Earl Scruggs
Earl Eugene Scruggs (
January 6 1924,
Shelby, North Carolina) is a musician noted for creating a
banjo style (now called
Scruggs style) that is a defining characteristic of
bluegrass.
Scruggs joined
Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in late
1945 and his syncopated, three-finger picking style quickly became a sensation. In
1948 Scruggs and guitarist
Lester Flatt left Monroe's band and formed
Flatt and Scruggs. In
1969,
Flatt and Scruggs broke up and Scruggs started a new band, the Earl Scruggs Revue, featuring several of his sons.
Flatt and Scruggs won a
Grammy Award in
1969 for Scruggs' instrumental
Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Scruggs was an inaugural inductee into the
International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in
1991.
In
2002 Scruggs won a second
Grammy award for the
2001 recording of
Foggy Mountain Breakdown -- which featured artists such as
Steve Martin on 2nd
banjo solo (Martin played the banjo tune on his
1970s stand-up comic acts),
Vince Gill and
Albert Lee on electric guitar solos,
Paul Shaffer on piano,
Leon Russell on organ,
Marty Stuart on mandolin. That CD,
Earl Scruggs and Friends, also featured artists such as
Elton John,
Sting,
Johnny Cash,
Don Henley,
Travis Tritt,
Billy Bob Thornton, etc.
Earl Scruggs and Friends (MCA Nashville,
2001).
On
February 13,
2003, Scruggs received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. Scruggs' wife and manager Louise Scruggs died on
February 02,
2006 at the age of 78 at
Nashville, TN's Baptist Hospital following a lengthy illness. [
1]
* Where Lillies Bloom
* Nashville Rock
* Foggy Mountain Jamboree (Sony,
1957)
* Changin' Times (
1969)
* Nashville Airplane (
1970)
* I Saw the Light with Some Help from My Friends (Sony,
1972)
* Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends (
1972)
* Live at Kansas State (
1972)
* Rockin' 'Cross the Country (
1973)
* Dueling Banjos (CBS,
1973)
* The Earl Scruggs Revue (
1973)
* Anniversary Special (
1975)
* The Earl Scruggs Revue 2 (
1976)
* Family Portrait (
1976)
* Live from Austin City Limits (
1977)
* Strike Anywhere (
1977)
* Bold & New (
1978)
* Today & Forever (
1979)
* The Story Teller & the Banjo Man (CBS,
1982)
* Flatt & Scruggs (
1982)
* Top of the World (
1983)
* Superjammin' (
1984)
* Artist's Choice: The Best Tracks (
1970-
1980) (Edsel - (UK),
1998)
* Earl Scruggs and Friends (MCA Nashville,
2001)
* Classic Bluegrass Live:
1959-
1966 (Vanguard,
2002)
* Three Pickers (Rounder Records,
2003)
* The Essential Earl Scruggs (Legacy Recordings,
2004)
*
Official Website*
at the Country Music Hall of Fame*
on MCA Nashville*
on Rounder Records
