By JOHN BURNETT
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Ricky Skaggs is a American original, who brought bluegrass to the masses when country music was in its “Urban Cowboy” phase.
The 14-time Grammy winner is performing at the Waikii Music Festival with his band, Kentucky Thunder. The festival will take place Saturday, June 16, and Sunday, June 17, at the Waikii Ranch polo grounds off Saddle Road. His set is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on June 16.
“My wife’s coming with me and we’re gonna spend a few days on a holiday after we play. It’s kind of a well-needed vacation,” Skaggs told the Tribune-Herald on Thursday.
The only time he’s played in Hawaii before was a military-only show on Oahu. He says he doesn’t know what to expect from a local audience.
“I don’t know what folks there are gonna think about bluegrass music,” Skaggs said. “It’s certainly the music of a culture. It’s a music of America, of mainland America, anyway. I don’t know how many bluegrass fans there are in Hawaii, but I guess we’re gonna find out.”
The 57-year-old mandolin picker from Cordell, Ky., needn’t worry about how the crowd will react to his music. Skaggs has been knocking audiences dead since he was six. That’s how old he was when the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, played a show in Martha, Ky., and the locals kept screaming for him to “let little Ricky Skaggs play” until Monroe relented.
“Hearin’ him play that night, I saw a man who was so in love with his music — and he had a passion to make people listen to his music. It was kind of Lancelot lookin’ up to King Arthur,” he said. “I didn’t know what that night would lead to but it sure led to a lifetime of good music and excitement.” More than a half-century later, Skaggs remains popular by staying true to his music and himself.
Skaggs does know something about Hawaii’s music, having played on slack key master Ledward Kaapana’s “Waltz of the Wind” CD, much of which was recorded in Nashville with an all-star band that also included Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas.
“It was fun to play with him and I love the slack key players. It’s pretty cool music to listen to,” he said. He said he also loves the music of ukulele man Jake Shimabukuro.
Skaggs is putting the finishing touches on a book and has a new CD, “Music to My Ears,” in the works. The album is co-produced by Gordon Kennedy, who also worked on Skaggs’ 2010 release “Mosaic.” One of the songs is “Soldier’s Son,” written by Barry Gibb. Skaggs said the last surviving member of the Bee Gees has “loved bluegrass all his life.”
“We pretty much did his demo, only done it a little bit more acoustic, a little more bluegrass. He’s gonna come sing on it when I get home,” Skaggs said. “I’ve been a huge fan of him and his brothers forever because I’ve always loved good harmony singing and theirs was the best.”
When Skaggs started with CBS Nashville in 1981, he and Larry Gatlin were the label’s only artists who had artistic freedom, but “that freedom came a whole lot of scrutiny from the people who were puttin’ out the records and tryin’ to get ‘em up and down the charts.” In 1997, he started Skaggs Family Records, so the only scrutiny is his own.
“It’s a lot harder these days to make a living in music, especially starting out,” he said. “Record sales are not what they used to be many years ago when people like Garth Brooks could sell five, 10 million albums. I don’t think he could sell records like that if he were starting out today. There’s free downloads; people steal music. It’s a lot harder to last in this business. But if you really have something unique and you have a great product and you’re good to the people, you’re good to the music, I think it can sustain you.”
Advance tickets are $50 per adult and $20 ages 7-18 each day. Gate prices are $60 per adult and $30 ages 7-18 each day. Children 6 and under will be free.
Advance tickets are available at the Palace Theater in Hilo, the Kahilu Theater in Waimea, CD Wizard, Big Island Surf, Kiernan Music, Kona Wine Market and online at www.waikiimusicfestival.org.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.