Customer Reviews

16 Biggest Hits

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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. This set captures about half of his hits on the Epic label in the '80s.

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. The disc winds down with Skaggs adding a bit more variety to his musical pallet on the power picker "Country Boy" and the live "Cajun Moon."

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. To get all of the classic Epic hits, check out the two-disc Country Gentleman: The Best Of Ricky Skaggs.

While I am a true blue fan of Ricky Skaggs, I am much more at home with his newer bluegrass endeavors; but these songs on this CD, which go back as far as 1980, are the songs that made me fall in love with this multi-talented performer. Songs such as "Crying my Heart out Over You", "You May See Me Walking", "I Don't Care", "I Wouldn't Change you If I Could", "Highway 40 Blues", etc. are the songs that put Ricky Skaggs on the charts. Even though the songs are country and not bluegrass, I enjoy listening to them again. The songs reflect Ricky's zest for his music and all the songs are as fresh today as they were 20 years ago. I have most of these songs on various LP's that I bought over the years, but it is nice to have all the hits on one CD. It is well worth the money for die-hard Ricky Skaggs or country music fans. It's a great compilation of his hit songs.

Whether you prefer Ricky's country music or bluegrass music, there's a combinaton of both on this album. I'm a BIG fan of his bluegrass music (BLUGRASS RULES!), so I wasn't personally overwhelmed with the electronic and steel guitar stuff on this album - but my least favorite Ricky Skaggs song is WAY better than 99% of everything else that's out there!

Skaggs' mile-deep bluegrass roots were brought to the forefront by a generous record label during much of his CBS tenure, and this collection brings the best of that era to light. Skaggs' masterpieces, "Uncle Pen," "Highway 40 Blues," and "Country Boy," were ahead of their time when their chart runs began (the bluegrass/new-traditionalist revival's popularity didn't hit it's stride until 1986) but he quickly built a sizeable audience, every top music industry award, and managed to corrall several #1 singles. He did it all by meticulously sticking to his roots, corageously including as many as 2 Bill Monroe tunes per CD. There were stellar moments near the end of his CBS tenure ("Humingbird, "Fields of Home") that have been omitted here, but that serves notice that his best simply can't be contained on one CD. Skaggs' astonishing guitar/mandolin flat-picking abilities paired with his brilliant tenor singiing style convincingly harken to his idol and former bandleader, 'Big Mon,' and his ability to escape the syrupy trappings of 1980's commercial country music is nearly as amazing as the cohesive mixture of bluegrass and well-sung ballads collected here.

This is a classic album. Ricky Skaggs's great voice is perfectly featured in this collection with hits such as "Highway 40 Blues," "Crying My Heart out over you," "You May see me walking," and "You've got a lover." The collection of songs couldn't have been better. If you like Ricky Skaggs, you will love this album. I guarantee it. You will not be disappointed if you get it.

Bought this CD before going to see Ricky as he played in our small town. This CD will give you a great range of his songs. All are really good if you like his Bluegrass/country style. The only thing missing with his live show (July-2006) was that he doesn't do his older country songs anymore. His shows are all bluegrass now. Not bad, but wish he would have played more than a couple from this album when he performed live.

I've been a Ricky Fan since he played with J D Crowe,I watched his band Boone Creek many times as they were based in my home town. I was glad he went to Nashville, he didn't stay long enough I didn't think, Chet Atkins said he saved country music, maybe that was his purpose, we need another Ricky now, country just isn't, its getting too pop AGAIN, this happens time to time, the music on this is great! thanks Shooter!

This is a great album if you want a good overview of the ability of this artist! He is an amazing player, certainly one of the best ever, and this album is a good collection of some of his very best songs.

If you are a big Ricky Skaggs fan, you probably already have all of this stuff. If not though, this is a good collection to have!!

Ricky Skaggs is a master of bluegrss and country music. This is a great collection of some of his earlier hits. If you love Ricky Skaggs or traditional music you should pick this up. Loved it!!!!

This CD contains most of Ricky's most popular songs. I enjoy his voice and sytle in which he performs. It's too bad country artists today have gotten away from this style of music. Ricky is certainly a legend in my mind and I am happy to have this CD added to my collection of great classic collection.