Ricky Skaggs Announced As Newest Inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame
Ricky Skaggs is the new “Modern Era” inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The announcement came Tuesday morning (3-27) at a press conference in the Hall of Fame rotunda in Nashville hosted by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. Dottie West was also announced as the Veterans Era Inductee, and Johnny Gimble was announced as the Musician inductee.
“I just walked by a huge picture of Jimmie Rodgers, The Singing Brakeman, and went ‘Oh, wow!'” Skaggs said in his acceptance speech. “My God, this is really big. That was my dad’s favorite singer … That’s the greatest thing about music. We don’t do it for the money, we don’t do it for these awards. I came to Nashville to make music, to record.”
Ricky Skaggs also spoke on the importance of preserving the sound of country music.
“I loved coming to Nashville when Nashville was the Nashville that many of us loved so much. It’s changing a lot. We’ve got to change in ways, but we’ve still got to be the same. That’s why people love what we do because we haven’t changed. We honor our fathers, and honor the elders of the music. Just think about all the people that’s in this hallowed room here that we’ve honored, that we’re standing on their shoulders of, that paid a tremendous price so that we could ride around in buses.”
The 63-year-old Cordell, Kentucky native has experienced as diverse of a country music career as anyone, and certainly earns this distinction both from his commercial success, and his commitment to country music throughout his life. Ricky Skaggs was a pupil of Bill Monroe on mandolin, performed in Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys with Keith Whitley, played mandolin and sang harmony in Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band including arranging the music for her album Roses In The Snow, and even played with Flatt & Scruggs at the tender age of seven.
At the same time, when mainstream country in the early 80’s was looking for superstars, Ricky Skaggs answered the call as a front man and reached the very top of the country music mountain. Through the early and mid 80’s, Ricky racked up a dozen #1 hits, and was awarded the highest distinction for a country artist: the coveted the Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year in 1985, one of eight CMA’s he would win in the era.
As mainstream country moved on to bigger, flashier names in the early 90’s, Skaggs reinvented himself again and reached back to his bluegrass roots to eventually became one of the most revered mandolin players and men of bluegrass that is still alive today. A tireless champion of the roots of country and bluegrass music, Skaggs is a living legend that looms large as a figure that has successfully bridged country’s formative years, its commercial rise, and its current success with class, taste, and musicianship. The Country Music Hall of Fame was built for a man like Ricky Skaggs.
Ricky Skaggs will be officially inducted in a Medallion Ceremony later this year.
March 27, 2018 @ 8:31 am
Perfect choice. It celebrates the strong Kentucky influences going on right now, too. I love it!
March 27, 2018 @ 8:37 am
Excellent! Go Kentucky!!
March 27, 2018 @ 8:37 am
This makes me happy.
I saw Ricky and Kentucky Thunder just a couple of months ago. Hadn’t seen him in over 15 years, I think. Still kicking butt. Also, he does an entertaining impression of Mr. MON-roe’s speaking voice.
March 27, 2018 @ 9:18 am
So funny. I can hear him say it just that way: “Mr. MON-roe.” Its one of the things I like about Mr. Skaggs, is that, no matter how famous he may be, he’s still respectful of those who came before him.
March 27, 2018 @ 8:43 am
And all is right with the world
March 27, 2018 @ 8:44 am
Congratulations to all the winners ! I’ve been a fan of Ricky Skaggs for as long as i can remember. Here’s a recent article about Ricky Skaggs playing at this year’s CMA Fest: http://www.digitaljournal.com/entertainment/music/ricky-skaggs-to-perform-country-classics-at-2018-cma-music-fest/article/518012
March 27, 2018 @ 8:46 am
” Show me where I start, find a horse and cart. I’m just a country boy…country boy at heart.”
Way to go ! Ricky earned his place.
March 27, 2018 @ 9:33 am
That’s exactly what came to my mind when i heard the news . What a great song!
