March 31, 2012
Goodbye Earl
Pioneering banjo player Earl Scruggs, who is credited with helping create modern country music, has died aged 88.
The musician died of natural causes at a Nashville hospital on Wednesday (March 28th).
Scruggs was known for his unique banjo playing technique, which involved just three fingers. It later became known as "the Scruggs picking style".He rose to prominence when Bill Monroe hired him to play in the Blue Grass Boys, one of the defining groups in the bluegrass musical genre.Scruggs later teamed up with Lester Flatt to form the Foggy Mountain Boys, also known as Flatt and Scruggs.
One of their most well known records included Foggy Mountain Breakdown, which featured in the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde.
It was their recording of The Ballad of Jed Clampett that was used in The Beverly Hillbillies.
In 2001, he released his first album in a decade, Earl Scruggs and Friends, featuring collaborations with other artists including Sir Elton John, Dwight Yoakam, Sting and Melissa Etheridge.
The musician died of natural causes at a Nashville hospital on Wednesday (March 28th).
Scruggs was known for his unique banjo playing technique, which involved just three fingers. It later became known as "the Scruggs picking style".He rose to prominence when Bill Monroe hired him to play in the Blue Grass Boys, one of the defining groups in the bluegrass musical genre.Scruggs later teamed up with Lester Flatt to form the Foggy Mountain Boys, also known as Flatt and Scruggs.
One of their most well known records included Foggy Mountain Breakdown, which featured in the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde.
It was their recording of The Ballad of Jed Clampett that was used in The Beverly Hillbillies.
In 2001, he released his first album in a decade, Earl Scruggs and Friends, featuring collaborations with other artists including Sir Elton John, Dwight Yoakam, Sting and Melissa Etheridge.
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