Ricky Skaggs photo courtesy of Skaggs Family Records.
August 14, 2007 — Ricky Skaggs' upcoming album, Salt of the Earth, marks the first time Ricky Skaggs, wife Sharon White, sister-in-law Cheryl White and father-in-law Buck White (the trio known as the Whites) have all recorded a full album together.
The project also features Ricky's backing group, Kentucky Thunder. "This project has been a long time coming," Ricky says. The 13-track CD hits stores September 25.
Mixing traditional hymns, gospel favorites and five new inspirational tracks, the album, though not strictly a bluegrass record, spotlights the inimitable family harmony that has thrilled Ricky Skaggs and Whites fans for years.
Ricky, whose music has blended country, bluegrass, gospel and the Celtic tradition, recently returned from a trip to Scotland. In an interview with the U.K. paper The Herald, Ricky says, "I never consciously try to write Scottish or Irish-sounding tunes; they just seem to come to me. In fact, sometimes I feel that it should only be a generation or two since my family moved over here, rather than the five or six generations that it is."