Foggy Mountain Boys

Flatt and Scruggs

Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys were an influential bluegrass band performing and recording in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Flatt and Scruggs met as members of Bill Monroe's band, the Blue Grass Boys in 1946, leaving that band early in 1948, and soon forming their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys.

Scruggs' pioneering three-finger banjo picking style and Flatt's crooning bluegrass vocals gave the group a distinctive sound that won them many fans. In 1955 they became members of the Grand Ole Opry and were a popular touring and recording act. In the 1960s they brought the bluegrass sound to a wide national audience "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," the theme song to the hit television comedy The Beverly Hilbillies. This led to their playing large northern venues like Carnegie Hall and international tours, as well as increased record sales.

LaterScruggs, who had always shown progressive tendencies, experimented on instrumental duets with saxophonist King Curtis and added songs by the likes of Bob Dylan to the group's repertoire. Flatt, who was more of a traditionalist, did not like these changes, and the group broke up in 1969. Following the breakup, Lester Flatt founded the Nashville Grass and Scruggs lead the Earl Scruggs Revue. Flatt died in 1979, while Scruggs still performs occasionally as health permits. Flatt and Scruggs were elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985. In 2003, they ranked number 24 on CMT's 40 Greatest Men In Country Music, one of only four non-solo artists to make the list (The Eagles, Alabama, and Brooks & Dunn are the others.).

History

In 1945, the phenomenal young banjo player, Earl Scruggs, joined the band, and the accordion was dropped. Scruggs's revolutionary, lightening-speed three-finger picking style was a perfect match for Monroe's unrivaled speed and power on the mandolin. Lester Flatt's baritone crooning, meanwhile, blended well with Monroe's "high, lonesome" tenor voice.

Earl Scruggs 2005

Many of the songs on their albums are credited to "Certain and Stacey". These were in fact written by Flatt and Scruggs and various other members of the Foggy Mountain Boys. Certain and Stacey are the maiden names of the wives of Flatt and Scruggs. Louise Certain, wife of Earl Scruggs and Gladys Stacey, wife of Lester Flatt.

Members

• Lester Flatt (guitar)
• Earl Scruggs (banjo, lead guitar)
• Paul Warren (fiddle)
• John Ray "Curly" Seckler (mandolin)
• Burkett "Uncle Josh" Graves (Dobro, bass)
• English P. “Cousin Jake” Tullock (bass)
• Robert "Chubby" Wise (fiddle)
• Jim Shumate (fiddle)
• Benny Martin (fiddle)
• Benny Sims (fiddle)
• Howdy Forrester (fiddle)
• Art Wooten (fiddle)
• Howard Watts aka "Cedric Rainwater" (bass)
• Charles Johnson aka "Little Jody Rainwater" (bass)
• Frank "Hylo" Brown (bass, guitar)
• Charles “Little Darlin’” Elza (bass, comedy)
• Joe Stuart (bass)
• Everette Lilly (mandolin)
• Curly Lambert (mandolin)
• Jim Eanes (guitar)
• Mac Wiseman (guitar)
• Billy E. Powers (guitar)
• Johnny Johnson (guitar)
• Earl Taylor (mandolin and harmonica)

File:Flatt&ScruggsLP2.jpg

The cover of the first Foggy Mountain Boys album.

Notable songs

• Foggy Mountain Breakdown - an instrumental originally released in 1949 and used in many rural car chase movie sequences, notably in Bonnie and Clyde. It has won two Grammy awards. Parts of the song can be heard in the Monty Python's Flying Circus "Killer Sheep" sketch in the episode entitled "The Attila The Hun Show."
• "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" (listen) - used as the theme for the Beverly Hillbillies television series. The song reached #42 on the record charts during the series' debut season of 1962. It was #1 on the country charts in January 1963, their only one of their career, and one of only two TV theme songs to ever do that on the country charts (Waylon Jennings' "The Good Ol' Boys" (theme from The Dukes of Hazzard in the late 1970s was the other.).
• Martha White jingle (still used in advertising today).

Discography

• Foggy Mountain Jamboree (Columbia, 1957)
• Country Music (Mercury, 1958)
• Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs (Mercury, 1959)
• Songs of Glory (Columbia, 1960)
• Flatt and Scruggs with the Foggy Mountain Boys (Harmony, 1960)
• Foggy Mountain Banjo (Columbia, 1961)
• Songs of the Famous Carter Family (Columbia, 1961)
• Folk Songs of Our Land (Columbia, 1962)
• The Original Sound of Flatt and Scruggs (Mercury, 1963)
• The Ballad of Jed Clampett (Columbia, 1963)
• Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall (Columbia, 1963)
• Recorded Live at Vanderbilt University (Columbia, 1964)
• The Fabulous Sound of Flatt and Scruggs (Columbia, 1964)
• The Versatile Flatt and Scruggs (Columbia, 1965)
• Great Original Recordings (Harmony, 1965)
• Stars of the Grand Ol' Opry (Starday, 1966)
• Town and Country (Columbia, 1966)
• When the Saints Go Marching In (Columbia, 1966)
• Flatt and Scruggs' Greatest Hits (Columbia, 1966)
• Strictly Instrumental (Columbia, 1967)
• Hear the Whistle Blow (Columbia, 1967)
• Sacred Songs (Harmony, 1967)
• Changing Times (Columbia, 1968)
• The Story of Bonnie and Clyde (Columbia, 1968)
• Nashville Airplane (Columbia, 1968)
• Original Theme From Bonnie and Clyde (Mercury, 1968)
• The Original Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Mercury, 1968)
• Songs To Cherish (Harmony, 1968)
• Detroit City (Columbia, 1969)
• Final Fling (Columbia, 1970)
• Flatt and Scruggs (Columbia, 1970)
• Breaking Out (Columbia, 1970)