March 27, 2018 @ 10:17 am
Great song and a great video to go along with it. Having Bill Monroe playing Ricky’s ‘Uncle Pen’ was just a stroke of genius and a great way to honor the man. And it probably introduced Mr.Bill to a whole lot of younger folk who might not have been familiar with him. I laugh out loud every time I think of him showing the break dancers how they do it in Kentucky. Congratulations to Ricky Skaggs. He is definitely deserving of this honor.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:09 pm
What was funny about that video is that it was made into a celebration of New York City–including skyscraper offices, Times Square, black kids break dancing on the subway–and then-Mayor Ed Koch!–with Bill Monroe taking it all in. Definitely an all-time classic!
March 27, 2018 @ 9:03 am
About time!
March 27, 2018 @ 9:12 am
Congrats Ricky and Johnny.Most of all congrats to Shelly West on her great momma Dottie West being inducted.Long over due honor.Shelly fought long and hard to get her momma inducted in the hall of fame,an effort well won.
March 27, 2018 @ 9:15 am
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder were instrumental to my introduction to bluegrass. The Brand New Strings album is a cornerstone. After devouring his bluegrass stuff, I discovered Mr. Skaggs’ 80s country material. That stuff was great, too.
I’ve seen him live twice now, most recently last fall in Elkins, WV and they’ve both been superb shows with plenty of fast pickin’. (The Elkins show was memorable, too, because it was the first bluegrass show for my daughter and we got a great picture of her and Mr. Skaggs following the show.)
I’m sure there were plenty of worthy candidates for the Hall and, perhaps, some more worthy than Ricky Skaggs. But, for me, this is what I was hoping for. I’m happy to see a respecter of those who came before (especially in bluegrass) and an elder statesman of the genre earn this honor. Congrats to Mr. Skaggs!
March 27, 2018 @ 9:17 am
So I was 2 for 3 (ish) on my predictions. Dottie West tripped me up, but it’s very well-deserved. I did have her in contention, but I thought this would be Hank Jr.’s year in the Veteran’s category. Now it’s pretty clear they may never put him in. Perhaps that’s the price he pays for showing indifference to the institution. And he’s not the only one. Barely anybody gives a damn about these nominations. The Country Hall of Fame announcements are basically dead on arrival these days. There’s no buzz whatsoever like you get with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Doesn’t help when two of your new inductees are dead, and none of them have the “buzz” factor you need for folks to pay attention. But still. The Hall of Fame should really work to create interest in this important moment each year. Half the seats at the Hall of Fame press conference were empty. There’s a reason nobody cares. The CMA and Hall of Fame should work on that.
March 27, 2018 @ 9:34 am
Do we really want that?
making a huge buzz is going to invite media insects and media insects and money-scroungers are the reason top 40 Country is so bad.
do we really want to invite more persons who would tell us to “make it cooler?”
do you want Luke Bryan getting inducted? because that’s how you get Luke Bryan inducted.
I think if we want to keep it sacred we should keep it exlcusive and not try to make it a publicity thing.
March 27, 2018 @ 10:28 am
Yes Fuzzy I wanted Luke Fucking Bryan to be inducted this year.
I don’t know what you’re talking about with “media insects,” but the whole point of inducting someone into the Hall of Fame is to create a buzz around their names and help preserve the legacy in people’s minds. The CMA and Country Music Hall of Fame have made the Hall of Fame process so exclusive, it’s almost like the public and the media is a bother to their private club. The medallion ceremony is private, media credentials are so hard to get for the announcement most folks don’t even come, and the announcements fall flat. Today we should be reflecting on the legacies of these three artists. But unfortunately, the public barely even cares because they have no sense of ownership in the process.
March 27, 2018 @ 10:47 am
of course their a bother.
the whole point of this is to keep it exclusive.
and if the media gets involved there will be movements and dissent and pretty soon there will be appeals and they will collect signatures to get first four and then six people in every year and pretty soon it will be like the Rock’n’Roll HoF and be a joke because too much money polluted the exclusivity.
the minute it becomes a major media money-maker the nincompoops and fop-doodles will be swarming the place and pretty soon all that money will grease the chute and with that many people it will be harder and harder to keep it exclusive and pretty soon the HoF is under pressure to let first Shania and then Taylor Swift in and then boom Puke Bryan.
