While traveling down U.S. Rt. 23, the
Country Music Highway, you will discover that
Lawrence County is the Home of
some well-known Country Music Singers and Songwriter in our area like Ricky
Skaggs and Larry Cordle.
Ricky
Skaggs, of Cordell, Ky., born on July 18, 1954, in
Eastern Kentucky, Ricky was already an accomplished singer
and mandolin player by the time he reached his teens. He
entered the world of professional music with his friend, late
country singer, Keith Whitley. The two young musicians were
taken under the wing of bluegrass pioneer, Ralph Stanley in
1971. Short but significant periods with other top acts came
next. Ricky began to build a reputation for creativity and
excitement through live appearances and recordings with such
acts as J.D. Crowe & The New South. He performed on their
1975 debut for Rounder Records, which was widely
acknowledged as one of the most influential bluegrass albums
ever made. A stint as a band leader with Boone Creek followed,
bringing the challenges of leadership while giving him further
recording and performing experience.
Beginning in the late 1970s, Ricky turned his attention to
country music. Though still in his twenties, the wealth of experience and talent he possessed served
him well, first as a member of Emmylou Harris' Hot Band, and then on his own. With the release
of Waitin' For The Sun To Shine in 1981, Skaggs moved to the top of the country charts. He
remained there through most of the 1980s - long enough to earn a spot in Billboard's Top 20 artists
of the decade and top 100 of the past 50 years. Ricky's popularity (twenty-four singles in
Billboard's Top 20, including twelve #1's) was matched by his esteem among critics and fellow
musicians. The result: eight awards from the Country Music Association, including Entertainer Of
The Year in 1985, four Grammy's, and dozens of other honors. Important as personal successes,
these achievements also placed him front and center in the neo-traditionalist movement, bringing
renewed vitality and prominence to a sound that had been drowned out by bland efforts to cash in
on the urban cowboy fad. Indeed, the renowned guitarist and producer, Chet Atkins, credited
Skaggs with "single-handedly" saving country music.
With a record like that, and with the country music industry's increasingly narrow, crossover-hungry
orientation in the 1990s, the way was paved for a return to country music's most down-to-earth
form, bluegrass. That's the road
Ricky has chosen to take him into the new century. From his
past position as host of the Monday
Night Concerts at the Ryman series on The Nashville Network to his previous role as a master of
ceremonies at the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) annual awards show,
Ricky
has become one of bluegrass' most talented and dynamic performers. With exposure
spanning
from Grand Ole Opry appearances to broadcasting on the Internet, he is one of
bluegrass' most
personable and effective ambassadors.
At the center of Skaggs' emergence as a bluegrass leader stands his album, Bluegrass Rules!. A
true labor of love, it joined Ricky's roots and experience with classic material from the first
generation of bluegrass masters. It also puts the music in the hands of a carefully assembled team that shares his delight in creating a sound at once familiar and excitingly new. Kentucky Thunder
is an all-star band that includes veteran fiddler Bobby Hicks (who performed on many of Bill
Monroe's best-known
recordings), Luke Bulla (fiddle), Paul Brewster (tenor vocals, rhythm guitar), Mark Fain (bass), Jim
Mills (banjo), Clay Hess (lead guitar), and Darrin Vincent (baritone vocals, rhythm guitar). These
musicians, referred to by the press as the "Blue Angels" of music, have the talent, skill, and
dedication to fulfill Ricky's vision of a bluegrass music that can keep up with changing times
with-out losing the essence that makes its fans so enthusiastic. A Kentucky Thunder appearance, with its non-stop, no-holds-barred energy reflecting both sincere enthusiasm and consummate
professionalism. It is an awesome experience, one that brings new and old audiences alike to their
feet.
Beyond its excellence, Bluegrass Rules! is significant as the first release on Ricky's new record
label, Skaggs Family Records, Inc. Skaggs looks forward to overseeing further recordings for his
new label, Ceili Music, by other artists and with an emphasis on bluegrass and other forms of roots
music. With his experience as a producer to draw on (Ricky is one of the few country artists who
has produced his own albums from the start, and has produced for artists as well-known as Dolly Parton) the labels are in a good position to be, as he told an interviewer, "a home to great music."
Though Ricky Skaggs is, as he has frequently said, "just trying to make a living" playing the music
he loves, it's clear that he is in the position to bring this lively, distinctively American form of music
out of isolation and into the ears and hearts of audiences across the country and around the world.
This has rarely been done in the half-century since Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys first gave
shape to bluegrass. Blessed with a close-knit family, an abundance of talent, a lifetime of musical
experience, and a solid band behind him, Ricky Skaggs is well on the way to showing the world
that "Country Rocks, but Bluegrass Rules!" and to reminding people "to not forget those Ancient
Tones."
