Fifteen-Time GRAMMY® Award-Winner Ricky Skaggs

Ricky Skaggs’ career is easily among the most significant in recent country music history and is now rescheduled to visit Destination Tampa Bay. Ricky Skaggs will be performing at The Nancy And David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre. If Ricky Skaggs’ burgeoning trophy case full of awards wasn’t already enough evidence of that fact, consider that legendary guitarist Chet Atkins once credited Skaggs with “single-handedly saving country music.” His life’s path has taken him to various musical genres, from where it all began in bluegrass music, to striking out on new musical journeys, while still leaving his musical roots intact.

Born in 1954, Rickey Skaggs (LEFT) showed signs of future stardom at an early age, playing mandolin on stage with bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe at age 6 and appearing on TV with Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs at age 7. He emerged as a professional bluegrass musician in 1971 when he and his friend Keith Whitley were invited to join the legendary Ralph Stanley’s band the Clinch Mountain Boys. Skaggs went on to record and perform with progressive bluegrass acts like the Country Gentlemen and J.D. Crowe & the New South, whose self-titled 1975 Rounder Records debut album was instantly recognized as a landmark bluegrass achievement. He then led Boone Creek, which also featured Dobro ace and fellow New South alumnus Jerry Douglas.

But Rickey Skaggs turned to the more mainstream country music genre in the late 70’s when he joined Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band, replacing Rodney Crowell. He became a recording artist in his own right in 1981 when his Epic label debut album Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine topped the country charts and yielded a pair of #1 hits. Overall, his productive stay at Epic Records would result in a total of twelve #1 hits. Additionally, he garnered eight Country Music Association Awards–including the coveted Entertainer of the Year trophy in 1985.

Skaggs’ 1997 album Bluegrass Rules!, released on his newly-formed Skaggs Family Records label, marked a triumphant return to bluegrass—which he’s solidified ever since with a series of GRAMMY®-Award winning albums, recorded with his amazing bluegrass band, Kentucky Thunder (8-time winners of the IBMA ‘Instrumental Group of the Year’). Skaggs’ label has also served as a home for similar bluegrass and roots music-oriented artists including The Whites.

In the past decade, he has been honored with inductions into the Gospel Music Association’s Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame. In 2018, Skaggs was also awarded membership into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame, the IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and country music’s greatest honor, the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Ricky struck his first chords on a mandolin over 50 years ago, and he continues to do his part to lead the recent roots revival in music. Clearly his passion for it puts him in the position to bring his lively, distinctively American form of music out of isolation and into the ears and hearts of audiences across the country and around the world. Ricky Skaggs is always forging ahead with cross-cultural, genre-bending musical ideas and inspirations.

The Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre announces fifteen-time GRAMMY® Award-winner Ricky Skaggs has rescheduled his concert to Monday, March 15, 2021 at 8 pm.  Tickets for the concert scheduled on Thursday, August 20 will be honored on the new date. Tickets are on sale now. Tickets priced at $57.50, $47.50 and $37.50 are only available by visiting www.RuthEckerdHall.com. The Bilheimer Capitol Theatre ticket office is open one hour prior to show time.  Tickets for the concert scheduled on August 20 will be honored on the new date.

The Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, located in downtown Clearwater’s Cleveland Street District, was constructed in 1921 and is one of Florida’s oldest operating theaters. In 2019, industry trade publication Pollstar named the Bilheimer Capitol Theatre the #1 club venue in Tampa, #1 in Florida, #3 in the United States and #3 in the world of club venues with 800 seats or less. 

In 2013, the theater underwent a complete $10 million renovation and is the catalyst for downtown development. In 2019, Nancy and David Bilheimer donated $2.5 million to Ruth Eckerd hall as part of the theatre’s ongoing “Expanding the Experience” Capital campaign.  In recognition of the generous donation, the Capitol Theatre’s name was changed to the Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre.

For more great performances coming the Destination Tampa Bay you may want to check into Country music star Brandon Ray here. You may be interested in checking into Spyro Gyra also coming to the “cap”.

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