photo by Ray Tharaldson
all rights reserved
Written by Rich KienzleRicky Skaggs, who's appearing at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburg, PA Saturday at 8 PM with his band Kentucky Thunder, grew up in rural Kentucky with parents who loved bluegrass music. When he was five, he harmonized with his mother and got his first mandolin (1959). A year later, he played with Father of Bluegrass onstage hen Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys performed in nearby Martha, Kentucky. Monroe even placed that famous 1923 Gibson F-5 mandolin around the six year old's neck.
A year later, the Skaggs family moved to Goodlettsvile, Tennessee and Ricky had appeared on the Grand Ole Opry as a guest (where some officials disliked the fact he sang adult tunes and not kids' songs) and on the Lester Flatt-Earl Scruggs syndicated TV show sponsored by Martha White Flour.
photo by Ray Tharaldson
all rights reserved
Note Lester just ending a Martha White commercial when Ricky saunters up, and take note of his hot mandolin picking on the Flatt-Scruggs original "Foggy Mountain Special," basically just a 12-bar blues complete with a quote from "Yankee Doodle."
In 1969. back in Kentucky, Skaggs met singer-guitarist Keith Whitley, who was the same age and had a similar musical bent. The two became brilliant harmony singers, so much so that when they joined Ralph Stanley's band, Stanley brought back numbers he hadn't sung since his brother Carter Stanley died in 1966. Skaggs and Whitley worked with Stanley over summer vacations until they graduated high school and joined Stanley's band fulltime. Whitley later became a mainstream country star in his own right before dying from alcoholism in 1989.
On this 1980 performance, Skaggs, then with Emmylou Harris's Hot Band, perform "Hello Stranger," a traditiojnal tune from her 1977 Luxury Liner album (recorded before Skaggs joined her)
photo by Ray Tharaldson
all rights reserved
In '85, Skaggs made this video to accompany his single "Country Boy," written by guitar legend Albert Lee, known for his fiery country and rock playing. Skaggs managed to get friend and mentor Bill Monroe to appear in the video. It marked a dramatic change for the seminal musician. For most of his career, Monroe projected a stiff, highly formal public persona.
photo by Ray Tharaldson
all rights reserved
He loosened up considerably after he beat colon cancer in the early 80's and projects like this one showed him emerging from his shell, with Skaggs' help. His video character of "Uncle Pen" is an in-joke, referring to the famous Monroe tune "Uncle Pen," the famous musical tribute to Monroe's real-life fiddling uncle, who helped inspire his vision of bluegrass.
photo by Ray Tharaldson
all rights reserved
In 2008 Skaggs Family Record released Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 & 1947. That title may be a bit awkward, but in this video he makes some very valid point about younger bluegrass fans being unware of the music's founding fathers.
The Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival will cover most of the musical bases -- rock, rap, pop, gospel, country and zydeco, among them -- when it sets up shop in Point State Park for 10 days in June.
Produced by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the 52nd festival will open June 3 with The Blind Boys of Alabama and include such headliners as the Tom Tom Club, Buckwheat Zydeco, Ricky Skaggs and Brandi Carlile.
The concerts are free to the public and will begin at 7:30 p.m., with the exception of the Sunday performances which begin at 6 p.m
For more information contact:
No comments:
Post a Comment