Country Gentleman: The Best Of Ricky Skaggs [2-CD SET]

Amazon.com essential recording
Multi-instrumentalist Ricky Skaggs is one of those country stars who's done it all. At age seven he appeared on TV with Flatt & Scruggs, by 15 he was a member of Ralph Stanley's legendary outfit, and by 23 he was the driving force behind Emmylou Harris's Hot Band. On his own Skaggs has created everything from bluegrass to trad-country to Nashville pop. Country Gentleman collects the first 10 years of his remarkable solo career, and it includes plenty of hits like "Heartbroke," "Honey (Open That Door)," "Highway 40 Blues," and his No. 1 version of Bill Monroe's signature tune "Uncle Pen." Start with this, and then check out the fabulous Bluegrass Rules. --Michael Ruby

Tracks:

Don't Get Above Your Raisin'
You May See Me Walkin'
Crying My Heart Out Over You
I Don't Care
Heartbroke
I Wouldn't Change You If I Could
Highway 40 Blues
You've Got A Lover
Don't Cheat In Our Hometown
Honey (Open That Door)
Uncle Pen
Something In My Heart
Country Boy
You Make Me Feel Like A Man
Cajun Moon
I've Got A New Heartache

Tracks:

Love's Gonna Get You Someday
I Wonder If I Care As Much
Love Can't Ever Get Better Than This
I'm Tired
(Angel On My Mind) That's Why I'm Walkin'
Thanks Again
Old Kind Of Love Goin' Round
Lovin' Only Me
Let It Be You
Heartbreak Hurricane
Hummingbird
He Was On To Somethin' (So He Made You)
Restless
Life's Too Long (To Live Like This)
Same Ol' Love
From The Word Love

Amazon.com essential recording

Multi-instrumentalist Ricky Skaggs is one of those country stars who's done it all. At age seven he appeared on TV with Flatt & Scruggs, by 15 he was a member of Ralph Stanley's legendary outfit, and by 23 he was the driving force behind Emmylou Harris's Hot Band. On his own Skaggs has created everything from bluegrass to trad-country to Nashville pop. Country Gentleman collects the first 10 years of his remarkable solo career, and it includes plenty of hits like "Heartbroke," "Honey (Open That Door)," "Highway 40 Blues," and his No. 1 version of Bill Monroe's signature tune "Uncle Pen." Start with this, and then check out the fabulous Bluegrass Rules. --Michael Ruby

Customer Reviews:

Country Gentleman: The Best Of Ricky Skaggs.......2007-04-11

Every song on this cd is the best that Ricky Skaggs has done from the 80's and the first part of the 90's. Country fans will love it.

Fantastic Collection!.......2006-08-08

This is one of my favorite CD's in my collection. It covers a number of songs throughout Ricky Skaggs' career and all are worth having. I cannot imagine anyone not liking this compilation!

Bluegrass music for the eighties.......2003-02-16

The success that Ricky had in the eighties is nothing short of sensational. In the wake of the Urban cowboy craze, along came a bluegrass singer and picker to take the country charts by storm. Bluegrass purists didn't approve because Ricky added a drummer to the line-up in order to appeal to a wider audience. Yet this one concession to commercialism was a master stroke. For many people, the first bluegrass music they ever heard was by Ricky. I hadn't listened to a lot of bluegrass before Ricky came along, so he helped my interest in the music to grow.

Among the classic tracks here are Crying my heart out over you, I don't care, Heartbroke, Highway 40 blues, Don't cheat in our hometown, Honey open that door and Uncle Pen. All those tracks were from his first three Epic albums, which I still think were his best original albums.

Ricky continued to record plenty of great songs, so his chart success continued for a few more years, reaching the top of the charts in the late eighties with Loving only me. Ricky showed how bluegrass could appeal to a wider audience. Although he faded from the spotlight in the nineties, he continued to make excellent music. Meanwhile, Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Ralph Stanley and others have further increased the popularity of bluegrass music.

This collection contains all the essential tracks from Ricky's most successful years, including all his big hits on the country charts.

Exceptional Talent.......2001-09-20

There is not a song on this CD I don't like. I like all the recordings of Ricky Skaggs. He seems to choose great songs and I am pleased to see he is recording bluegrass again. What a Talent!

All the Best over Two CDs.......2001-08-30

In the early '80s, Ricky Skaggs was one of the leaders of the New Traditionalist movement who steered country away from the pop crossover stylings typified by Kenny Rogers and Barbara Mandrell and back toward its roots. Skaggs' sound is actually an amalgamation of bluegrass, western swing, and traditional country, with vocals that drive home his old-fashioned, mountain upbringing.
Not possessing the matinee idol good looks of a George Strait, it is a tribute to his immense skills as a musician (fiddle, mandolin, acoustic guitar, and banjo) and singer (one of themost supple tenors around) that Skaggs was able to make such a big impact in modern country music. An impact this 32 track, 2 disc best of captures with every significant hit Skaggs recorded for the Sugar Hill and Epic labels between 1981 and 1992.
Skaggs' early releases were dominated by remakes of songs made popular in the 50s and 60s by his bluegrass heroes with Flatt & Scruggs "Don't Get Above Your Raisin'" and "Crying My Heart Out Over You" getting the set off to a lesiurely start, followed by Reno & Smiley's "I Wouldn't Change You If I Could," the Stanley Brothers' "Don't Cheat In Our Hometown" and Bill Monroe's toe-tapping "Uncle Pen." Interspersed covers of Webb Pierce's "I Don't Care" and "Honey (Open That Door)" offer a change of pace dripping with classic country and western style.
As the first disc winds to an end and the second disc begins, Skaggs adds a bit more variety to his musical pallet. Power pickers like "Country Boy," moving ballads such as "You Make Me Feel Like A Man," and western swing on the order of "Love's Gonna Get You Someday" enter the fray, but bluegrass remains the predominant style throughout. Disc two also includes some great collaborations: the gently rollicking "Love Can't Ever Get Better Than This" with wife Sharon White and the fiddlin' foot-stomper "Restless" with the New Nashville Cats (Mark O'Connor, Steve Wariner, and Vince Gill).
By the early 90s, traditional country was bombarded by the noisier sounds of contemporary artists like Garth Brooks, and country radio was concentrating on artists under 40. Skaggs was no longer an upper-chart placing presence and in 1992, he and Epic parted ways. Thankfully this thorough document exists of Skaggs at his best to remind the younger country audience (and artists) that a little bit of bluegrass is good for your health - and country radio.

Music Album:

Music Album