Ricky Beavers is a self-proclaimed walking and talking jukebox; in his words, he’s “blessed by voice, not by sight.”

Beavers, a 57-year-old singer-songwriter living in Bowling Green, picked up the guitar for the first time around the age of 12 — despite being legally blind since childhood.

Beavers said that with his music, “God is in control.” They often feature themes of family, faith and patriotism and take inspiration from the personal difficulties of his life.

“Mother had dementia, and I took care of her for 7 years,” Beavers said. “Every time I’d go down to listen to her, she’d always have a CD playing.” 

Music brought him and his mother closer together, Beavers said. After she passed away in 2018, he wrote “Heaven is the Only Thing That Keeps Me Hanging On” in memory of her.

“She always said I could do anything I wanted to; it’s what she told everyone, she was my number one fan,” Beavers said. “Something in my spirit, you know, led me to continue doing what I’m doing and I gotta think the sky’s the limit for me.”

His love of music has pushed him to start his own website and complete the finishing touches on a 10-song CD. He has already moved on to his next project, an album titled “The Ones in Black and Blue.”

Ernie Rowell, Beavers’ manager from Kit Music Group, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, said working with Beavers “was a God thing!”

“Our meeting was quite accidental, as Ricky was calling a venue where I was performing on weekends and asked for someone else, who wasn’t there,” Rowell said in an email. “I wound up taking the call.  We talked about what he was wanting to do and just started working together from there.”

Rowell said it was clear to him Beavers was “truly a special human being.”

“I have never met a more driven songwriter and singer than I see in Ricky Beavers,” Rowell said. “His love of God, country and people is reflected in everything he does and he wants to be the very best version of himself he can possibly be.”

This past New Years Eve, Beavers played at 231 Bar and Grill for the first time. Manager Nicole Reagle called the performance “literally fantastic.”

“Ricky helped our business tremendously on New Year’s Eve,” Reagle said. “We scheduled him for every other Friday from here on out until further notice.”

Tony Stark, another manager at 231 Bar and Grill, loved Beaver’s ability to both entertain and connect with the audience. Beyond original music, his show features jokes, anecdotes and song requests.

“You can hear the feeling in his voice, you can tell that he feels what songs he sings,” Stark said. “He’s a very warm entertainer.”

Beavers has big plans for the future and a big heart for his community, adding “it’s about others now.”

“I want to help family members of officers who get killed in the line of duty. That’s one of my desires, and I want to help go further than that,” Beavers said.

Beyond helping the families of fallen officers, Beavers hopes his performance encourages those around him to persevere through hard times.

“Once you get something in your mind, you need to keep striving for that and keep pushing on,” Beavers said. “If you keep putting hard work behind it […] and have faith and belief in God […] everything else will fall in place.” 

If you do fail, Beavers has some advice: “just keep trucking, and then you’ll finally get your breakthrough.”

Beavers’ next performance will be at 231 Bar and Grill from 6:30 p.m to 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 28. His website can be found at rickybeavers.com.

Reporter Vidhi Parekh can be reached at [email protected].