Four years ago, the legendary bluegrass banjoist Earl Scruggs passed away peacefully at age 88. Surely gone, but not forgotten, for “Earl Scruggs style” 3-finger banjo picking is fundamental to bluegrass music – and has been since Earl stepped on the scene.

Scruggs was born in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, a hotbed of banjo playing country and bluegrass musicians. Everyone in the family played at least one instrument. Earl’s dad played banjo, but his son didn’t remember hearing him, because he died when Earl was 4. When he was 10, Earl began to experiment and then focus on a local style of picking that few players had mastered, using not only the thumb and index, but also the middle finger. Earl didn’t invent the style that took his name, but he perfected it and made it the standard.

Earl grew up on his family’s farm until, at age 15, he spent a few months playing with a local band. He returned home to look after his sick mother, and took a job in a textile factory. He hated every minute of it, and when the WWII draft restrictions ended in 1945, at his mother’s urging, he left home to seek his fortune as a professional musician. Earl was playing in a band with radio shows in Knoxville and Nashville, and came to the attention of Bill Monroe, “The Father of Bluegrass.,” and leader of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. Monroe invited Earl to play for him and his band. They were all impressed by his style, speed, sound and rhythm, none more so than the guitar player who urged Monroe to hire Earl and then became his best friend, Lester Flatt.

Bill Monroe (standing) - Lester Flatt (middle) - Earl Scruggs (2d from R)

Earl was a Blue Grass Boy until 1948, when the rigors of touring the back roads, and discontent over Monroe denying him songwriting credit on “Bluegrass Breakdown,” led him to quit Monroe. Earl changed the song up some and wrote “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” a song that would become a standard in bluegrass music, and supply him with a lifetime income. Lester Flatt gave his notice shortly after Earl left, and the two formed Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys. The group recorded for Mercury Records and played regular radio shows all over the South. As their popularity grew, they picked up a sponsor, Martha White Flour.

Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt and the Foggy Mountain Boys

It wasn’t until 1955 that Flatt & Scruggs became members of the Grand Ole Opry. That was Bill Monroe, holding a grudge. The impasse was broken when a Martha White Flours executive threatened to pull the company’s sponsorship of the Opry unless Flatt & Scruggs were let in. After a short period of cold-shoulder treatment, and once it became obvious that Flatt & Scruggs were not just an imitation of Monroe’s band, they were welcomed to the fraternity.

After a serious car accident in 1955, in which Earl dislocated both hips, he learned to fly and by 1957 was piloting his own plane to concerts. During his recovery, Lester replaced Earl, and would use his replacement more frequently over the next several years. Flatt and Scruggs went their separate ways in 1969. Before that, though, they had their biggest success with “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” the well-known theme song for the TV comedy “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Flatt and Scruggs appeared and played on the show, as friends of the Clampetts from back home.

Flatt and Scruggs in Beverly Hills with the Clampetts

Earl began playing with his sons, Randy and Gary, and they exposed him to other musicians and genres, including Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Byrds and Ravi Shankar. The Earl Scruggs Revue wasn’t hide-bound by bluegrass purism, and played rock, folk, and country. Come to think of it, Earl had never been a stickler for convention. Flatt and Scruggs were some of the first to feature Dobro Resonator guitars, amplified instruments, and Earl's Revue even had a drummer (absolutely taboo in bluegrass).

Earl continued touring and recording until he was 80 years old. At an 80th birthday party for Scruggs in 2004, country singer Porter Wagoner said, “Earl is to the five-string banjo what Babe Ruth was to baseball. He is the best there ever was and the best there ever will be.”

Check out Earl Scruggs and Friends, including Steve Martin, Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Jerry Douglas, Paul Shaffer and Leon Russell