Honestly?
wouldn’t it be better to keep it so exclusive that even Freddy Fender never gets in if it means preserving the sanctity of the institution?
March 27, 2018 @ 11:00 am
“and if the media gets involved there will be movements and dissent and pretty soon there will be appeals and they will collect signatures to get first four and then six people in every year”
That’s not happening now? You need to get out more, Fuzzy.
March 27, 2018 @ 11:51 am
Fuzzy,
I’d a heckuva lot rather see Freddy go in than Elvis, Barf Looks, The Everly Brothers, etc.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:56 pm
I love Elvis and I think he did a lot of great COVERS of Country songs.
but that’s what they were.
he grew up around blues and early rock’n’roll and around Country music but his Country covers were never too far removed from his other influences.
I don’t mind so much that Elvis is in there.
Garth Brooks does some actual Country Music and does it well but he’s got too many goofy songs and gets a bad rep for his stage theatrics so it’s kind of a case of digging through shit for a couple of diamonds.
The Everly Brothers aren’t Country.
I think they did some great music.
but none of it’s Country Music.
March 27, 2018 @ 7:55 pm
Is there anything within the last 30 years that you haven’t hated? Your relentless negativity on every single thing gets more than a little tiresome.
March 29, 2018 @ 9:19 am
WTF is a fopdoodle?
March 27, 2018 @ 4:14 pm
Well. history would seem to tell us that Luke Bryan in about twenty years or so will be in the Hall of Fame. When all the current hall selectors are dead we will be left with the movers and shakers that think Bryan and Rhett and Hunt are the future of country music. The most successful acts of every generation usually get in the hall. Maybe, no hopefully, that will change but I wouldn’t hold my breath hoping for it.
March 27, 2018 @ 5:36 pm
There is a zero percent chance Sam Hunt will ever get in. None. Zero.
The guy had a monster hit last year, arguably one of the biggest songs in the history of the genre, and he was completely snubbed by the CMA’s- same thing happened to him in 2015 when it was expected the New Artist of the Year award would go to him, and it went to Stapleton instead.
It’s no secret in my opinion that the CMA’s don’t hold a high opinion of him or his music- and considering how he may not do music for much longer, and the subsequent rise of Stapleton and more traditionally-leaned performers, I don’t see much of a chance for him to get in.
March 27, 2018 @ 5:48 pm
Never said Hunt would be in. The question was about Luke Bryan.
I simply said that the decision makers would be people that think guys like Hunt are the future of country music.
Someday the likes of Shane McAnally will be in the roles of Vince Gill as elder statesman.
March 27, 2018 @ 5:58 pm
Luke Bryan will be a Hall of Famer. We can shake our fists all we want, but that day will come. I think where a hard line could be drawn is with acts like Florida Georgia Line and Sam Huint. We’re already seeing great pushback on Florida Georgia Line with them getting consistently losing awards to Brothers Osborne, even though FGL is far and away the most commercially superior duo. I also think Sam Hunt will be very polarizing when it comes his time, and there will be many pushing back on his inclusion. Of course his career is much younger, so what happens in the next decade could determine stuff.
I also think country music will go through an asterisk era like baseball. The Bro-Country era will be like the steroid era. Some will clearly get in like Luke and Jason Aldean. Others will receive great blowback and will (hopefully) be left out.
March 27, 2018 @ 5:59 pm
Yes, award shows hate Sam Hunt, never a good sign for the future Hall of Fame consideration.
March 27, 2018 @ 6:42 pm
Doesn’t his career have to have staying power? at this point he’s about to start into a drop-off…
i mean, most hall of famers do a lot more than just have a few hits.
