Ricky Skaggs

The Kentucky mandolinist who took bluegrass to the top of the country chart in the 1980s, with "Country Boy".

From Ralph Stanley to the Opry

Ricky Skaggs was born on July 18, 1954 in Cordell, Kentucky. His father gave him a mandolin at about five, and the Country Music Hall of Fame says Bill Monroe invited him onstage in 1959 to sing "Ruby", while Wikipedia says he was six; at seven he appeared on the Martha White television show with Flatt and Scruggs. From about 1970 he played with Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys alongside Keith Whitley, then with the Country Gentlemen and J.D. Crowe and the New South, and formed Boone Creek in 1976 with Vince Gill and Jerry Douglas. In 1977 he joined Emmylou Harris's Hot Band and arranged her 1980 album Roses in the Snow.

His solo career began in 1980. Waitin' for the Sun to Shine (1981, Epic) won two CMA awards and Highways and Heartaches (1982) is his only platinum album per Wikipedia; he joined the Grand Ole Opry in May 1982 and was CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1985. His number ones include "Crying My Heart Out Over You" (1981), "I Don't Care", "Heartbroke", "Highway 40 Blues", "Don't Cheat in Our Hometown", "Honey (Open That Door)", "Uncle Pen", "Country Boy" (1985), "Cajun Moon" and "Lovin' Only Me" (1989). He produced Dolly Parton's White Limozeen, sang "Go Rest High on That Mountain" with Vince Gill in 1995 (CMA Song of the Year), returned to bluegrass in 1996 with Kentucky Thunder and founded Skaggs Family Records in 1997. He made albums with Bruce Hornsby (2007), the Whites (2008) and the Brock McGuire Band (2011), produced Hillary Scott's Love Remains (Grammy, 2016) and toured with Ry Cooder and the Whites in 2015.

Wikipedia counts 12 number ones, 8 CMA and 8 ACM awards; his official site calls him a 15-time Grammy winner. He entered the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012, the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2018, and was announced for the National Medal of Arts on January 13, 2021. His memoir is Kentucky Traveler: My Life in Music. Setlist.fm lists 750 setlists, the latest at the Grand Ole Opry House on September 18, 2026.