Win Ricky Skaggs’ Songs My Dad Loved
Courtesy of our friends at Skaggs Family Records and Shore Fire Media, The 9513 has a few copies of Ricky Skaggs latest to give away. Songs My Dad Loved, Skaggs’ 16th solo album and his first since 2002, is available today.
From the press release:
Before standing on stage with Bill Monroe at the tender age of five and making his Grand Ole Opry debut only two years later, 14-time Grammy winner Ricky Skaggs was taught to play the mandolin by his father Hobert Skaggs. Hobert instilled his love of deep, pre-bluegrass mountain music in his young son, and Ricky’s look back at these beloved tunes has resulted in a powerful landmark of American roots music, his first ever truly solo album ‘Ricky Skaggs Solo: Songs My Dad Loved,’ out September 15 on Skaggs Family Records.
What critics are saying about Songs My Dad Loved:
“It’s as though he willed himself back to his family’s house in Kentucky, and in doing so found the purest expression of his music to date. Following Bill Monroe’s famous edict—“Keep it pure, you know”—Skaggs opts for a particularly spare and stripped-down approach to this album, contributing all vocals and playing all instruments himself. But there’s nothing solipsistic about the exercise. Rather, this is a warm and open-hearted record that, in the best sense, could have been made 60 years ago.” — Alex Ramon, PopMatters
“Skaggs, who plays more than a dozen instruments and harmonizes with himself on this one-man-band set, tucks into all of them with a joyful and unapologetic reverence. The result makes “Solo (Songs My Dad Loved)” truly feel like an intimate, fly-on-the wall field recording. Such instrumentals as “Colonel Prentiss,” “Pickin’ in Caroline” and “Calloway” give Skaggs room to show off his multitracked chops, while tracks like “Sinners, You Better Get Ready,” “Green Pastures in the Sky” and “God Holds the Future in His Hands” offer case studies in how spirituality was communicated in rural Appalachia.” — Gary Graff, Billboard
“On this loving tribute to his father, Skaggs plays a number of instruments – acoustic guitar, resonator guitar, round hole and f-hole mandolins, mandocello, octave mandolin, steel-string and gut-string fretless banjos, fiddle, piano, bass, Danelectro electric baritone guitar and percussion – achieving a simplicity and intimacy over 13 tracks and 40 minutes approaching that on Skaggs’ masterpiece duet album with Tony Rice.” — Aaron Keith Harris, Lonesome Road Review
Songs My Dad Loved Tracklist
-
1. “Foggy River”
2. “What Is A Home Without Love”
3. “Colonel Prentiss”
4. “City That Lies Foursquare”
5. “Little Maggie”
6. “Sinners, You Better Get Ready”
7. “Pickin’ In Caroline”
8. “I Had But 50 Cents”
9. “Green Pastures In The Sky”
10. “Calloway”
11. “This World Is Not My Home”
12. “Branded Wherever I Go”
13. “God Holds The Future In His Hands”
Entering the Giveaway
We have three copies of Songs My Dad Loved to give away, and entering is easy–just leave any comment to answering the following question: What are the songs that a family member shared with you that inspired your love for music?
You must use a valid email address when you enter so that we can contact you if you win. The9513.com will never share your private information without your explicit consent.
Eligible comments must be posted by 11:59 pm on Sunday, Sept. 20th. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced after the contest has ended.
For more information on Ricky Skaggs, visit: Official Website
Popular Stuff
Sponsor
Is Dave Haywood going solo? This and many other of country music's most pressing questions answered in the September edition of The 9513's world famous Mailbag!
Caroline Herring likes to sing songs about life in the South. No, not exactly like Justin Moore and Jason Aldean...
The 9513's resident historian Paul W. Dennis sits down for a chat with country music legend Gene Watson.
As much as we love girl singers, we love songs about girl singers even more. Here's just a few of the many tribute songs out there.
Step away from the river and up to a jukebox, because heartbreak is only temporary, but a good song about drowning yourself—like a diamond—lasts forever.
What do you think about music labels "testing the waters" with a single before providing access to an artist's entire album? 
