Sometimes in life, things come full circle. That's the story of Ricky Skaggs. By age 21, he was already considered a "recognized master" of one of America's most demanding art forms, but his career took him in other directions, catapulting him to popularity and success in the mainstream of country music. Now the road has brought him back to where it all began-bluegrass music.

2006 marks Ricky's 35th year as a professional musician, and this eleven-time Grammy Award winner continues to do his part to lead the recent roots revival in music. Known affectionately today as bluegrass music's official ambassador, Ricky has brought the genre to greater levels of popularity in the past few years than the father of bluegrass music - the legendary Bill Monroe - could ever have imagined. With seven consecutive Grammy- nominated classics behind him, all from his own Skaggs Family Records label, (Bluegrass Rules! in 1998, Ancient Tones in 1999, both Soldier of the Cross and Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe in 2000, History of the Future in 2001, Live at the Charleston Music Hall in 2003 and currently, Brand New Strings) bluegrass music is undoubtedly in good hands, with the masterful Skaggs at the helm.

IRicky was born in eastern Kentucky in 1954. By 1971, he had entered the world of professional music and joined the band of bluegrass pioneer Ralph Stanley. Beginning in the late 1970s, Ricky turned his attention to country music, first as a member of Emmylou Harris' Hot Band and later as an individual recording artist on his own. With the release of Waitin' for the Sun to Shine in 1981, Skaggs reached the top of the country charts and remained there throughout most of the 1980s. As his popularity soared, he garnered eight awards from the Country Music Association (CMA), including "Entertainer of the Year" in 1985, four Grammy Awards and dozens of other honors.

In 1997, after Ricky's then-current recording contract was coming to an end, he decided to establish his own record label -- Skaggs Family Records. Since then, Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder have released an amazing 7 consecutive Grammy-nominated classics, (5 of which went on to earn the revered award) while also opening the label to a variety of other musical artists - all the time keeping the emphasis on bluegrass and other forms of roots music. Since then, Ricky and Skaggs Family Records have had the privilege of working with many musical talents including: The Del McCoury Band, The Whites, Mountain Heart, Blue Highway, Melonie Cannon, Cherryholmes, Keith Sewell and 13-year wonderkind Ryan Holladay.

Ricky's first release for Skaggs Family Records, Bluegrass Rules!, set a new standard for bluegrass - breaking new sales records in the genre, winning Skaggs his sixth Grammy Award, and earning the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) Album of the Year award. In 1999, his second all-bluegrass album, Ancient Tones, won a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album-his second consecutive Grammy in that same category. Just one year later, Ricky won his eighth Grammy Award in the Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album category for Soldier of the Cross - his first-and-only all-gospel recording project to date.

In 2005, his current album Brand New Strings earned him another Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album - marking his 10th career Grammy.

Ricky Skaggs has often said that he is "just trying to make a living" playing the music he loves. But it's clear that his passion for bluegrass puts him in the position to bring this lively, distinctively American form of music out of isolation and into the ears and hearts of audiences across the country and around the world. Blessed with a close-knit family, an abundance of talent, a lifetime of musical experience and a crack band behind him, Ricky Skaggs is well on the way to showing the world that "country rocks, but Bluegrass Rules!"

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