Posted on 03/28/2012 5:51:56 PM PDT by ArtDodger
Legendary banjo picker Earl Scruggs, one of the pioneering figures of bluegrass music, has died at 88. "The Essential Earl Scruggs"Scruggs reached his highest level of fame in the 1960s when he and partner Lester Flatt recording the theme song for The Beverly Hillbillies, which became a beloved weekly staple in living rooms that wouldn't think of ever putting on a bluegrass record, as well as a No. 1 smash on the not usually so rootsy Billboard country chart. But his stardom continued to give him a healthy touring career to the very end, especially at roots-music gatherings like the Newport Folk Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass or Stagecoach, on top of well-attended shows at performing arts centers. In recent years, Scruggs had toured with a band packed with family members and let his sons and grandson do all the talking as he sat impassively between solos. Fans would sometimes worry whether he was up to the task as he slowly made his way to center stage, only to gape in awe when his fingers would come to life, as spry as the rest of his body was not.
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You only die thrice (On FR.)
RIP Earl..Heaven has a new great picker!
Amen
Freegards
Lex
I don’t understand how ANY human being can play that instrument, but a top-notch banjo picker literally defies the Laws of Physics.
RIP Mr. Scruggs.
When they write about the United States 1000 years from now, they will have to include a chapter about Earl Scruggs and Bluegrass. Truly America.
RIP Sir.
Dayum.
Thanks Earl! Pick in Peace!
We are poorer for his loss and heaven is richer for his gain.
in the 70’s I was seeing him on CBS daytime repeats, and later on some many reairings on TBS in the late 80’s
Ballad of Jed Clampett
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_XAPku7SgE
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Original 1949)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Y3mnj-8lA
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - “ Orange Blossom Special “
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCBdiutb-50
The Ballad Of Jed Clampett - Lester Flatt ,Earl Scruggs (1962)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_XAPku7SgE
There’s going to be one heck of a Blue Grass Jamorboree In Heaven tonight boys tonight Boys!
Those are hard laws to defy. I play "a very little bit" of bluegrass banjo. It's a big joy when it works and I usually do it for church special music.
Bump to the sky!
I had to watch Flatt and Scruggs every Saturday afternoon when I was a kid. Nashville in the 50’s. Or was it the 60’s, I forget. I didn’t really appreciate it until many years later.
Our loss is Heaven’s gain...reckon the grass just got a little bluer.
RIP, Sir.
RIP.
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - “Petticoat Junction”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YvoSOztN6U&feature=related
I later "matured" to clawhammer, but some of the riffs I learned from Scruggs I play to this day.
Set a spell. Take yo' shoes off. Y'll come back now, hear?
Earl and Ralph Stanley....some fast ass 5 string pickin’
Bluegrass loses another giant.
RIP — your like will not be seen again Mr. Scruggs...
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