Nod to The Legend · The techniques · 1924–2012
Earl Scruggs
Banjo player, Scruggs style
Scruggs joined Bill Monroe's band in 1945 with a three-finger banjo roll that turned the banjo into a lead instrument. With Lester Flatt he cut "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (1949), later heard in Bonnie and Clyde.
Still heard: The rolling banjo drive is what makes bluegrass sound like bluegrass.
Related legends
- One Mic, the Whole Band: Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys
- Doc Watson: Flatpicking guitarist
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- The Dopyera Brothers and the Dobro: Resonator guitar inventors
- The Banjo's West African Roots: From gourd lutes to bluegrass
- The Martin Dreadnought: C.F. Martin & Company