Earl Scruggs
| Earl Scruggs | |
|---|---|
Earl Scruggs in 2005.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Earl Eugene Scruggs |
| Born |
January 6, 1924 Cleveland County, North Carolina--Flint Hill community near Boiling Springs, NC, |
| Origin | North Carolina, United States |
| Died | March 28, 2012 (aged 88) Nashville, Tennessee, United States |
| Genres | Bluegrass, country, gospel |
| Occupation(s) | Bluegrass artist |
| Instruments | 5-string banjo, guitar |
| Years active | 1945–2012 |
| Labels | Mercury, Columbia, OKeh, MCA Nashville Records |
| Associated acts | Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, Flatt and Scruggs, Earl Scruggs Revue |
| Website | earlscruggs |
| Notable instruments | |
| 1934 Gibson Granada RB Mastertone 9584-3 and a 1935 Gibson RB-3 flathead | |
Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style now called "Scruggs style" that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-finger style of playing was radically different from the ways the five-string banjo had been historically played. He popularized the instrument in several genres of music and elevated the banjo from its role as a background rhythm instrument or a comedian's prop into featured solo status.
Scruggs' career began at age 21 when he was hired to play in a group called "Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys". The name "bluegrass" stuck and eventually became the eponym for this entire genre of county music. Despite considerable success with Monroe, performing on the Grand Ole Opry and recording classic hits like "Blue Moon of Kentucky", Scruggs gave notice in 1946 that he was quitting the band because of the exhausting schedule of touring. Another band member, Lester Flatt resigned as well, and later the two men paired up again in a new group they called "Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys". Scruggs' banjo instrumental called "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", released in 1949, became an enduring hit, and the song had a rebirth of popularity to a younger generation when it was featured in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. The song won two Grammy Awards and in 2005 was selected for the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry of works of unusual merit.
Flatt and Scruggs brought bluegrass music into mainstream popularity in the early 1960s with their country hit, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett". This song was the theme music for the successful network television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies and was the first bluegrass recording to reach number one on the Billboard charts. Over their 20-year association, Flatt and Scruggs recorded over 50 albums and 75 single records. The duo broke up in 1969, chiefly because Scruggs wanted to progress the music to a more modern sound and Flatt was a traditionalist who did not want to change the style because he thought it would alienate a fan base of bluegrass purists. Each of them formed a new band that matched his own vision, but neither man ever regained the success they had reached as a team.
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