God, Bill Monroe and a Mandolin!

According to Radio.com, after nearly 6 decades of being a standard bearer for keeping bluegrass music alive, three things remain constant for Ricky Skaggs.

God, Bill Monroe and a mandolin seem to be recurring characters in Ricky Skaggs’ career story.  In an interview with the multi-formatted online radio outlet, Skaggs talked about Bluegrass and Traditionalism.

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“I came to Nashville and my heart was to try to bring tradition back to country music, but also bring the elements of bluegrass into that with the harmonies.” Skaggs said. “The harmonies I was singing with ‘Cry My Heart Out Over You’ and ‘Wouldn’t Change You If I Could,’ those were three-part bluegrass…vocals that were prominent in the Stanley Brothers sound from the ’40s and early ’50s,”  Skaggs said.

“People would say, ‘Well bluegrass doesn’t sell you, know,’” Skaggs said. “What my comment would be back is, ‘Well then why does McDonald’s, why does Toyota, why does American Express — all these huge corporations — why do they have a banjo or a mandolin or a dobra or something like that in their commercials? Because it grabs your ear. You will listen to it when you hear it.’ They are smart enough to figure that out, why can’t the record labels figure that out you know?”