Official Music Site for Ken Skaggs!

I grew up watching my Dad ( Geno Skaggs) play blues. We were living in San Francisco at the time. When I was about eight years old (around 1968), I finally picked up one of his guitars and had the ambition to learn. He taught me how to play What'd I Say (Ray Charles), Honky Tonk (Bill Dogett), You Got Me Runnin' (Jimmy Reed), Feel so Bad (Lighnin' Hopkins), Born Under a Bad Sign (Albert King), some other blues stuff and some of his original stuff. By the time I was about twelve (1972), he started teaching me some rock, like a few Credence Clearwater songs, some Cream (which I really loved), Chuck Berry and a few others. It was about this time I learned my bar-chords. When I graduated eighth grade, he bought me my very own electric guitar and amp! It was a Kay guitar and the strings were about two inches off the neck, but he adjusted it as best he could and now I was rockin'.. That was the best thing anyone ever gave me (besides all the love, support and inspiration he and my Mom already gave me).

During those same years (1968 to 1972), he was constantly touring, recording and playing some huge venues with names like Earl Hooker, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, Luther Tucker, Freddie Roulette, Ike and Tina Turner, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Boz Scaggs (no relation, but everybody that knew the two of them said they were brothers- funny though, nobody seemed to notice they spelled their names differently, although they were very good friends), Steve Miller (Fly Like an Eagle, and another Steve (Stephen) Miller from the early days with Earl Hooker. The list of names he played with sounds like a who's who of blues from that era. Check out this page for more on Geno Skaggs.

Well, my parents split up about that time (December of 1972), so my Mom and us kids (me, my sister Pat and my brother Eddie) moved back to Chicago. I poked around on my guitar a little over the next few years, but wasn't very inspired. Then, one day when I was about seventeen (1977), a friend of mine gave me a Beattles book and a bunch of guitar songbooks. I was sparked by how easy it was to follow along with the sheet music because it had chord-charts and I was familiar with the songs. So, I learned my open-string chords at that time. I pounded on those songs until I could switch chords quickly and play without looking at the guitar.

I Started Writing Songs...


Eddie Skaggs and Ken Skaggs (me) around 1978

When I was about twenty-one (1981), I found a two-track, reel-to-reel tape recorder in the closet of a house I moved into! I started recording all the guitar riffs I was making up, and, with some help from my brother Eddie, we started writing songs. We wrote about twenty songs together and I wrote about another fifty on my own.

Then, around 1983 I met Doug Wolff. We must have wrote another fifty to seventy songs together at that time. We started a band called the Untouchables. We dressed like gangsters, with pin-striped suits and played our new-wave/blues music. For a couple of years, we kept writing and played some clubs around the Chicago area. 


Eddie Skaggs, Doug Wolff, Ken Skaggs, Untouchables1984

We thought we were really going to be stars with our original music. We were somewhat ahead of our time, playing New-Wave music before the actual wave. Our only problem was, we didn't stick it out. After only a few years, we went our separate ways. Eddie was always going to jail for one thing or another, Doug wanted to play covers (even though he is a great songwriter) and I wanted to play more rock and blues and originals only.

Eddie played drums, and me and Doug used to switch off between guitar and bass (although, we did have an ocassional keyboard player Carl Schumaker, then Steve Krom), so this was the time when I really started getting into bass playing, and, playing it with my fingers instead of using a pick, like most guitar players do when they play bass. I like to play bass hard, plucking it, like this. I grew to love bass even more than guitar. I had a Guild JS-2 which was a lightweight, low action easy bass to play that sounded great. I wish I still had it. They are kind of hard to find now.


Me playing Dougs' Ibanez bass.

And Then There was Rock...

Then, around 1986, I joined up with my old friend from the neighborhood, Mike Bostedt, who was a pretty awesome guitar player that really stole the show every time we played out. We had a pretty good rock band, with a keyboard player (John Rossi), a bass player (Vince Sienna), a drummer (John Placko) and two guitars (me and Mike). I played back-up guitar to Mike and that was when I really learned to follow, and play faster. Being a good follower is important in a band. There are leaders and followers in music, and, there are Democracies. It's much more difficult to have equal leaders, voting on everything a band does, like we did in the Untouchables. The best way, in my opinion, is to have a definite leader of the band. This clarifies everything to everybody involved and keeps you focused.

Then, Nothing.

I spent the next ten years or so staying home, working as a truck driver and raising my kids. I taught them a little music and wrote a few songs.
Sharon · Mellow in A Minor · I'm Your Main Man · Classical Jam · Funky Blues · Spooky Mike · What is Love · Finger of Blame · Militia · One Tear ·

I jammed here and there with friends and recorded a few originals. I spent about six months in another band with Doug Wolff, and we played a few gigs around 1997, but our goals were different, so that didn't last too long. For him, his goal was to be a cover band and play clubs. For me, it was always originals only. I didn't mind playing a few covers, if they were somebody's favorite song, but I always thought it was important to be strictly original. After all, when you go to see the Rolling Stones, you don't ask them to play a Janet Jackson song, you want to see the Stones. I always wanted to be known for my songs, not anybody else's.

The Leader:

I knew, the next project I did, had to be led by me. My only problem was, I had a family to support and couldn't afford the long period of making no money. So, I spent another ten years or so doing nothing major musically (although I did keep recording at home and trying to teach my kids and now grandkids how to play). It is now 2008 and I still want to do that some day (have an original band, with me leading). But the bills keep coming. The good news is, I am finally starting to make some money with my online business. I have several websites that, for the past few years, have made me a little money. But now, one of them is really doing well. Plus, I set it up where it does everything by itself, so that free up my time, finally! In the next few months, if things go according to plan, I will be doing some major recording. I have a bunch of new songs, which I am still working on. I'm going to record my new CD at Twist Turner studios in Chicago. He also knew my dad and is a pretty cool guy, not to mention a great drummer, which I will need for my album! After I record that, probably next year some time, I will put together MY BAND, which will play my entire album and other songs of mine (and maybe a few songs from the other members if they have some originals or do a good cover of something).

 

Paul Wood

Ever since I was a kid, growing up with my Dad playing blues, meeting a lot of musicians all my life, meeting a lot of my dad's friends, the one who really puts out the best music in my opinion is Paul Wood. This album, Blues is My Business, is awesome. Paul Wood has played with the best of them. Be sure to click on the picture and check out his website at www.Paul-Wood.com.

Some other sites of interest:

  1. BigCityDriver.com
  2. DriverStory.com
  3. KenSkaggs.com
  4. 40Dollars.com
  5. Hub.name
  6. Fajita.biz
  7. Skaggmo.com