Top 3 Moments from Bluegrass Nights at The Ryman with Ricky Skaggs

The Ryman Auditorium hosted Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for the final evening of its Bluegrass Nights summer series on Thursday (July 27). The venue hosted the event for six days, and prior to Skaggs, acts such as Sam Bush, Sierra Hull, and Dailey & Vincent played as well.

The Ryman’s relationship with bluegrass music spans nearly 80 years, as the first time the genre was ever played live in front of an audience was in 1945 by Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Thus, in the long-standing tradition of being the foremost host of bluegrass, the Ryman Auditorium continued its legacy with the musical intoxicating Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder. Here are the top three moments from the show.

Skaggs’ Origin Story

Surprisingly, the most illuminating part of this show wasn’t even the music. Instead, it was Skaggs telling the audience a story about his first time at the Ryman, which was seemingly the birth of his 60-year career. Skaggs delivered the tale in folkloric legend fashion. He started off the anecdote by saying that his father helped slip him backstage, and from then, Skaggs posted up on the back wall and just started picking his mandolin.

Subsequently, bluegrass giant Earl Scruggs saw the then-little boy playing and offered him an audition on the infamous Flatt and Scruggs TV show. Needless to say, Skaggs made the show, and from then on, the legend of Ricky Skaggs was born. At its essence, the story didn’t just give a chronology of Skaggs’ journey, but it also conveyed the deep affection and admiration Skaggs has for the historic venue as he acknowledges that without the Ryman his life and career would have taken a different trajectory. The oral story put in perspective the magnitude and weight the beloved auditorium has in the history of Skaggs’ path and so many other artists who call the Ryman their second home.

Emmylou Harris Cover

The relationship between Emmylou Harris and Skaggs runs deep as their Southern roots. That friendship gifted bluegrass fans one of the best bluegrass albums 20th century: Roses in the Snow. Skaggs helped Harris arrange the album, and one of the songs they agreed to put on the 1980 project was the heartfelt and melancholic single, “Darkest Hour is Just Before Dawn.”

The slow tempo and poignant song came in the middle of Skaggs’ first set, which was peppered and filled with lighting-fast bluegrass tunes like “Lost and I’ll Never Find the Way.” In hopes of giving audience members a slower heartbeat, Skaggs broke out the somber and slow tune and sang it with a reverent passion that struck the hearts of audience members with the sharply saddening lyrics. Once Skaggs finished the song, he casually called out the elephant in the room: “That’d bring a tear to a glass eye,” he said.

Billy Contreras and “Fiddle Patch”

Once again, Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder showed off their diverse musical repertoire by playing a bluegrass and jazz swing mix titled “Fiddle Patch.” The song sounded as if Ella Fitzgerald or Duke Ellington could have hopped on and performed. Before the performance, Skaggs gave credit to Billy Contreras, who is a relatively new addition to the band and the writer of “Fiddle Patch.” The completely instrumental jazz and bluegrass fusion is a highly convoluted piece that seamlessly intertwines the two genres with masterful arrangements that swiftly mesh into one another.

Furthermore, Skaggs isn’t the mere member of the band to make this tune as good as it is. Lead guitarist Jake Workman showed off his impeccable flat-picking skills, banjo player Russ Carson more than proved that a banjo belongs in jazz, and Contreras, the fiddle player, delivered a spellbinding initial solo that dictated the entire key and tempo of the song. All in all, the upbeat tune was something entirely original and unexpected and surely stunned audience members with its mere shock value.

(Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)