we we work things out we get along and and we played music play hard right yeah awesome one last question for you when I have an artist here that is on the level that you're at and with all the experience and the people you've met I always have to ask what is it that makes a great artist well I don't know that's kind of hard man with a hard one and with a hard yeah I don't know I I think I've tried to be a good listener I try to listen to the audience I try to but I try to listen to the band I try to listen what they're playing and you know I think I think years ago in my blood and my well especially in Boone Creek I think once I had my own band or me and Jerry you know I had the band I think it was like you know the hey man this is ours now we got our own thing you know and and I think that you know of course when I went with Emmy I didn't have my own band anymore so I went back to being a side man and that was good because I you know even though I was playing with one of the top names and you know in the business I learned a lot there you know but you know I think just being young and you know immature I think you can come off as a smart aleck know-it-all you know it's not he knows you know smarty pants and so I don't want to be that and I don't want to be that and and I don't I don't think I am anymore but I think being a good artist you got to treat people good you know you got to treat people good you've got to you know you got to treat your band good you've got to honor them let them play you know one of the things that that I that I used to be such a stickler for is when you know when I had Albert come in play on a solo or something like that or or you know buddy Emmas or Lord Green or somebody play on something you know and it was a it wasn't like a hit record it was Howie 40 blues or it was you know whatever it was I I not demanded but I I wanted the band to play that solo like the solo okay don't be J throw burns you know don't be Django on this okay let's let's stay let's stay with the melody here you know and you know man blowing my groove you know well maybe your groove needs to be blow you know you need to humble yourself son and come under the hand of teaching you know but I said look if you prove to me that you can play those solos then when you're in the studio with me then you can play your own solo you know but don't you know don't buck up at me you know when I asked you to do this because those people just paid 35 bucks for a ticket they paid you know eight 10 bucks for either the CD or the eight track or the album and they've listened to that they've listened that CD or they've listened that song plenty plenty enough times that they know that solo probably better than you do melody wise right so I want you to give them what they bought a ticket to come here you know and they finally got that you know but that was that's kind of some hard going there for you know for a few years just trying to find people that would that was you know that was that way right but you know I don't i look at other artists and i and i see how how they've treated their their audience and everything and you know I haven't always been real good about going out and in and visiting with the crowd or going out and signing autographs and stuff like that I mean we would do that it seemed a music fest and you know they didn't call it that back then they they had another name for it you know but in 2015 I don't know God broke my heart he truly did I just I went through a real heart heart change personally spiritually and you know I lost about 60 70 pounds you know and but in that losing weight it was almost a prophetic picture of I was illusions I was losing some stuff that I just didn't need to carry around you know and a lot of it was you know was just me you know and and so after that in 2015 I started going out after every show I go out and I set at the record table CD now I've got a book you know and I set out there and I sign autographs until the last Amen rings out you know the last persons there and what's the autograph and sometimes it's an hour sometimes it's two hours sometimes it's three but I stay there til it's over with it sure and I talked to them I'll let them talk to me I find out what's going on in their life you know I mean it's like okay other people here I can't you know but I you know I try to be sincere with them and I pray with them sometimes they asked me to pray for them they know I'm a man of faith and and so I take time and pray with people you know out there and and so other people they they don't get mad that they're ones in line they're not hey you're spending way too much time with him people you know they're not like that you know so but I think I think that has made me a better artist I don't know you know when you said what makes a good artist I think this has made me a better artist because I've gotten I've gotten hooked up with the audience a lot more than I used to all right because in the country music days I mean it was a I had a lot of face time on TV back in those days of doing videos all the time and you'd hear me I mean I was records on radio and and so it was it was hard to go to go out and do things you know without just kind of you know getting not mobbed but getting you know getting people in a restaurant or if you go go shop Christmas shopping with the kids you know it's like or go to you know go to a park somewhere you sure and anyway but I'll let that stuff just kind of put fear in me and make me kind of resent some things and didn't want me to be resentful you know about that you know I I want to love people like he does you know and so I had to had to go through a heart change and kind of a transplant so does big a spiritual heart transplant ago yeah that's awesome Ricky thanks so much for spending time with us here today it's such a pleasure to have you here at Sweetwater well I need to interview next time thank you for having me on our pleasure yes good questions well thank you or we hope you'll come back soon we'd love to look to have you here for gear fest or one of our other events and planning on it that'd be great I'd love awesome great to see you appreciate it and thank you for joining me for Sweetwater's guitars and gear be sure to tune in next time a lot more guitars have more and more effects we'll be making lots of music [Music] you

Channel: Sweetwater

Views: 17,730

Rating: 4.9389315 out of 5

Keywords: sweetwater, sweetwater sound, ricky scaggs, mandolin, ricky scaggs interview, ricky skaggs mandolin, ricky skaggs madolinist, ricky skaggs, ricky skaggs interview, ricky skaggs 2019

Id: 0wx9X1sVKaU

Length: 60min 22sec (3622 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 14 2019