Earl Scruggs, Pioneering Banjo Player,Bluegrass Legend, 1924-2012
Earl Scruggs, a celebrated and highly influential banjo player, whose innovative three-fingered picking style helped to popularize the instrument, has joined that great bluegrass jam in the sky. Scruggs, who was a large presence in both the folk and country music worlds and was honored by both, died of natural causes on March 28 at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 88.
[To read the obituary in its entirety, click on the headline.]
Congress Honors the Legacy of Lester Flatt
Bluegrass pioneer Lester Flatt, who died in 1979, is best known for having been a lead singer and guitarist with Bill Monroe back in the 1940s and for the two decades he spent with banjoist and fellow Bluegrass Boys alum Earl Scruggs as Flatt and Scruggs – a partnership that produced such bluegrass classics as “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” The U.S. House of Representatives, on Jan. 26, agreed to a sense resolution recognizing Flatt’s invaluable contribution to American art and the indelible legacy he left on bluegrass music.
[To see the full text of the resolution, click on the headline.]
International Bluegrass Music Awards Nominees Named for 2009
Dan Tyminski Band, Dailey & Vincent, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, The Grascals and Steve Martin lead the list of nominees for the 20th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards that takes place on Thursday, October 1, at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
The awards show is the centerpiece of the International Bluegrass Music Association’ (IBMA)’s “World of Bluegrass,” September 28 to Oct. 4, that also features a business conference and fan fest. Hosting the awards show will be Grammy Award-winning country artist Kathy Mattea and bluegrass band Hot Rize (the first recipients of the IBMA Entertainer of the Year Award in 1990). It will be broadcast live on Sirius XM Radio’s “Bluegrass Junction” channel 14 and...
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