Ricky Skaggs heads Crisfield Bluegrass & Sunset Festival, set for June 17th
Just more than three years ago, this magazine published an article titled “Searching for That High Lonesome Sound,“ a nod to the region as “a hotbed for old-time, acoustic Americana music.” Setting out to satisfy that yearning, coastal bluegrass lovers will converge June 17th on Maryland’s Eastern Shore at Somers Cove Marina for the Crisfield Bluegrass & Sunset Festival.
The production is the vision of accomplished local musicians Tim and Savannah Finch (appearing on the show’s bill with the Eastman String Band). The idea for this now much-anticipated event began as far back as 2020, when the musical duo fell in love with Crisfield during a visit by boat. They had a vision and enlisted their friends, Glenn and Gretchen Tampkin, to help bring it to life. And now, the festival finally comes to fruition with none other than Ricky Skaggs as the event’s headliner.
What follows are highlights from our lengthy phone conversation with the Country Music Hall-of-Famer, detailing how he got started in the business, which led to appearances with the greatest names in country and bluegrass history.
We spoke in advance of his appearance at the festival with his band, Kentucky Thunder, as the show’s headline act.
Bluegrass Music A Family Affair
“The recordings of Bill Monroe [considered ‘the Father of Bluegrass’] was the music of my childhood. I learned to play the mandolin at age five. My dad, a welder by trade, was in Lima, Ohio, one of the several places where he boarded to be closer to finding work. He never liked being away from the family, but it was good money at that time, and we needed it.” Once, on a return home, Ricky’s dad gave the boy an old mandolin “he had bought in a pawn ship somewhere” and laid it in his son’s bed. “I woke up and put my hands around it and just plucked away at the strings. I just loved the way it sounded, and it really resonated in my heart.”
Ricky continued, “My mama always had the radio tuned to the music of Bill Monroe, Carter and Ralph Stanley, (Lester) Flatt and (Earl) Scruggs, as well as George Jones, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams, to name a few. She came from a family who played music together for their own fun. The year after my dad gave me that mandolin, he and I played some together. He played guitar and I strummed on the mandolin. After I’d been playing at places like the fronts of the grocery store and the post office, we went to see Bill Monroe at a little high school in Kentucky. We just went to watch, but some of my neighbors in the crowd started shouting, ‘Let little Ricky Skaggs sing a song!’ After a couple of those outbursts, Mr. Monroe finally said, ‘Get on up here,’ very matter-of-factly—not knowing how little I really was—and pulled me up about four feet onto the stage. He asked me what I played, and I told him the mandolin. He took his off and put it around my neck, and we played and sang ‘Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man,’ a popular Osborne Brothers song. Everybody knew it, and thank God the band knew it, too. So, the crowd was happy.”
Grand Ole Opry-Bound
“When I was seven,” Ricky recalls, “Dad moved us to Paradise, Kentucky, just outside Nashville, mostly because he wanted me to get on the Grand Ole Opry.” Eventually, he got his wish. “Earl Scruggs was backstage at the old Opry House, the Ryman. He had seen me play and asked my dad to move me to Nashville to appear with him and Lester Flatt on Earl’s television show. Well, there I was, seven years old, and doing two songs with Flatt and Scruggs.”
Unexpected Opportunities
“After that, door after door started to open. We had moved back to Kentucky, when I got to meet the Stanley Brothers. Carter Stanley called me up to do a song on their show. After Carter passed away, I connected with Ralph again when Keith Whitley and I were singing together. We went to meet up with Ralph and play with him at some beer joint, but his bus had a flat tire, and he was late. I don’t know how the owner found out, but he knew we played music, and after my dad drove us there, the man asked us to play a few songs until Ralph arrived. So, we did. We were singing Stanley Brothers songs when, 20 minutes later, Ralph walked in. We became the best of friends, and he hired us to go with the band, and we stayed with him for about two years. We didn’t want to go back and finish high school. At least I didn’t. It was a great time in my life, and I learned so much from Ralph Stanley. You can’t make up this stuff, but that’s how it happened.”
Behind-the-Scenes Backstage at the Ryman Auditorium
One of Ricky’s most vivid memories from his professional life came, once again, at the Grand Ole Opry. He had been asked to assemble a bluegrass show, and “To my knowledge,” he revealed to me, “no one has heard this story before.”
“Among the folks I had enlisted were Earl Scruggs, Benny Martin, and Bill Monroe. Roy Huskie, Jr. was there, too, and was a big help, and I was playing Lester Flatt’s part on the guitar to accompany Earl’s banjo. Backstage in the dressing room where we were to rehearse before the show, Monroe was asleep, Earl’s hands were shaking, and Bennie was talking strangely, not making much sense after having had some sort of surgery. I had no idea how this was going to turn out. Just before we went onstage, I thought, ‘This can’t be happening.’”
Well, when we went onstage, Mr. Monroe was dancing, Bennie was talking just fine, and Earl’s hands were steady as a rock. And the show went on without a hitch. Again, you just can’t make up this stuff.”
See you all at the festival!
Crisfield Bluegrass & Sunset Festival
When: Saturday, June 17, noon to 10 p.m. Where: Somers Cove Marina / Jersey Island at Crisfield, Maryland Lineup: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Tribute to Doc Watson, Seldom Scene, Danny Paisley & Southern Grass, Eastman String Band, and more Tickets: starting at $45
Additionally, there will be food, beverage, music, and craft vendors on site. For full details and to purchase tickets, visit crisfieldbluegrass.com.
