Bluegrass legend and banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs, who helped profoundly change country and western music with fellow legend Bill Monroe and then later with guitarist Lester Flatt, passed away on Wednesday at a Nashville, Tennessee hospital at age 88 from natural causes.
An innovator who pioneered the modern banjo sound by using three fingers rather than the clawhammer style and thus turning the banjo from a comedian's prop or part of the rhythm section into a lead instrument, Mr. Scruggs is remembered for his string-bending and lead runs that became known throughout the world as the "Scruggs-picking" style.
Earl was with Bill Monroe and The Blue Grass Boys, whose debut during a post-World War II appearance on the Grand Ole Opry was considered a "big-bang" moment for the modern development of bluegrass and country music. After leaving Mr. Monroe in the late 1940s, Earl then teamed up with Mr. Flatt in a bluegrass act that lasted until they broke up in 1969 over which direction to go musically.
The team of Flatt and Scruggs was best known for their 1949 recording of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown, " as well their 1962 recording of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett."
After breaking up with Lester (who passed away in 1979), Earl used three of his sons in the Earl Scruggs Revue.
Lester (posthumously) and Earl were inducted together into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.
Here are Lester and Earl from a 1965 telecast performing "Foggy Mountain Breakdown.:
Rest in peace, Earl.
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