Earl Scruggs Dead at 88 Bluegrass Legend Earl Scruggs Died

It may be impossible to overstate the importance of bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs to American music. A pioneering banjo player who helped create modern country music, his sound is instantly recognizable and as intrinsically wrapped in the tapestry of the genre as Johnny Cash’s baritone or Hank Williams’ heartbreak.Earl Scruggs died Wednesday morning at age 88 of natural causes. The legacy Earl Scruggs helped build with bandleader Bill Monroe, guitarist Lester Flatt and the rest of the Blue Grass Boys was evident all around Nashville, where Earl Scruggs died in an area hospital. His string-bending, mind-blowing way of picking helped transform a regional sound into a national passion.

“It’s not just bluegrass, it’s American music,” bluegrass fan-turned-country star Dierks Bentley said. “There’s 17- or 18-year-old kids turning on today’s country music and hearing that banjo and they have no idea where that came from. That sound has probably always been there for them and they don’t realize someone invented that three-finger roll style of playing. You hear it everywhere.”

There was nothing jokey about the way Earl Scruggs attacked his “fancy five-string banjo,” as Opry announcer George D. Hayes called it.Dave Rawlings, a Nashville singer-songwriter and producer, says Earl Scruggs remains every bit as influential and fresh seven decades later. He said it’s impossible to imagine nearly every guitar player mimicking Jimi Hendrix, but with Earl Scruggs and the banjo, that’s the reality.

“The breadth and clarity of the instrument was increased so much,” he said. “He invented a style that now probably 75 percent of the people that play the banjo in the world play Scruggs-style banjo. And that’s a staggering thing to do, to play an instrument and change what everyone is doing.”

News of Earl Scruggs’ passing quickly spread around the music world and over Twitter. Bentley and bluegrassers like Sam Bush and Jon Randall Stewart celebrated him at the Tin Pan South gathering of songwriters in Nashville and Eddie Stubbs dedicated the night to him on WSM, the home of the Grand Ole Opry. On the Internet, actor and accomplished banjo player Steve Martin called Earl Scruggs, with whom he collaborated in 2001 on “Earl Scruggs and Friends,” “the most important banjo player who ever lived.”

Hank Williams Jr. sent prayers to the Earl Scruggs family and Charlie Daniels tweeted, “He meant a lot to me. Nobody will ever play a five string banjo like Earl.”Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences said in a statement the four-time Grammy winner and lifetime achievement award recipient “leaves an indelible legacy that will be remembered for generations to come.”

Flowers were placed on Earl Scruggs’ star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday.Earl Scruggs is survived by two sons, Gary and Randy. Louise, his wife of 57 years, died in 2006. He often talked of her, recounting how their eyes had met while she watched him perform at the Ryman, and friends noted a sense of melancholy in Earl Scruggs over his final years.

Earl Scruggs’ use of three fingers — in place of the limited clawhammer style once prevalent — elevated the banjo from a part of the rhythm section — or even a comedian’s prop — to a lead instrument that was as versatile as the guitar and far more flashy.Country great Porter Wagoner probably summed up Earl Scruggs’ importance best of all: “I always felt like Earl was 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.”

His string-bending and lead runs became known worldwide as “the Earl Scruggs picking style” and the versatility it allowed has helped popularize the banjo beyond the traditional bluegrass and country forms. Today the banjo can be found in almost any genre, largely due to the way he freed its players to experiment and find new space.That was exactly what Ralph Stanley had in mind when he first heard Earl Scruggs lay it down. A legendary banjo player in his own right, Stanley said in an interview last year that he was inspired by Earl Scruggs when he first heard him over the radio after returning home from military service in Germany.

“I wasn’t doing any playing,” Stanley said. “When I got discharged I began listening to Bill and Earl was with him. I already had a banjo at that time, but of course I wanted to do the three-finger roll. I knew Earl was the best, but I didn’t want to sound like him. I wanted to do that style, but I wanted to sound the way I felt and that’s what I tried to do.”

Dave Rawlings, a Nashville singer-songwriter and producer, says Earl Scruggs remains every bit as influential and fresh seven decades later. He said it’s impossible to imagine nearly every guitar player mimicking Jimi Hendrix, but with Earl Scruggs and the banjo, that’s the reality.

“The breadth and clarity of the instrument was increased so much,” he said. “He invented a style that now probably 75 percent of the people that play the banjo in the world play Scruggs-style banjo. And that’s a staggering thing to do, to play an instrument and change what everyone is doing.”

News of Earl Scruggs’ passing quickly spread around the music world and over Twitter. Bentley and bluegrassers like Sam Bush and Jon Randall Stewart celebrated him at the Tin Pan South gathering of songwriters in Nashville and Eddie Stubbs dedicated.Flatt and Earl Scruggs — later inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985 — split up in 1969. Scruggs went on to form the Earl Scruggs Revue with his two sons, who are also musicians.

Earl Eugene Earl Scruggs was born January 6, 1924, in Flint Hill, North Carolina, and began playing the banjo at the age of four following the death of his father, who also played the instrument.He is survived by sons Gary and Randy. His wife Louise died in 2006, and his son Steve died in 1992.