Ricky Skaggs celebrates bluegrass at Ryman Auditorium

The show will be great — Ricky Skaggs "promises."

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder will play Springer Mountain Farms Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. And because Skaggs said 2016 marks the 70th anniversary of bluegrass music, he plans to change the show up a bit.

"We definitely want to jump into the history and talk about it, and with Ralph (Stanley) passing a month ago, we’ll do more than usual Stanley Brothers songs and talk about that," Skaggs explained. "I’ve got so many things I’d like to do, I don’t know if I could do it all and keep everybody’s attention."

Skaggs bases the 70th anniversary statement on the fact Bill Monroe and his band, including Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, made the first bluegrass recording in 1946.

"What they came up with was something so totally unique and something that hadn’t been done before," Skaggs said. "It was that sound of Kentucky, but it was something else. With Earl playing the three-fingered roll, it was mesmerizing. To start a whole genre of music out of nothing, it’s really an amazing American story."

Admission to the show is $28.50 at www.ryman.com.