March 27, 2018 @ 6:51 pm
Well he’s been around since 2007 and just had I believe his 18th number one hit and wouldn’t seem likely to drop off in the near future at least. Plenty of greats didn’t have that level of commercial success. And needless to say I don’t consider him a great in quality of music but he has been arguably the biggest star the last few years and that historically would get him in. Lots of people we would be appalled at will make it in eventually. Chesney, Urban, Shelton just to name three are locks.
March 27, 2018 @ 6:53 pm
Bowel movements, not words, are the only thing that can truly express how triggered and micro-aggressed I am at the very thought of Country Music butchers like Aldean and Bryan getting in, especially Aldean.
There’s front porch pickers around these parts who sing better than either of those deviants, and they actually love Country Music will all their hearts, but have no chance to ever sniff a record deal. It’s a sorry world in a lot of ways.
March 27, 2018 @ 10:39 pm
It’s one thing that jokers like Aldean and Bryan get played on what is supposed to be “Country” radio. It would be another thing entirely for them to be inducted into the hall of fame.
That would be a goddamn joke and an outright embarrassment.
If it does happen, I would argue Trigger failed in his mission to save country music. But he seems resigned to accept that “inevitability”.
Seriously…Are we still in the United States of America?
What the fuck is going on????????
March 27, 2018 @ 11:05 am
They will put Hank Jr. in after he dies just to spite him I think its bullshit he probobably has sold more albums than ricky skaggs and dottie west combined I know he has sold more concert tickets ………. Back in 1985 when ricky skaggs was the cma entertainer of the year he was opening shows for Hank Jr. whom the the cma hated then and they still hate today
March 27, 2018 @ 12:13 pm
I seem to recall them giving Hank Jr. of couple of Entertainer of the Year Awards.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:23 pm
Yes, after merle Kilgore took over Hanks managemeant and such unlikely allies like the media pointed out that Hank was outselling about everyone and the people winning the cma awards were opening his shows… very true they did give him a few but they were along time coming he should have one them for a decade
March 27, 2018 @ 12:05 pm
I would have bet on Jr. this year, too. He’s playing more dates this summer than … probably the early 90’s. Albeit, most are non-headlining slots. But, it would have been a nice victory lap for him.
I just don’t know what HOF means in entertainment or sports. Someone being in or not has no bearing on me whether or not I like that artist anymore or any less.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:15 pm
actually the majority of them are headling slots except the 6 shows on the skynyrd farewell tour
March 27, 2018 @ 12:27 pm
I thought so, too. And that’s how they are listed on Jr.’s site. For example, the July 5th show at Blossom Music Center at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio … Brad Paisley is the actual headliner. You have to got to Blossom Music Center’s site to see that though.That pisses me off. There’s a lot of date like that.
Jr is coming to Pittsburgh with Skynyrd and I was looking for an alternative date where he was the headliner.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:31 pm
This has happened to me a lot lately where I’ve bought tickets for an artists and assumed they were the headliner, but they weren’t. And nothing on their website or social media indicated it was a supporting role.
March 27, 2018 @ 9:28 am
Jack Greene,Jeannie Seely,and Billy Walker are just a few of many who have yet to be inducted in the hall of fame.
March 27, 2018 @ 9:32 am
Good for him! It’s been well deserved for a very long time.
March 27, 2018 @ 9:32 am
Let’s review:
Mandolin
Fiddle
Guitar
Scitar
Cello Banjo
5-String Banjo
Upright Bass
percussion
is there anything this guy can’t do?
undeniably one of the most talented people in the industry second only to Chris Thile.
March 27, 2018 @ 9:59 am
Personally, I’d rank Ricky Skaggs’ musical skills and songs above those of Chris Thile. But I digress…
Congrats to Ricky Skaggs for a well-deserved and hard earned award. And ditto for Dottie! Two of the best!
March 27, 2018 @ 10:24 am
Songs, for sure.
