FROM THE ARCHIVES
Ricky Skaggs' 'Rockabilly'
By Scott Ross
The 700 Club
CBN.com
In 1985, Scott Ross sat down with country star Ricky Skaggs on
his life since winning Entertainer of the Year.
SCOTT: Ricky, that moment at the music awards
when you received that award, it really affected you, didn’t
it? What was going on?
RICKY: My heart just wanted to burst. I was
so grateful and so thankful. My wife nearly had a heart attack
I think. She had kept telling me for the last couple weeks before
the award show, ‘You are going to win. This is your year.’
I told her that day, ‘Sharon, you gotta promise me that
when we are here tonight and they don’t call my name for
entertainer of the year, you are not going to be disappointed.’
She said, ‘I’m not going to be disappointed because
you are going to win.’ Nothing would disillusion her. So
after the show she went up to me and said, ‘When are you
going to start listening to me?’
SCOTT: I’m convinced that some wives know
things before the Lord does... Ricky, a couple of years ago you
said you weren’t ready for that kind of award. What’s
made you ready now?
RICKY: Well, the Lord really strengthened me
in the last few years. I feel like I got a lot closer to him.
My prayer life is a lot better than it was. My witness I feel
is a lot better than it was. The whole insight of what the Lord
wants me to do in this life is much more revealed to me now. And
I can’t really say what one particular thing strengthened
me other than just being more in His will and more willing to
do what He wants. And not fight against Him. He’s always
going to win. He’s the best jogger, best runner. You think
you are going to tire Him down, but you can’t.
SCOTT: You find out He’s the best wrestler,
like Jacob did.
RICKY: No kidding. That’s right. That’s
it.
SCOTT: So you feel there wasn’t any one
thing that turned that. But do you feel like…
RICKY: Well, there wasn’t any one thing.
There was a chain of things that got me on the right road. I was
raised a Baptist. My mom and dad are Free Will Baptists in eastern
Kentucky. I grew up in real fire and brimstone, hell and damnation,
wrath of God. You know it scared me to death, and I never knew
for years that God loved me. I thought that He only loved Christians.
I went to the altar when I was a little kid. Just cried my heart
out. I asked the Lord to save me, and I kept waiting for this
big thing to happen. It never happened, and it kind of scared
me. I didn’t realize I was the one who had to make the change.
‘Cause God didn’t need to change. And so there for
years I just kind of floated around somewhere in space and not
really knowing where I was at. Feeling like if I died I would
be lost. And I went through a divorce. Went through a lot of pushing,
shoving, strife, struggle on the road. Trying to reach the goals
that I had set out to do. And trying to reach them without God
was impossible. I got double pneumonia from being out on the road
and working, pushing myself. And some friends from this little
church that I belong to now Holiday Heights Baptist Church in
Hendersonville came by to pray with me. I just rededicated my
life there.
SCOTT: Did you ever have to give him your music?
RICKY: Well, I was afraid of that. My mother
always wanted me to be a preacher. And always wanted me to not
ever play clubs, not ever play bars and just play in church. And
I said, ‘Mother, you know, why should I play in church?
That’s playing to saved people. I can take my music and
go out to a club, out to a concert or wherever I want to go. And
God’s with me. He’s working through me with the songs
I sing.’
SCOTT: Do people respond to that?
RICKY: Yeah, I have a lot of people that aren’t
Christians who will come up and say, 'You have really touched
me.'
SCOTT: ‘Waiting for the Son to Shine.’
That song has a particular meaning, doesn’t it?
RICKY: ‘Waiting for the Son to Shine’
was about being under a dark cloud in your life, waiting for the
sun to take this cloud away and shine. In my life, I was waiting
for the s-o-n to shine. You can live without sunlight but you
can’t live without that sonlight.
SCOTT: Your music, Ricky. I read things about
it. I listen. People are always trying to box you in. How would
you describe what you do?
RICKY: I don’t know. I tell some people
it’s bluegrass in overdrive. I try to play the whole spectrum
of country music. We do everything from gospel to western swing
to bluegrass to two step, the old dance style country music, the
shuffle, country music to rockabilly. And we do a song called
‘Walking in Jerusalem.’ It’s an old bluegrass
tune that Bill Monroe learned from way back in the mountains,
back in Kentucky years ago. It’s a spiritual. And he took
and put a bluegrass touch to it. And we did a rockabilly arrangement
on it and I’ll tell you, it really moves.
SCOTT: How are you maintaining a married life?
RICKY: Well, we have been blessed with two wonderful
people that keep Molly for us while we are on the road. So she
has a stable life. She doesn’t get to see her Mommy and
Daddy all the time. But when Mommy and Daddy are home we do spend
time with her and do special things with her. It really is hard
but you know there’s a real dedication and real love between
Sharon and I.
SCOTT: A lot of people [reading this] pray.
And if there’s a prayer that they might pray for you, what
would it be?
RICKY: Well, that I always be willing to let
the Lord work in me. And that I can always accept all these blessings
that God has given me. It’s hard for an old humble country
boy from Kentucky that never had nothing. It’s hard sometimes
for me to look the fans in the eye and just accept all these praises
that they give me. They think one thing, and I know inside who
Ricky Skaggs is. He is just enough Christian to get by. I don’t
set spiritual long-term goals. I take it one day at a time. And
say, Lord, ‘What are we doing to do today? What can I do
for you today?’ And if they could pray that way, then I
won’t have a whole lot of problems I don’t think.
Scott Ross welcomes your feedback.
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