Finger-pickin' good

Musical renegade Scruggs to headline Rockygrass Festival

John Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, July 24, 2006

In the twilight of his career, Earl Scruggs is widely revered.

After all, the five-string banjo master originated the syncopated, three-finger, "Scruggs-style" picking method that gave bluegrass music its drive and signature sound.

Scruggs, 82, has been playing this music so long it predates the time when it got the name "bluegrass." His instrumental tune Foggy Mountain Breakdown, cut in 1949, is regarded as one of the most recognizable American songs of the 20th century.

But back in the late '60s and early '70s, Earl Scruggs was a rebel who split with Lester Flatt and formed the groundbreaking folk-rock-oriented Earl Scruggs Revue that caused an uproar in the conservative country music establishment.

"I was OK with (being a renegade) because I liked the music we were playing," said Scruggs, 82, calling from his Nashville home with son Gary Scruggs also on the line.

His current group, Earl Scruggs with Family and Friends, headlines the final day of the sold-out Rocky- grass Festival in Lyons on Sunday, followed by a set July 31 on e-town at Chautauqua Auditorium.

"I enjoyed playin' with Lester (Flatt). We had a good run, but it was kind of limited musically," he said.

The Revue featured such verboten bluegrass instruments as electric guitar and bass with drums, jazz licks, and a repertoire including Bob Dylan tunes.

"I was proud of them boys and what we played. It was one of the most exciting adventures of my life, playing such a variety of music," Scruggs said.

The "banjoman" was born in North Carolina, joined Bill Monroe's band in 1945, and then left to form Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys.

According to Scruggs, media exposure played an absolutely essential role in making Scruggs and bluegrass part of the American mainstream, versus a rural Southern novelty.

"I started out in the very early days of showbiz when radio was it," he said. Flatt and Scruggs performed on the nationally broadcast Grand Ole Opry program almost every Saturday night for years.

The event that probably did the most to ingrain the banjo in our collective consciousness was the Flatt and Scruggs recording of the theme song to The Beverly Hillbillies which debuted in 1962.

"With movies like (1967's) Bonnie and Clyde and TV shows like The Beverly Hillbillies, a lot more people heard the music," Scruggs said.

In the 21st-century Scruggs offers recordings online at his Web site, where fans can also order a photo signed by the legend himself for only $15.

Ask any current banjo star from Pete Wernick to Bela Fleck and they all cite Scruggs as a primary influence, especially after seeing him play on TV.

"That's a great thing," Scruggs said.

"I grew up around the banjo. My father was an old farmer, not a commercial picker, who played an open-backed banjo. It's been a great thrill to make the banjo my career."

Scruggs took center stage last September at the New Yorker Festival and on Late Night with David Letterman with Men With Banjos (Who Know What to Do With Them), a group including Pete Wernick put together by banjo fanatic Steve Martin.

Scruggs said he first met Martin in the early '70s when the comedian did his stand-up routine as a warm-up before Earl Scruggs Revue concerts.

Scruggs said he enjoyed Martin's banjo antics. Gary Scruggs reminded his dad that when he started out, most banjo players were country comedians such as Stringbean and Uncle Dave Macon.

"Uncle Dave told me I played good in a band but I wasn't a damn bit funny," Scruggs said.

Scruggs, who now rarely performs, is still mourning the death in February of his wife and longtime manager, Louise Scruggs.

"Louise furthered the music more, I think, than I did. She understood music from a commercial angle. She supported whatever I wanted to do," Scruggs said.

He has played music with his sons, but not with his grandchildren.

"Some of them do play a little but they're not interested in it as a career. One's a policeman and another is a doctor. Maybe they'll get interested in it later. I hope I live long enough to see it."

Earl Scruggs with Family and Friends is an occasional all-star ensemble that includes virtuoso dobroist Rob Ickes, Grand Ole Opry fiddler Hoot Hester, Gary Scruggs on electric bass, and acoustic guitar whiz Bryan Sutton.

Randy Scruggs said that his father's group does a lot of the standards: Flatt and Scruggs songs, Earl Scruggs songs and some that he's never recorded, such as the classic Long Black Veil.

"I'm just looking forward to coming back to Colorado and playing with good pickers. That's a real dose of medicine to get my life going better," Scruggs said.

If you go

• When and where: Friday through Sunday, Planet Bluegrass Ranch, Lyons

• Cost: Tickets are sold-out

• Information: www.bluegrass.com

• The lineup:

Friday: Richard Greene; Tony Trischka and Roland White; Peter Rowan and Tony Rice; Mountain Heart; Jerry Douglas, Russ Barenberg and Edgar Meyer; and Yonder Mountain String Band

Saturday: Republic of Strings; Uncle Earl; Blue Highway; Manzanita with Douglas, Sam Bush, Rice and Dan Tyminski; and Steve Earle

Sunday: Darrel Scott with Nick Forster; The Wilders; Tim O'Brien; Earl Scruggs; and Bush

lehndorffj@rockymountainnews.com or 303-892-5103