Thile’s progressive but I don’t know his repertoire has any decade-spanning songs like “Country Boy” or has any standout albums like “My father’s son.” my favorite Skaggs album.
from a technical standpoint Thile blows away all comers but when it comes to phrasing and style I think he loses some points.
my top 5 mando masters are
1. Ostroushko
2. Marty Stuart
3. Thile
4. Johnny Staats
5. Either Ashby Frank, David McLaughlin, Jesse Brock, Nathan Livers or Mike Guggino.
Thile has the most technical proficiency of any player BUT his phrasing leaves a lot to be desired at times when he throws in lots of notes. Ostroushko has a more open and space-sensitive playing and Stuart has a lot more slides bends and blue-notes and Thile is just an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-er and that’s great but he tries to do it on “Beneath the Willow” and “Ookpik Waltz” and it sounds too bluesy and complex whereas Ostroushko uses “the space between the notes” as much as the notes themselves.
Ricky Skaggs is stylistically closer to Bill Monroe than most other mandolin players and he knows how to not over do it and to use less notes to say more and at the same time he’s got that “burble” that Monroe uses on fiddle tunes most notably his duets with Richard Greene.
March 27, 2018 @ 4:11 pm
Madozine Radio ( internet) out of Toronto .
Its an education
March 27, 2018 @ 4:12 pm
sorry f2s… MANDOZINE RADIO
March 28, 2018 @ 8:11 am
Sam Bush
March 30, 2018 @ 1:40 pm
Highly doubt Sam Bush can outplay Ricky Skaggs on mando. his fiddling is pretty good.
March 27, 2018 @ 10:15 am
WELL deserved. Time to get Whitley, Gosdin, and Van Shelton in there as well. Way too many forgotten 80’s singers.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:17 pm
And maybe Rosanne and Conley and Rabbitt. I guess you’ve got to make a cut-off somewhere.
March 27, 2018 @ 5:47 pm
ETC deserves to be in, no question. He was definitely more of a “pop” country guy for his time, but he still has one of the best singles track records in the history of country music; nobody except for George Strait and Randy Travis dominated the charts like he did in those days. Heck, Dan Seals deserves to be in there as well. He’s one of the few pop-to-country crossover artists who actually produced excellent country music and exhibited some fondness for the history of the genre. For some reason, and I’m not exactly sure why, 1980’s country singers constantly seem to get the shaft from critics and contemporary fans. Everybody knows the 90’s B-listers, but barely anyone can name a Steve Wariner song from back then.
March 27, 2018 @ 5:51 pm
Yep, where that cutoff comes is the question. It’s so subjective it’s almost impossible to argue. As much as I like Charlie Daniels it’s hard for me to put him above those you mentioned or Hank Jr. Yet there is.
March 28, 2018 @ 8:30 pm
Definitely Sam Bush. And I think Ronnie McCoury is really good.
March 28, 2018 @ 8:34 pm
Crap! My comment was supposed to be in the “mandolin section”.
March 27, 2018 @ 10:45 am
This is well deserved, and it was great to see him be there to accept the honor. I loved his speech. Now bring on his friend Keith Whitley.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:23 pm
I think we need to see the induction of the Stanley Brothers before Keith.
March 27, 2018 @ 10:48 am
Congrats Ricky, a real talent who can sing and play many instruments and who single-handedly revived bluegrass in the 80’s.
Now Dwight and Whitley will surely be the next ones for the Modern Era.
March 27, 2018 @ 11:53 am
Don’t disagree with Skaggs, but I’m starting to believe Hank Jr. is being punished.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:10 pm
Very likely Hank Jr. goes in via the Veterans Era at this point, so I’m not sure he was up for an up or down vote with Skaggs. Skaggs has felt like he’s been on the bubble for the last five years. He was the closest thing to a shoo-in in the Modern Era.
I think the CMA learned their lesson with the flap after asking the media not to talk politics at the CMA Awards, as well as the Mike Huckabee appointment. If they don’t induct a woman this year, and instead induct Hank Jr.—who is a very polarizing political character on the right—there is a media uproar about the Hall of Fame being so male dominated. That’s just the environment right now. I’m not arguing against the pick of Dottie West whatsoever. But if you’re a voter and you’re looking at those two names and have just had your teeth kicked in twice in the last six months, you make the safe choice. I think that was a big player here.
