Posted by David Schenk on January 09, 19102 at 09:05:02:
Earl Scruggs will be appearing on the "All Star Bluegrass Celebration" ("Special") to be videotaped at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 16, 2002, for broadcast on the Public Broadcasting Service ("PBS"). The program will air in March 2002. A number of other artists are scheduled to perform on the special. The concert sold out in less than 30 minutes. Earl's two sons, Gary and Randy Scruggs, will be appearing with him along with Jerry Douglas, Glen Duncan, John Jorgenson and Harry Stinson.
It was fifty-six years ago that Earl Scruggs made his first appearance on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium. The date was December 8, 1945, when he joined Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys band. It was the addition of Earl's banjo that created the roots and very core of existence of a distinctive sound. However, it was not until the late 1950s that the sound would be coined bluegrass. Earl's distinctive banjo style added a new dimension to a music style that had been known as hillbilly, country or string band music. The style was brought to world wide prominence when Flatt and Scruggs recorded the track for the music theme for The Beverly Hillbillies TV Series. The program was eventually shown in seventy-six countries. Their recorded version of the theme became a No. 1 single. In 1967, Earl's composition of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," won world wide recognition when it was featured in the "Bonnie and Clyde" movie starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.