Scruggs was born in Shelby, North Carolina to Georgia Lula Ruppe and George Elam Scruggs.[1] 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.
On September 24th 1962 singer Jerry Scoggins, Flatt, and Scruggs recorded The Ballad of Jed Clampett for the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies which was released October 12th 1962. The theme song became an immediate country music hit and was played at the beginning and end of each episode. Flat and Scruggs appeared in several episodes as family friends of the Clampetts in the following years. In their first appearance, season 1 episode 20, they portray themselves in the show and perform both the theme song and Pearl Pearl Pearl.
Flatt and Scruggs won a Grammy Award in 1969 for Scruggs' instrumental "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". They were inducted together into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985. In 1989, he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship. 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, and Marty Stuart on mandolin. The album, Earl Scruggs and Friends, also featured artists such as John Fogerty, Elton John, Sting, Johnny Cash, Don Henley, Travis Tritt, and Billy Bob Thornton. Earl Scruggs and Friends (MCA Nashville, 2001).
On February 13, 2003, Scruggs received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That same year, he and Flatt were ranked #24 on CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music.
Scruggs' wife and manager Louise Scruggs died on February 2, 2006 at the age of 78 at Nashville, TN's Baptist Hospital following a lengthy illness. [1]
On September 13, 2006, Scruggs was honored at Turner Field in Atlanta as part of the pre-game show for an Atlanta Braves home game. Organizers (Banjo.com) set a world record for the most banjo players (239) playing one tune together (Scruggs' Foggy Mountain Breakdown).
On February 10, 2008, Scruggs was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
[edit] Discography
[edit] AlbumsYear Single Chart Positions US Country US US Heat US Bluegrass 1967 Strictly Instrumental (with Lester Flatt and Doc Watson) 1969 Changin' Times 1970 Nashville Airplane 1972 I Saw the Light with Some Help from My Friends Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends Live at Kansas State 20 1973 Rockin' 'Cross the Country 46 Dueling Banjos The Earl Scruggs Revue 169 1975 Anniversary Special 104 1976 The Earl Scruggs Revue 2 161 Family Portrait 49 1977 Live from Austin City Limits 49 Strike Anywhere 1978 Bold & New 50 1979 Today & Forever 1982 Storyteller and the Banjo Man (with Tom T. Hall) Flatt & Scruggs 1983 Top of the World 1984 Superjammin' 1998 Artist's Choice: The Best Tracks (1970-1980) 2001 Earl Scruggs and Friends 39 33 14 2002 Classic Bluegrass Live: 1959-1966 2003 Three Pickers (with Doc Watson and Ricky Skaggs) 24 179 2 2004 The Essential Earl Scruggs 2005 Live with Donnie Allen and Friends
[edit] SinglesYear Single US Country Album 1970 "Nashville Skyline Rag" 74 Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends 1979 "I Sure Could Use the Feeling" 30 Single only "Play Me No Sad Songs" 82 Today & Forever 1980 "Blue Moon of Kentucky" 46 1982 "There Ain't No Country Music on This Jukebox" (with Tom T. Hall) 77 Storyteller and the Banjo Man "Song of the South" (with Tom T. Hall) 72
[edit] DVDs Earl Scruggs - His Family and Friends (2005) (Recorded 1969. Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Bill Monroe, Joan Baez et al) Private Sessions (2005) The Bluegrass Legend (2006)
Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson and Ricky Skaggs The Three Pickers (2003)
Flatt and Scruggs The Best of Flatt and Scruggs TV Show Vol 1 (2007) The Best of Flatt and Scruggs TV Show Vol 2 (2007)
[edit] Footnotes ^ Ancestry of Earl Scruggs
[edit] References Rosenberg, Neil V. (1998). "Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 173-4. Willis, Barry R. "Biography of Earl Scruggs." Retrieved October 5, 2008. Description of his Gibson RB3 banjo
[edit] External links Official Website at the Country Music Hall of Fame on MCA Nashville Old-Time Banjo Tunes on Rounder Records Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Profile at the Internet Movie DataBase[hide] v • d • e Bluegrass music
Typical instruments acoustic guitar · banjo · resonator guitar · fiddle · mandolin · upright bass
Stylistic origins blues · country music · folk music
Sub- and fusion genres traditional bluegrass · progressive bluegrass · bluegrass gospel · jam band · Czech bluegrass
Notable festivals High Sierra Music Festival · Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Festival · Telluride Bluegrass Festival · Merlefest
Other International Bluegrass Music Museum · International Bluegrass Music Association · International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame
