Ricky Skaggs was just five years old when he first got his hands on a mandolin. Many boys in small town Kentucky were playing the guitar or the fiddle, but not the mandolin. With a rich and varied career in bluegrass and country, Skaggs is known for that masterful mandolin sound.
He performs in Durham tomorrow night as part of the Skaggs Family Christmas. Host Frank Stasio talks with Skaggs about his origins and his most recent autobiography, "Kentucky Traveler: My Life in Music" (It Books, 2013).