The wholeness of the life of Grammy award winning multi-instrumentalist Ricky Skaggs, cannot be summed up in individual passions, but is a blending of influences of music, spirituality, family life, and friends that are reflected, much like his latest CD, into a patchwork of armament, a personal “mosaic”.
It’s amazing what can happen on a whim. Just a few days ago I was surfing the web, checking out some guitar videos on YouTube and I came across a great performance by country legend Albert Lee. Seeing the video reminded me of what a stellar player Lee really is and so I decided to head over to his site to see if he was touring in my area this year, hoping to get a chance to see him live. A bit dismayed after finding out that he’ll be spending most of his time in Europe in the near future, and later learning that I had just missed him in Chicago recently, I noticed that there was a contact button on his site, and that’s when things get interesting.
Making a living in today’s music business is tough on the best of days. It seems that the sun has set on the days when one could be just a studio musician, only play gigs or simply teach a few lessons a day and make a living as a guitarist, at least enough to pay the bills and get by.
