Honoring a Musical Master

Here’s an honor that is very warranted.

Bluegrass star Ricky Skaggs is getting an honorary doctorate from Boston’s Berklee College of Music.
Skaggs is slated to receive the honor Tuesday during a performance at the Grand Ole Opry, putting the 53-year-old singer in the company of luminaries such as Duke Ellington, Sting, B.B. King, Dizzy Gillespie, Loretta Lynn and Paul Simon.

I can’t think of any living musician who has done as much to keep bluegrass alive and kicking than Skaggs. What Wynton Marsalis has done for jazz, he’s done for bluegrass and the country music industry owes him a more thanks than they can give. It’s good that Berklee recognized him for his work and his incredible musicianship.

If you’re not heard his “Bluegrass Rules!” album, you really should. It’s a welcome curative to the flood of perfectly-processed, low-talent pop bilge that’s being peddled as music nowadays. Better, it’s a flat-out bluegrass throwdown from a bunch of folks who love the music they’re playing and can’t help having fun with it.

This quote, in particular, made me smile.

Berklee President Roger Brown said that by saluting Skaggs, “we shine a light on the present and future of bluegrass; its heritage and its infinite potential. And besides that, the man can pick.”

Hell yes, he can.

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Category: Music