What country artist, young or old, would you recommend as a must-listen artist to a newcomer on his/her journey through country music, and what would your essential song picks be?Tagged In This Article
Current Discussion
- Rick: Ashley Monroe, Sunny Sweeney, Elizabeth Cook, Megan Mullins, The Wrights, Amber Dotson, Lane Turner, Amy Dalley, Susan Haynes, The Jenkins, ...
- Jo Jo: Brooks & Dunn, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire
- highwayman3: George Strait, Reba, and Lee Ann Womack, oh wait, that's already happening, too bad they aren't coming anywhere near driving ...
- Mayor JoBob: Or Alan Jackson, Rodney Crowell and Marty Stuart with guest appearance by Jimmy Buffett!
- JCH: Jamey Johnson, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. No idea where the heck that came from.
- Mayor JoBob: Brad Paisley, David Ball and Highway 101!!!!!!
- Noeller: Jamey Johnson, Randy Houser, Eric Church and Zac Brown Band. It's the Bearded Saviours of Country Tour - would ...
- Sparkles: OMG - have you seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYENOUcaAsM I LOVE DOLLY!!!!
- Ben Milam: On three alternating stages: the pogues mahone, steve earle, eric b. & rakim, the band, emmylou harris, the drive by ...
- Bob: Suzy Bogguss and Hal Ketchum
1 Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URI for this postSeptember 23, 2009
[...] have winners! Congrats to Sabrina5000, Steve M., and Mike Traugott for scoring a copy of the new Ricky Skaggs solo record, Songs My Dad [...]
17 Comments
RSS for comments on this post | Trackback URI for this post
September 15, 2009 at 2:55 pm Permalink
I was raised in East Tennessee and listened to Bluegrass before it was cool. Ricky was/is as we all were that grew up in Eastern Kentucky, East Tennessee and Southwest Va., very close to the family and our church. Most of the songs on this CD are songs I heard when I was a child. Today is my birthday (15th) and the mention of these songs takes me back 63 years. I will be purchasing this CD for certain. I am not a total Bluegrasser but it is in the blood. The Lord has blessed Ricky and he is sure aware of that and thankful. How the years have gone and so many memories are all we have left of Mr. Monroe and Ricky as a small boy. Certainly I would think that memories and pure love when into this CD.
Mac McGhee
Red Oak, Texas
September 15, 2009 at 3:07 pm Permalink
I wasn’t raised in a particularly musical family. I was probably more interested in music than the others (well, I take that back, one of my sisters adored opera as a teen). It was when I fell in love with my husband…then a shaggy haired guy at the record store, and when we then fell in love with so much music together—that I hold most deeply.
September 15, 2009 at 4:20 pm Permalink
I think the main memory with music and I family member would be listening to Chris Ledoux with my dad. Of course, my dad being the old cowboy that he is, we never listened to much recorded after the 80’s. Ever since then I have loved Chris Ledoux, and while part of me has been happy with the exposure he’s gotten since his death, I’m a little nostalgic for the little secret me, my brother and my dad had in his music.
September 15, 2009 at 4:54 pm Permalink
My dad has never listened to a lot of music, but the stuff he did listen to was golden. Namely Buddy Holly and Charlie Pride. I remember being in 6th grade and being surprised when no one had ever heard Holly’s “Rave On” – I was amazed.
September 15, 2009 at 5:31 pm Permalink
My parents aren’t particularly musical, but on road trips the cassettes we had playing the most were the Beach Boys and Garth Brooks. That’s the reason why I mainly listen to country and 50s and 60s pop/rock.
September 15, 2009 at 6:52 pm Permalink
My mother was very musical–in fact she was almost exactly like me. We always had something playing. I can’t remember one specific song, but I do remember being passionately fond of Marty Robbins as a child (probably because he made a good soudtrack when I was playing The Big Valley).
September 15, 2009 at 7:04 pm Permalink
My Dad never listened to music for pleasure but my Mom liked country and Dixieland jazz, so I grew up during the 1960’s listening to Merle Haggard (her favorite), Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Charlie Pride. She would just play entire albums on our Magnavox console stereo.
It wasn’t until I started listening to the “boss jocks” and mid 60’s rock music on 930 AM KHJ that I became totally hooked on music! Man was the rock music scene broad, varied, and interesting back then. I wish Top 40 country radio would adopt the same mindset….
