by Ricky Skaggs
Me with banjo great Louis Marshall Jones, better known as Grandpa Jones, 1992.
Me and Marty Robbins goofing off backstage, 1982.
Billy Graham is a Christian above reproach. He’s literally preached “The Good News” to millions around the world. Here we are at one of the many crusades where I had the honor to be a musical guest, 1995.
My family and I had the honor of meeting President Bill Clinton at the Library of Congress, where I did a solo concert on New Year’s Eve, 1999. Left to right: Chelsea Clinton, me, Bill Clinton, Luke Skaggs, Molly Skaggs, Sharon White Skaggs, and Hillary Clinton.
Official White House Photograph
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ricky Skaggs
I’d like to personally thank and acknowledge my wife, Sharon White, for her help with this book. Sharon, you’re a tremendous blessing in my life.
To my dear cousin Pat Hodges for going through boxes of keepsakes and not giving up on finding that first picture of me playing mandolin, which ended up being the photo on the front cover. Thank you, Pat.
To my brother Garold Skaggs for helping me with some dates and times. Thanks, brother.
To all my staff at Skaggs Family Records, you’ve been incredibly helpful. Charlotte Scott, Barbara Kimes, Tammy Carver, and Lee Groitsczh, thanks for your hard work.
To David Dunham, who brought the idea for a book to HarperCollins.
To everyone at HarperCollins for making a dream come true for me. To Cal Morgan, who had faith in this project from day one. To Carrie Thornton, Brittany Hamblin, and a very patient and professional staff that helped me so much.
And to my cowriter, Eddie Dean, who did an incredible job getting my very long life story down on paper so that everyone who wants to read it can. Thanks to your wife and children for all the long hours you spent on this book. God bless you.
Eddie Dean
I would like to thank: Ricky Skaggs, for his inspirational story; our editors, Carrie Thornton, for her guidance and encouragement, and Cal Morgan, for his faith in the project, and the team at HarperCollins, especially Chris Goff and Brittany Hamblin, for their hard work; my agent, Chris Calhoun, for his friendship and advice; my wife, Maria Carmen Allende, for inspiring my love of Argentine tango and sharing with equal fervor my affection for Patsy Cline and the Statler Brothers, and for making our home a place of music; and our children, Sophie and Pablo, for their joy and light; and in memory of my mother, who shared her passion for music and showed me “Heaven in a Wild Flower.”
COPYRIGHT
KENTUCKY TRAVELER. Copyright © 2013 by Ricky Skaggs. All rights reserved. under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Lyrics to “Somebody’s Prayin’” by John G. Elliot. Copyright: © 1985 Universal Music—Brentwood Benson Music Publishing (ASCAP). All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skaggs, Ricky.
Kentucky traveler : my life in music/ Ricky Skaggs with Eddie Dean. —First edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-06-191733-2 (hardcover)—ISBN 978-0-06-191734-9 (pbk.) 1. Skaggs, Ricky. 2. Bluegrass musicians—United States—Biography. I. Dean, Eddie, 1964- II. Title.
ML420.S5866A3 2013
782.421642092—dc23
[B]
2013013572
ISBN 978–0–06–191733–2
EPub Edition June 2013 ISBN 9780062092434
13 14 15 16 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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