Performance: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder

Fifteen-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Skaggs is one of the most influential figures in modern country music. Praised by Chet Atkins for “single-handedly saving country music,” Skaggs has explored a range of genres while remaining deeply rooted in bluegrass. A virtuoso mandolinist and fiddler, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artistic achievement. Through his performances and recordings, Skaggs preserves and advances the bluegrass tradition, sharing its rich legacy with audiences around the world while continuing to explore new, genre-crossing musical ideas.

Part of American Panorama: Voices of a Nation at 250.