September 16, 2009 at 5:48 am Permalink
I love the fact that Ricky has been paying his respects to his roots lately. His recent album covering early bluegrass classics was great and I’m looking forward to hearing this one. He is growing into Mr. Monroe’s shoes, even starting to look the part, and one day he will become the genre’s patriarch.
September 16, 2009 at 9:06 am Permalink
My mom had a big Kay guitar (that got left in a closet with such low humidity that one day it exploded) and she taught me folk songs, ballads like “Barbry Allen.” My dad played trumpet in a band, and from reading his fake books and picking out chords and melody on a piano, I learned his favorite standards, like “Autumn Leaves” and “Stella by Starlight”. The folk and the pop/jazz standards combined with the rock I’d listen to (with friends) by day and the country I’d listen to (alone) at night (AM was cool, wasn’t it?) all mixed in my songwriting.
But maybe their best song legacy was that they appreciated any >good< music and great musicians, no matter what genre.
September 16, 2009 at 9:26 am Permalink
My mother had all of the original Beatles albums she had bought when they came out. My dad on the other hand gave me a deep appreciation for country that he was constantly listening to when working out in the garage. To this day when I hear a Mel Tillis song, my mind goes back to the old man under the car, usually swearing at the engine of our family station wagon.
September 16, 2009 at 3:13 pm Permalink
My Dad (passed away in 1999)played country and bluegrass music all his life. And, of course I thought there was no other like him. He played for dances and when I was 8 years on, I went with him every Sat. night to them. He would let me sit on his lap at home and he would play “Little Maggie” and I would try to sing with him. This song was special to us since my Grandma’s name was Maggie. ( She was 104, when she passed away and she was still dancing at age 102) She was wonderful.
September 16, 2009 at 5:32 pm Permalink
While I can’t pick just one song, I’d have to say the music of Ray Price and Eddy Arnold where the first I remember get passed down to me. Even though they were past their popularity peak when I first heard them, it inspired me to explore music.
September 16, 2009 at 9:20 pm Permalink
Growing up my parents were big country fans. They saw Johnny Cash, Statler Brothers, Kenny Rogers, tried to see “No Show” Jones (my Dad said never again) and numerous others. Of course in High School, I was into rock music. However as I got older, I slowly started appreciating the classic country. Today among my music is the likes of George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Ray Price, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, etc. You get the idea. I know where that interest came from.
September 17, 2009 at 12:29 am Permalink
As a child in 1950s Southern Indiana, I recall my mother singing often. She would sing Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”, “The Old Rugged Cross”, “The Yellow Rose of Texas”, or any number of favorites.
Then Mom would tell us of playing stand-up bass in a local bluegrass band as a teenager. She learned music from her father who played fiddle in his younger days.
The music of our ancestors helped us cope with tough times. It had ties to the past and assurance of better times to come.
I migrated to rock in my younger days, but bluegrass always brings me home. It is part of who I am and where I come from. Ricky Skaggs always has that touch for me, no matter what music he plays. I really look forward to hearing his latest step back into our musical heritage. Thank you for that.
September 17, 2009 at 5:51 am Permalink
Well, Mom was from Scotland so she enjoyed the British Invasion, Petula Clark, Dave Clark Five, and of course the Beatles. But Dad was the one who sang all the time. Every Morning, “When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along..along (while he’s trying to get my toes under the covers) then “Wake up! Wake up! You sleepy head, Get up! Get Up.. Get out of bed”…
He’d sing “Johnny Reb” and “I’m a Walkin” Yes indeed, I’m talkin’ etc..
You loved the big band era too with Benny Goodman, etc.
September 17, 2009 at 9:48 am Permalink
My late mother knew a lot of the old songs from the big band/swing era. She’d heard some of the famous bands when in San Francisco and LA after World War II. Her brother was a trumpeter in a jazz band before the war, so she also knew some of the tunes he played.
My brother and I grew up hearing the old songs on record, and singing them with mom occasionally. We still remember a lot of them.
September 20, 2009 at 12:28 pm Permalink
The Family Bible was a favorite song and we actually had a family Bible that births were recorded in. So I took it to be something as very special even at a young age. Seems anything important was recorded in the Family Bible.
Leave a Comment