Ronnie Milsap: Live at the Hippodrome

Ronnie Milsap built a Hall of Fame-caliber career and remains one of the most influential voices in country music’s storied history. Over his historic and successful career, he has received 6 Grammy Awards, 8 CMA Awards, was inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Grand Ole Opry in 1976.

Ronnie Milsap spent the first six years of his life in a small rural town in the Great Smoky Mountains hamlet of Robbinsville, North Carolina before moving to Raleigh to attend a school for the blind—where he began studying violin and piano, studies he’d continue for the next 12 years. Music’s lure proved powerful for the young Milsap, and while he’d pursued his studies diligently in order to make the grade at law school, a chance meeting with Ray Charles prompted him to take another path that was about to open to him.

He’d go on to top the country chart more than a dozen times in the ‘70s, with such enduring hits as “Let My Love Be Your Pillow” and “What a Difference You’ve Made in My Life”—the latter of which is reprised on Then Sings My Soul with an all-new recording and arrangement. His peers responded just as strongly as the public, awarding Milsap six Grammys and a dozen CMA Awards, including four turns as Male Vocalist of the Year. The success he achieved in the country arena would soon spill over into the pop and adult contemporary realms as well, thanks to universally accessible songs like “I Wouldn’t Have Missed It for the World” and “Any Day Now.”

And even with 40 #1 chart-toppers under his belt—not to mention avidly-received live shows across the world, Ronnie Milsap is still growing and surprising long-time fans. Then Sings My Soul documents that growth process, but it also proves that even now, the kid from Robbinsville is still firmly in touch with his roots, and capable of creating sonic and spiritual images that will transport listeners back to the little Baptist church where those roots were planted.