Earl Scruggs

"I just grew up around the banjo." So says the individual who virtually defined the use of the banjo in bluegrass and other musical forms. Born in Flint Hill, North Carolina, on January 6, 1924, Earl Eugene Scrugs, as half of the duo Flatt and Scruggs, brought the intricate, energy-fused bluegrass sound to the attention of the massess. He joined Bill Monroe's band, the Blue Grass Boys in December of 1944. As banjo player, Scruggs brought a new texture to Monroe's bluegrass. The group's excitement level was brought to new heights and with the guitar and vocals of Lester Flatt, the bass of Howard Watts (Cedric Rainwater), and the fiddle playing of Chubby Wise, the "classic" Blue Grass Boys lineup, the hard driving, "high, lonesome sound" that Monroe had in mind was achieved.

Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys in 1948 to go out on their own. Inspired by The Carter Family's "Foggy Mountain Top," they named their group The Foggy Mountain Boys. Later they moved to Bristol, Virginia, and signed with Mercury Records. Their first recording dates were in Cincinnati, with some recordings featuring Scruggs on guitar (he also finger picked guitar superbly) instead of banjo. In 1949, they released their classic "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," and later "Pike County Breakdown." Over the next couple of years they played radio shows in Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida.

In 1950, while in Florida, they recorded "Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms" and "Salty Dog Blues." In 1951 they signed with Columbia and in 1952 released their first Billboard Top Ten Single, "Tis Sweet To Be Remembered." They joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. 1959 proved chart success again with "Cabin In The Hills" and in 1960 they scored with "Crying My Heart Out Over You," covered by Ricky Scaggs, another Monroe "school" graduate, in 1981. As "Go Home" became a Top Ten record in 1961, the Foggy Mountain Boys lineup settled around the core of dobroist Josh Graves, fiddler Paul Warren and mandolin player Curly Seckler.

Much of their success was achieved through the shrewd promotion of Scruggs' wife, Louise, the band's manager. Through her efforts they received more media attention than any other bluegrass act (which infuriated Bill Monroe loyalists). Their appearances on CBS-TV's The Beverly Hillbillies sent their visibility and popularity skyrocketing, and in 1962 they enjoyed their biggest hit record, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett." In 1968 their original Mercury recording of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" was included in the soundtrack of the smash hit film, Bonnie And Clyde.

As the popularity of rock music increased in the 1960's, Flatt and Scruggs moved apart with Scruggs tastes embracing folk-rock, blues and jazz. On occasion they recorded songs by contemporary folk-artists such as their top 20 hit "California Up Tight Band" in 1967 and in 1968 Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." But in 1969 the duo finally split, reconciling their differences before Flatt's death on May 11, 1979. A partnership that stretched over twenty years, few bluegrass enthusiasts were surprised at the separation. The disputes Flatt and Scruggs had over musical direction (Flatt wanting to return to the style he and Scruggs had pioneered in the late 1940's, and Scruggs wanting to continue experimenting with pop and rock music) reflected the dilemma that many bluegrass fans and musicians faced in the 1970s - to stay with tradition, or, venture into experimentation with new techniques.

Scruggs formed The Earl Scruggs Revue, an all electric band, with his sons Gary on bass and Randy on guitar along with former Flatt and Scruggs dobroist Josh Graves and Vassar Clements on fiddle. Later, Steve Scruggs replaced the group's original drummer, Jody Maphis. The Revue did well and recorded for Columbia throughout the 1970's securing Country chart success three times, including the Top 30 "I Could Sure Use The Feeling."

Earl has the incredible distinction of being the only instrumental artist to win a Grammy award for the same song "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" twice, once in 1968 with Flatt & Scruggs and again more recently with an all-star version in 2001.

On Earl Scruggs and Friends, the banjoist's first album in 17 years, he's joined by more than a dozen artists, most of whom overshadow the 72-year-old picker in name recognition � Elton John, Sting, Melissa Etheridge, Johnny Cash, Billy Bob Thornton and more.

Few people, though, have had the kind of impact Scruggs has had with a single instrument. His three-finger picking style, developed when he was 10 and first popularized during his years with Monroe, transformed the banjo from a comic's prop and rhythm instrument into a lead instrument. As innovative as he's been, however, he's never relished a bandleader's role.

"I never did want too much of the front," Scruggs says. "I like to support, to contribute to somebody else's tune. It gives you a chance to play, not only the lead. You've got to do that to play a tune, but a lot of times I enjoy playing behind your song while you're singing it. Or at least as much as I do if I'm doing a solo by myself."

Even here in his luxurious, gated estate, once owned by George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Scruggs is joined by son Randy, now a respected musician, songwriter and producer; and Louise Scruggs, his wife of 52 years, who has managed his career since 1955. Often, he'll direct questions in their direction, the same way he might tap another musician to play a solo. "Randy," he'll say, "you can tell it better than me."

"The first track we did was the Elton John track," Randy says. "Elton has a residence in Atlanta, so we went to a studio near there. Elton brought in a box set of Dad's early works and asked Dad to autograph it when he came in."

"He started talking about The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, some of the things I'd been involved in," Earl adds, "so it let me know I wasn't with a stranger."

Earl and John revisted Country Comfort, a rural-themed song from early in John's career that the Revue had covered. Other artists also dipped into their catalogs: Etheridge revisited The Angels. Sting highlighted the country roots of his Fill Her Up. John Fogerty and Scruggs recast Blue Ridge Mountain Blues, which they'd each previously recorded.

Actor Thornton, who has his own country album coming up, covered the Johnny Cash hit Ring of Fire. Cash and Don Henley sang Passin' Thru, which Cash had written with Randy for the younger Scruggs' 1998 album, Crown of Jewels. Dwight Yoakam wrote a new tune, Borrowed Love, with Earl and Randy in the studio. An all-star version of Scruggs' Foggy Mountain Breakdown, made famous in the 1967 Warren Beatty/Faye Dunaway film Bonnie and Clyde, features Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Albert Lee, Leon Russell and Paul Shaffer. There's even a banjo solo from Steve Martin, who sometimes toured with the Revue during his days as a stand-up comic.

"It's really fast and aggressive," Randy says of Foggy Mountain Breakdown. You really have to bear down to stay with it. At the end of the session, Steve said, 'Earl, it looks like, after 50 years, you'd have the decency to slow down just a little bit!' "

Most of Earl Scruggs and Friends was cut with all the artists and musicians on a track together in the studio. Martin and Shaffer, however, cut their Foggy Mountain Breakdown solos in Los Angeles and New York, respectively. While Sting's track began in Nashville, he took it back to England to record the vocals with his wife and son.

"I don't mind doing it," Earl says of the long-distance overdubs, "because I know the end result's going to be good by getting all these artists, but I prefer if we'd just do it all here, sitting around together."

Though Scruggs is now the standard against which banjo pickers measure themselves, not everyone liked his playing style early on. Scruggs recalls one encounter that took place as he and a friend picked a few tunes during a break at the North Carolina mill where he worked at the time.

"There was this old guy � seemed old to me at that time, but he's not so old now. We went into some tune, and I can't say what he said in public. He jumped out of the car and threw his hat down on the ground and jumped on it.

"Once in a while, you would hit a guy that would react like that."

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