James Beaty: OPINION: Ramblin' : Ricky Skaggs and the mandolin legend

Nov. 21—When speaking to country and bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs, there are many things to talk about, but not enough time to cover everything.

During our conversation, I got to ask him about his experiences playing one of the most famous and valuable instruments in the world — the Lloyd Loar-designed Gibson F-5 mandolin which bluegrass music founding father Bill Monroe played throughout much of his career.

From the time Skaggs first played onstage with Monroe when Skaggs was only 6 years old, to his own career that includes a remarkable 15 Grammy Awards, Skaggs has covered lots of musical ground, both in bluegrass and country music.

I spoke with Skaggs in connection with his upcoming concert with his six-piece ensemble Kentucky Thunder on Saturday, Dec. 2 in Fort Smith, Ark. — which is about as close to Eastern Oklahoma as one can get without crossing the border.

Since Skaggs' next concert following the one in Fort Smith is Dec. 7 in Cincinnati, Ohio, his performance in Fort Smith will be the closest chance for his Oklahoma fans to attend one of his concerts on the current tour. It's set to begin at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec, 2, at the Temple Live venue at 200 N. 11th St. in Fort Smith.

Citing all of the many awards Skaggs has won would take up much of this column, but two of his biggest honors have to be his inductions into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with an induction into the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame, both in 2018.

Monroe died in 1996, but during Skaggs' induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Monroe's legendary mandolin, on display at the Hall of Fame Museum, was removed from its glass display case so Skaggs could play it during his induction ceremony.

"That was pretty amazing," said Skaggs. "That's the same mandolin I played when I was 6 years-old in Kentucky in 1960."

That Skaggs played Monroe's exact same mandolin in 2018 at the Hall of Fame that he'd played in Kentucky in 1960 is all the more remarkable because Monroe's famed Lloyd Loar mandolin had been destroyed at one point.

"It was all busted up and put back together," Skaggs noted. The culprit who supposedly broke into Monroe's home and destroyed his treasured mandolin with a fireplace poker has never been identified, although several theories point to a miffed woman, since nothing was stolen from the home and only two of Monroe's mandolins and some photos of him were vandalized.

For whatever reason the mandolin was destroyed, famed Gibson craftsman Charlie Derrington was able to painstakingly piece and glue it back together from hundreds of splintered pieces and return it to Monroe, so he could continue performing with it.

Skaggs is adamant that Monroe always played that particular Lloyd Loar mandolin while on the road, unless he'd sent it in for some refurbishing from time-to-time.

That's no doubt the same mandolin Monroe played while performing at the Sanders Family Bluegrass Festival in McAlester each June in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

I've always felt amazed to be at the Sanders Family Festival grounds just west of McAlester, seeing and hearing the great Bill Monroe — widely credited with creating the bluegrass music genre with the help of his bandmates in his band, the Blue Grass Boys.

Not only that, those attending got to hear his fabled Lloyd Loar mandolin, an instrument that has been valued at $1.25 million or higher.

Skaggs related how he came to play Monroe's mandolin for the first time when only 6 years old back in Skaggs' hometown in Kentucky.

"My dad had bought me a mandolin the year before when I was 5 and I played it in church," Skaggs said. "Then we found out Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys were coming to town."

Skaggs had heard Monroe play on the radio, but he hadn't seen any photos of the bluegrass great.

"I didn't know what he looked like," Skaggs said.

When he and his family attended the Monroe show, Skaggs learned that even at his young age, he had already amassed some local fans of his own.

"About 10 or 15 minutes into the show, people were shouting 'Let Ricky Skaggs play a song,"' Skaggs recalled. After three or four songs, Monroe must have decided to get it over with, Skaggs said.

Monroe must have been surprised to see that Ricky Skaggs was a 6 year old child.

"He pulled me up on the stage," Skaggs said, saying the stage was about 4 feet high. "He literally leaned down and grabbed me by the arm."

When Monroe asked Skaggs if he played an instrument, Skaggs replied that he played mandolin. Skaggs said Monroe then took off his mandolin, handed it to him and adjusted the strap to fit him.

When Monroe asked Skaggs what song he wanted to play, Skaggs replied "Ruby (Are You Mad at Your Man)" by The Osborne Brothers.

"Maybe I should have played a Bill Monroe song," Skaggs chuckled. "It was a pretty memorable experience."

Skaggs is positive the mandolin Monroe handed him to play when he was a kid in Kentucky is the exact same mandolin Skaggs would play again during his 2018 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

"Oh definitely," Skaggs said. "That was his career mandolin."

The night before my conversation with Skaggs, I watched a video of his 2018 Hall of Fame induction, when Monroe's famed Lloyd Loar was removed from the Hall of Fame Museum so Skaggs could play it during his induction ceremony.

For a few seconds, Skaggs held it and turned it upright, looking at the instrument with pure devotion. Then he turned it back and began playing solo, just himself with the mandolin,, singing "Will the Circle Be Unbroken."

"Will the circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by. There's a better home awaiting, in the sky, Lord, in the sky."

Then the whole band joined in and Oklahoma's own Garth Brooks even stepped in to sing a verse after Skaggs completed a solo, but then Brooks said to Skaggs, "I thought you were going to do a double solo."

"Oh, I'm Sorry," Skaggs said to Brooks. "I can if you need to walk back out. I'll play this thing anytime." Then, Skaggs seemed to catch himself and looking down toward the mandolin, said "I didn't call you a 'thing'. I'm sorry."

Brooks returned to the microphone and sang his verse. As the song neared its conclusion, Skaggs again looked down at the mandolin and began speaking softly.

"I'll play a little more before you have to go back in that window," Skaggs said. "I'm so sorry. I know it's lonely in there.

"No, I'm not going to drop you," Skaggs continued. As he finished the song, Skaggs held the mandolin edgeways again and said "Wow! Unbelievable! Thank you so much!"

I told Skaggs how touching it felt to see him speaking to the vintage mandolin.

"I just felt something," Skaggs said. "I could have kept that conversation going on for a long time."

What would he have said to Monroe's mandolin if he'd continued talking.

"When you were standing in the woods as a tree, you didn't know you would become an instrument for a king... of bluegrass," Skaggs said. "You could have been a table or a chair, but you became something that created a whole kind of music."

Skaggs said he hopes to write something to express those thoughts about Bill Monroe's mandolin.

Please do Ricky. Whether a song, a poem or an essay, I can't wait to hear or read it.

While Skaggs said his Fort Smith performance will be a bluegrass show, he said lots of his country music hits, such as "Crying My Heart Out Over You" are adaptable to bluegrass. Some of his hits, such as "Country Boy" — with guest Bill Monroe in the video — are closer to bluegrass than country. Skaggs' hit "Uncle Penn" is a bonafide bluegrass song, written by Monroe himself.

Tickets for Skaggs' Dec. 2 Fort Smith concert are available at TempleLive.com.

Skaggs' Fort Smith concert is his last regular concert before he and Kentucky Thunder launch their Christmas concert tour with the Dec. 7 show in Cincinnati.

Still, the Fort Smith show is close enough to the holiday season that Skaggs plans to include a few holiday favorites in his set.

"This will be in December so we"ll throw in a few Christmas songs," he said.

Oh yes, while preparing this article I noticed something that caught my attention.

Designer Lloyd Loar had signed Monroe's famed Gibson F-5 mandolin in 1923, the year of its creation. That makes it 100 years old in 2023.

Like Skaggs said — "Wow! Unbelievable!"