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

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Earl Scruggs performing at The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on June 12th, 2005

Earl Eugene Scruggs (b. January 6 1924, Shelby, North Carolina) is a musician noted for creating a banjo style (now called Scruggs style) that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. Scruggs joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in late 1945 and his syncopated, three-finger picking style quickly became a sensation. In 1948 Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt left Monroe's band and formed Flatt and Scruggs. In 1969, Flatt and Scruggs broke up and Scruggs started a new band, the Earl Scruggs Revue, featuring several of his sons. Flatt and Scruggs won a Grammy Award in 1969 for Scruggs' instrumental "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". Scruggs was an inaugural inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1991. In 2002 Scruggs won a second Grammy award for the 2001 recording of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", which featured artists such as Steve Martin on 2nd banjo solo (Martin played the banjo tune on his 1970s stand-up comic acts), Vince Gill and Albert Lee on electric guitar solos, Paul Shaffer on piano, Leon Russell on organ, and Marty Stuart on mandolin. The album, Earl Scruggs and Friends, also featured artists such as Elton John, Sting, Johnny Cash, Don Henley, Travis Tritt, and Billy Bob Thornton. Earl Scruggs and Friends (MCA Nashville, 2001). On February 13, 2003, Scruggs received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On September 13, 2006, Scruggs was honored at Turner Field in Atlanta as part of the pre-game show for an Atlanta Braves home game. Organizers set a world record (239) for the most banjo players playing one song together (Scruggs' Foggy Mountain Breakdown). Scruggs' wife and manager Louise Scruggs died on February 2, 2006 at the age of 78 at Nashville, TN's Baptist Hospital following a lengthy illness. [1]

Discography

• Where Lillies Bloom
• Nashville Rock
• Foggy Mountain Jamboree (Sony, 1957)
• Changin' Times (1969)
• Nashville Airplane (1970)
• I Saw the Light with Some Help from My Friends (Sony, 1972)
• Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends (1972)
• Live at Kansas State (1972)
• Rockin' 'Cross the Country (1973)
• Dueling Banjos (CBS, 1973)
• The Earl Scruggs Revue (1973)
• Anniversary Special (1975)
• The Earl Scruggs Revue 2 (1976)
• Family Portrait (1976)
• Live from Austin City Limits (1977)
• Strike Anywhere (1977)
• Bold & New (1978)
• Today & Forever (1979)
• The Story Teller & the Banjo Man (CBS, 1982)
• Flatt & Scruggs (1982)
• Top of the World (1983)
• Superjammin' (1984)
• Artist's Choice: The Best Tracks (1970-1980) (Edsel - (UK), 1998)
• Earl Scruggs and Friends (MCA Nashville, 2001)
• Classic Bluegrass Live: 1959-1966 (Vanguard, 2002)
• Three Pickers (Rounder Records, 2003)
• The Essential Earl Scruggs (Legacy Recordings, 2004)

External links

• Official Website
• at the Country Music Hall of Fame
• on MCA Nashville
• on Rounder Records

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Foggy Mountain Boys  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Foggy Mountain Boys"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

Lester Raymond Flatt (June 19, 1914 - May 11, 1979) was one of the pioneers of bluegrass music. A singer and guitarist, he first came to prominence as a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in the 1940s. In 1948 he started a band with fellow Monroe alumnus Earl Scruggs, and for the next twenty years Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys were one of the most successful bands in bluegrass. When they parted ways in 1969, Flatt formed a new group, the Nashville Grass, hiring most of the Foggy Mountain Boys. His role as lead singer and rhythm guitar player in each of these seminal ensembles helped define the sound of traditional bluegrass music. He created a role in the Bluegrass Boys later filled by the likes of Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman, Peter Rowan and Del McCoury. His rich lead voice is unmistakable in hundreds of bluegrass standards. He is also always remembered for his library of compositions. The Flatt songbook looms titanic for any student of American acoustic music. He continued to record and perform with that group until his death in 1979. Flatt was posthumously made an inaugural inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1991. His hometown of Sparta, Tennessee held a bluegrass festival in his honor for a number of years, before being discontinued a few years prior to the death of the traditional host, resident Everette Paul England.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Foggy Mountain Boys  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Foggy Mountain Boys"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.