By Jake Seaton & Associated Press
RALEIGH — As news of bluegrass legend and banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs’ passing rippled through the music industry, North Carolina musicians were hit especially hard as they learned the Cleveland County native had died.
Scruggs’ son Gary said his father died of natural causes Wednesday morning at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital. He was 88 years old.
Scruggs was an innovator who pioneered the modern banjo sound. His use of three fingers rather than the clawhammer style elevated the banjo from a part of the rhythm section — or a comedian’s prop — to a lead instrument.
“Scruggs devised a new style of three-fingered picking that created an immediate sensation in the 1940s and became one of the defining characteristics of bluegrass music,” said Wayne Martin, folklife director of the N.C. Arts Council. “He brought an extraordinarily high level of creativity, precision and artistry to banjo playing and through his long recording and touring career carried the instrument to the forefront of American roots music.”
Martin added, “He transformed banjo playing and, in the process, transformed American popular culture.”
Scruggs’ string-bending and lead runs became known worldwide as “the Scruggs picking style” and the versatility it allowed has helped popularize the banjo in almost every genre of music.
As the Piedmont Council of Tradition Music (PineCone) aptly explained, “His innovative banjo playing left an indelible mark in bluegrass music and inspired musicians around the world.”
“Throughout his entire career, Earl Scruggs maintained a personal commitment to creativity and innovation in traditional music,” PineCone Executive Director William Lewis said in a statement. “Whether it was perfecting and propagating the rolling three-finger banjo picking technique, developing a tuning device to help players bend notes, or experimenting with country-rock-bluegrass fusion, Earl Scruggs approached traditional music with an open mind and gifted hand and was a bridge between genres and generations.”
Chandler Holt, picker for Raleigh-based bluegrass band Chatham County Line, says he owes much of his musical career to Scruggs and Lester Flatt.
“I can say that I owe thousands of hours of happiness to Earl Scruggs,” Holt explained. “I’ve had the privilege to travel to so many wonderful places and meet so many people.”
Holt added, “I don’t know that any of it would have happened if I never heard ‘Foggy Mountain Banjo’ by Flatt & Scruggs.”
Puritan Rodeo banjo player Sean Dowdall of Durham echoed Holt’s sentiments, saying, “I’ve been in awe of him [Earl Scruggs] since I was a little, little kid who couldn’t even reach the top frets on my banjo — a banjo legend.”
Scruggs was the recipient of a 1996 N.C. Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council, honoring North Carolina’s most eminent folk artists.
He also was recognized with the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship, the President’s National Medal of Arts, and membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Similar Posts:
Some of North Carolina’s best were recognized last night by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
In a letter to fans, friends and family, The Love Language frontman Stuart McLamb promised that his long-awaited third album should arrive this spring
Indie rock supergroup Divine Fits, featuring members of Wolf Parade and Spoon, performed at Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh
With the race for the White House just two weeks away, more celebrities are being vocal about the importance of people getting out to vote.
Passion Pit performed for a sold-out crowd at The Ritz in Raleigh
