A seasoned musical veteran by the time he turned 18, Ricky Skaggs parlayed early bluegrass music prominence and an apprenticeship with Emmylou Harris's country-rock Hot Band into a career that put him on top of the country music charts in the early 1980s. While he was capable of brilliance within each genre, it was his creation of a modern sound out of traditional elements from both that earned him widespread acclaim and respect even after the rise of the hot New Country format shut him (and others like him) out of country radio in the early 1990s. Down but not out, he roared back into the limelight in 1997 when the album that signalled a return to his roots, Bluegrass Rules!, became the first traditional bluegrass album to break onto the country sales charts.

Ricky Skaggs

Born in a small town in the hills of Eastern...