Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder's Christmas concert at the restored Lyric Theater in Birmingham, AL, was sweet and revealing of his and other band members strong faith and caring. He opened by saying he hoped that he did not have to walk home, since the Main ST of Hendersonville, TN, his hometown, was "torn up."We had no idea what he was talking about until we got home later and saw on the weather news that tornadoes had devastated Hendersonville and another town in middle TN, northeast of Nashville, in which six people died. What a trouper!
The concert was laden with Christmas favorites, including several instrumentals. Ricky also spoke about looking forward to being with his 3-year-old grandson and helping his wife, Sharon White, a caretaker for her dad. His guest tenor singer and guitarist from Huntsville, AL, gave an emotional testimony about having been sober now for 9 years, enabling him to celebrate Christmas with his son and to pull into his ex-wife's driveway "without her calling the cops."They played a long set with no intermission and two encores. Though he complained of sinus trouble, Ricky's voice was clear and lovely. Everyone in the band, including the fiddler from UT--standing in for the regular member whose wife was expecting a baby soon, played well-received solos. Thanks to Ricky and all for going on with the show!