Bluegrass icon Ricky Skaggs choked up a bit last night when the Berklee College of Music visited a Tuesday night edition of the Grand Ole Opry to present the instrumental whiz with an honorary doctorate.

In the process, Ricky joined a group of important "musicians who had a deep and lasting effect on the music of their time," according to Dr. Larry Simpson, a Berklee vice president and provost who made the presentation. Among the artists who've received Berklee doctorates are such acts as Duke Ellington, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon and Loretta Lynn.

In accepting the honor, Ricky noted his humble beginnings in rural Kentucky, where he picked up the mandolin at age five, saying he "never would've dreamed in a million years that I would be standing here receiving an award like this from such a prestigious school."

Ricky also asked his wife, singer and Opry member Sharon White, to stand beside him, praising her for being "such an inspiration." He also paid tribute to her family group, The Whites, calling them "salt-of-the-earth people."

Given the educational nature of the honor, Ricky appropriately discussed bluegrass history and played several songs by pioneering acts the Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe. The set list during his half-hour on stage included two songs — "Why Did You Wander?" and "Bluegrass Breakdown" — that grace his next album, Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass: Tribute To 1946 & 1947, set for release Tuesday. The album recognizes the period in which Bill Monroe's bluegrass sound came to its full fruition, with a band that included guitarist Lester Flatt, banjo player Earl Scruggs, fiddler Chubby Wise and bass man Howard Watts.

Ricky's appearance was taped by GAC for this weekend's edition of Opry Live!.