Also, Dottie had people lobbying for her. Hank Jr. has said publicly he doesn’t give a shit. Though trust me, Hank Jr. loves himself and he’d love to be doted on some more. But the CMA committee loves to be doted on too, and lobbied and curried to feel important, and often rewards those who make them feel special.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:27 pm
Totally agree with you on the Veteran vs Modern categories, I just left this comment here because this article is being read by more people than the Dottie article.
March 27, 2018 @ 12:37 pm
Trig,
I’m not a fan of forced diversity, and I have no fear of the crybabies who demand it. Plus, to me, he just feels bigger than either of the two that got in.
However, if I did believe that way, there are several women I’d put in before Dotty West.
March 27, 2018 @ 3:44 pm
I think with each year he doesn’t get in it increases the chances that he will never make it or at least not until after he dies. There will always be a Dottie West type that could be realistically put in ahead of him and obviously in the modern category there will always be new younger people coming eligible over time.
I guess one could say he made his own bed with his outspoken ways but I don’t like it when these types of things become about things other than the music and the impact the artist in question had on country music.
March 27, 2018 @ 11:53 am
He should be the epitome of Elder Statesman for country music-
March 27, 2018 @ 5:16 pm
Along with Marty Stuart.
March 27, 2018 @ 9:13 pm
Seriously? Marty Stuart is a great historian and flame keeper but he doesn’t have shit on Hank Jr.
Not the hits, the years of performing live, the live show numbers, the pedigree. Not shit.
March 28, 2018 @ 6:05 am
That’s what I meant, flame keeper or elder statesman. He’s still out there every day getting it done. It wasn’t about HOF. Look at the post I was replying to.
March 27, 2018 @ 1:58 pm
Well-deserved, happy for him! He’s such a lover of this music, I’m sure he feels the honor deeply.
March 27, 2018 @ 3:47 pm
Well deserved honor. Always thought it too bad that his peak years were so short in the mainstream. Like so many others he was sort of washed out around 1990 and he went on to make tons of great music after that but I wish his impact could have continued in the mainstream through the 1990s.
March 27, 2018 @ 4:27 pm
In a big picture comment I continue to be so unimpressed with this process. The yearly guessing game about which categories various people fall into is ridiculous and the absolute adherence to three and apparently only three nominees each year is so artificial. Not suggesting they put in 12 artists every year but maybe some years there are four or five worthy but no we get three. Just seems like a screwy system that one of these years is going to rob some deserving artist of the honor of enjoying this achievement because they dilly dallied around and the obviously worthy artist died.
March 27, 2018 @ 10:34 pm
Kudos to Mr. Skaggs, surely a well deserved honor.
Regarding the comments further above regarding Luke Bryan inevitably getting inducted someday…
That would mark the official and absolute death of country music as we know it, as if it isn’t already on life support. I hope I’m not around to see that happen. If I am I’ll need some really strong whiskey.
March 28, 2018 @ 4:26 am
“…performed in Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys with Keith Whitley, played mandolin and sang harmony in Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band including arranging the music for her album Roses In The Snow…”
Yes, and that alone was a good reason to choose him. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Roses In The Snow is my second favorite of her albums, together with the live album she recorded with
The Nash Ramblers at the Rymans. (Favorite album is “Wrecking Ball”)
This is one several videos of her and “The Hot Band” that you can find on youtube. I choose this one because Ricky Skaggs has just become a member of the Hot Band and plays in it.
https://youtu.be/1Lxvhl02oe4
March 28, 2018 @ 8:40 pm
Well deserved honor for Ricky. Very happy for him.
Have seen RS and Kentucky Thunder twice, and hope to see them several more times.
March 29, 2018 @ 3:58 am
I wish I could see them too but I live in Sweden so that will probably never happened… I saw Emmylou in Gothenburg the fifth of april 1980. But I can’t remember if Ricky was still a member of the Hot Band, he may been, since ” Roses In The Snow” was realest just about a month later.