Ricky Skaggs set a new standard for bluegrass with the release of Bluegrass Rules! in 1997. Since
then, Ricky has been on a mission for bluegrass with non-stop touring, TV appearances, and
countless interviews; wrapping it all up by winning the IBMA 1998 Album Of The
Year.
Ricky topped himself with Ancient Tones, his second bluegrass release, which injects new fire and
energy into the fertile fields of traditional bluegrass. Ricky makes everything old seem new again,
from the hard-core traditional songs to more contemporary arrangements, effectively competing with
the world's best acoustic music.
The most recent testaments of Skaggs' ability to compete in the bluegrass arena are his 1999
Grammy Awards and nominations and the award he received at the Nashville Music Awards in
February 1999. Ricky won two Grammy's in 1999 including Best Bluegrass Album for Bluegrass
Rules! and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for Same Old Train with Marty Stuart, Alison
Krauss and others. In addition, he was nominated for Country Instrumental Performance of the Year
for the song for "Get Up John." Ricky and his band, Kentucky Thunder, have recently received 10
nominations from the 1999 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards.
To learn more about Ricky Skaggs, you can visit
his web site at: SkaggsFamilyRecords.com
.
Lawrence County has also been blessed with a
great songwriter Larry Cordle.
Larry is a U.S. Navy
veteran,
spending four years of service after
high school. After being honorably
discharged, Larry enrolled in
college at Morehead State University
in Morehead, KY. "It was during his
college years that Larry began to tinker
with songwriting while performing with his
own band. Ricky Skaggs was living and
performing by now with J. D. Crowe....
nearby Lexington, KY. He told Larry he
liked some of Larry’s tunes and if and
when Ricky got a record deal, he would
call for some of Larry’s songs. Larry, meanwhile, earned his
degree in accounting. He worked a day job for a CPA
firm and performed three nights a week at a club in Hazard, KY. Finally after
much soul
searching, Larry decided to give music his full attention. He once again hooked
up
with Skaggs, who produced an album of original songs of his in 1980. The LP was
never released, but one of the songs on it, “Highway 40 Blues” became a #1 song
for
Skaggs in 1983. This was Larry’s first cut as a young songwriter. Soon after, in
1985, he
decided to devote his full attention to songwriting. That year he loaded up and
moved to
Nashville.
Since moving to Music City,
Larry has had staff writing deals with the Welk Music
Group which later became PolyGram International Pub., Inc. He also co-published
deals with BMG Music, McSpadden-Smith Music, and most recently, Shell Point Music
with whom he co-owns a company with longtime friend and company founder Randy
Harrell.
Larry has scored Top Ten hits with John Anderson (Honky Tonk Crowd), Kathy
Mattea (Lonesome Standard Time), Diamond Rio (“Mama, Don’t Forget To Pray For Me”), Ricky Skaggs again with the #1 “Heartbreak Hurricane”, Alison Krauss (#1
“Two
Highways”) and five chart singles on the Bluegrass National Survey with his own
band, Larry Cordle, Glen Duncan and Lonesome Standard Time. Two of these songs were #1. “Lonesome Standard Time” was the International Bluegrass Music Assn’s
song of the year in 1992 and Larry & Glen’s first album was nominated for a
Grammy
that year. Larry has toured nationally and performed on the world famous Grand
Ol’
Opry as well as the legendary Ryman Auditorium.
Larry has had songs recorded
with Garth Brooks, George Strait, Reba McIntire, Exile,
Sammy Kershaw, Trisha Yearwood, Tracy Lawrence, George Jones, Terri Clark,
Travis Tritt, John Michael Montgomery, Shenandoah Mel McDaniel, Moe Bandy, John
Conlee as well as various other artists.
Larry still performs locally
at various Nashville
venues and nationally with his band
Lonesome Standard Time. He and his band released the Bluegrass CD titled “Murder
on Music Row” which caused quite a controversy in Nashville as well as
nationally. The
album soared to #1 on both the Gavin Americana Charts as well as the Bluegrass
National Survey Chart. “Murder on Music Row” won song of the year at IBMA as
well as
SPBGMA and the CD was nominated for a Grammy. The song and the project
fostered literally dozens of positive press reviews, among them: People
Magazine, The
Associated Press, The Tennessean, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Sun
Times
Etc.
Additionally, ‘Murder on Music Row’ was nominated twice by the CMA for Song
of
the Year and actually won Vocal Event of the Year for the version recorded by
George
Strait and Alan Jackson. Their version of the song was also nominated for a
Grammy
for best country vocal. Larry and the band released
their follow-up CD to ‘Murder on Music Row,’ titled
'Lonesome Cafe', in 2001 through Nashville based Shell Point Records, and have
just
now released their latest CD, 'Songs From The Workbench.'
You may visit his
web site at LarryCordle.com.