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Flatt & Scruggs

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Flatt & Scruggs was the duo of singer and guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo player Earl Scruggs. Both grew up in the rural American South, Flatt in Tennessee and Scruggs in North Carolina, and both worked in the textile industry as boys. From 1945 they played together in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, the band from which bluegrass takes its name. In early 1948 they left and formed their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys, named after the misty mountains of the Appalachians.

Music and breakthrough

In 1949 they recorded Foggy Mountain Breakdown, an instrumental by Scruggs with lightning-fast playing on the five-string banjo. Scruggs was one of the first to pick the banjo with three fingers, which gave the instrument a melodic lead role. Together with Flatt's rhythm guitar and vocals, the fiddle, mandolin, bass and later Josh Graves's dobro, that gave the group a distinctive, driving sound. In 1955 they became members of the Grand Ole Opry. In 1962 they scored their only number one on the country charts with The Ballad of Jed Clampett, the theme tune of the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies.

Influence

Through the folk revival they also reached a young, urban audience. Foggy Mountain Breakdown was heard in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde and won a Grammy. Scruggs wanted to innovate, Flatt held on to the old style, and in 1969 they split up. The duo has been in the Country Music Hall of Fame since 1985.

Listening

Listening tip. Watch Foggy Mountain Breakdown and follow Earl Scruggs's banjo. Notice how quickly the notes follow one another, and how the banjo, guitar and fiddle take over the melody in turn.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: ArtistsBluegrass