“I have thanked the Lord hundreds of times that I wasn’t out in the middle of Texas on a tour bus, miles away from a hospital.”-Ricky Skaggs

Last week, Country Music Hall of Fame member Ricky Skaggs revealed he experienced a major health scare over the summer. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Skaggs details the circumstances that led him to quadruple bypass heart surgery last June.

In early 2020, the Country and Bluegrass legend knew something wasn’t right. He was easily winded and felt a new tightness in his chest. But he almost delayed medical testing. Today, feeling “150%,” he’s thankful he didn’t.

“He (Dr. Sreekumar ‘Kumar’ Subramanian) told me that when he was finished with the bypasses, he literally was holding my heart in his hand, and my heart literally leapt in his hands when the blood started flowing through it again,” a tearful Skaggs tells PEOPLE. “I just started bawling. It was the most incredible thing I have ever heard in my life.”

Skaggs credits God for giving him the foresight not to delay the angiogram that led to surgery.

“Scripture tells us God always knows the thoughts of man,” Skaggs recalls to PEOPLE. “That was proven to me at that moment, because while I did not speak it from my mouth, I thought about putting the angiogram off for a week. When I thought that thought, it was like I saw the Lord with a jeweler’s eye glass on. He was peering at me but never said a word. But just by His look, I knew He was saying, ‘Absolutely no.’ It put the fear of God in me. He had given me so many grace situations, but He was serious that I needed to take care of this now.”

Read the full story HERE.

About Ricky Skaggs  Earning 12 #1 hit singles, 15 GRAMMY® Awards, 13 IBMA Awards, nine ACM Awards, eight CMA Awards (including Entertainer of the Year), two Dove Awards, the ASCAP Founders Award, three honorary Doctorate degrees, inductions into the Country Music Hall of Fame, IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, National Fiddler Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame, and GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the 2013 Artist-In-Residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, an Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award in the Instrumentalist category along with countless other awards, Ricky Skaggs is truly a pioneer of Bluegrass and Country music. Since he began playing music over 60 years ago, Skaggs has released more than 30 albums and has performed thousands of live shows. He started his own record label, Skaggs Family Records, in 1997 and has since released 12 consecutive GRAMMY®-nominated albums. His latest release, Hearts Like Ours, with his wife, celebrated artist Sharon White of The Whites features the couple dueting on handpicked country love songs. And the Grand Ole Opry member has released his first-ever autobiography, “Kentucky Traveler.” The book details the life and times of Skaggs and provides a descriptive history of Country and Bluegrass music, as told by the master himself. In addition to his regular touring schedule with his band, Kentucky Thunder, he has performed a string of dates with his better half Sharon White along with guitar legend Ry Cooder on the critically-acclaimed “Cooder-White-Skaggs” tour and from time to time hits the road with versatile singer/songwriter and pianist Bruce Hornsby on another critically-acclaimed tour, “Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder.” Most recently, Skaggs has added country tour dates as he plugs in and plays full shows of his chart-topping hits.

For more information on Ricky Skaggs, visit rickyskaggs.com

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'I have thanked the Lord hundreds of times that I wasn't out in the middle of Texas on a tour bus, miles away from a hospital.'-Ricky Skaggs Last week, Country Music Hall of Fame member Ricky Skaggs revealed he experienced a major health scare over the summer. In an exclusive...