In our book, the return of bluegrass and gospel music legend Ricky Skaggs to Lawrence County’s Septemberfest ranks right up there with Tom T. Hall’s decision to again perform in his native Olive Hill after an absence of many years.
When he was just beginning to gain national attention in the early 1980s, Skaggs annually returned to his native Lawrence County to perform at Louisa’s biggest community event of the year.
However, because of a rift between Skaggs and organizers of Septemberfest, Skaggs ceased performing at the annual event in Louisa in the mid-1980s, and as far as we know, has not performed in Lawrence County since.
But that’s about to change. Skaggs Family Records has confirmed the highly-acclaimed artist will perform live in Louisa at 9 p.m. on Sept. 11. The community should turn out in large numbers to applaud the return of Skaggs, who ranks right up there with former Gov. Paul Patton as the most famous Lawrence Countian since former U.S. Chief Justice Fred Vinson.
Skaggs was born in 1954 in the rural community of Blaine and was recognized for his skills as a virtuoso mandolin player at an early age. Local musicians still tell stories of Skaggs performing live as a young child standing on a milk crate to make him tall enough for his instrument to be picked up by a microphone. At the age of five he played with bluegrass icon Bill Monroe, and a year later performed with the legendary duo of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs on the Martha White country music variety hour.
As a teen, Skaggs teamed up with another prodigious young musician, the late Keith Whitley of Sandy Hook, and both were later invited to become members of Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys. With initial success as a country musician, Skaggs embraced his traditional bluegrass roots and began experimenting with new sounds as part of his band Kentucky Thunder. While most-often recognized as a mandolin player, Skaggs is also proficient as a guitarist, fiddler and banjo player.
Skaggs’ music and contribution to the industry has been recognized with numerous Grammy Awards, IBMA Awards, CMA Awards and designations including Billboard magazine’s Artist of the Year, and CMT’s “40 Greatest Men of Country Music.”
At one time, Tom T. Hall performed annually in Olive Hill, but like Skaggs in Lousia, differences with local leaders caused him to not only cease his annual concerts, but also to remove items from a small Tom T. Hall Museum in a caboose in the middle of Olive Hill. But Hall last year returned to Olive Hill to perform in the renovated auditorium at the old Olive Hill High School, located high on a hill overlooking the small town.
Just as Hall’s return was a sign that the famed singer, composer and story teller had made peace with those in his home town, so does Skaggs’ slated return show that the singer has patched up his differences with those in his native community.
Both the return of Hall and of Skaggs are proof of the adage that time can heal all wounds. And that’s a good thing.
