During the 1970s Ovation Guitar Company created a more "deluxe" version of their exotically shaped solid body electric guitar - the Ovation Breadwinner that was called the Deacon .
99-453: The Deacon was differentiated by a gloss finish, mother of pearl diamond shaped fretboard marker inlays, and an ivory binding on the edge of the fretboard. On the other hand, the Breadwinner had a textured finish created by coating the mahogany body with the company's "LyraChord" material - the same material used to create the bowls of their acoustic and acoustic-electric hollow body guitars and
198-534: A Gibson . Scruggs participated in Vega's marketing campaign that claimed that the banjo was constructed to Scruggs's design specifications, which was true, but the finished product fell short of his expectations. According to Scruggs's friend and fellow banjoist, Curtis McPeake, Scruggs never cared for it. McPeake stated, "They were good banjos, they just wasn't [ sic ] what Earl wanted to play." Scruggs continued to perform and record using his Gibson Granada. The Vega company
297-493: A Mitsubishi MU-2 , Stearman PT-17 and Mitsubishi MU-300 Diamond 1A business jet . Rising country music star Jimmy Dean asked Clark to join his band, the Texas Wildcats, in 1954. Clark was the lead guitarist, and made appearances on Dean's "Town and Country Time" program on WARL-AM and on WMAL-TV (after the show moved to television from radio in 1955). Clark competed in 1956 on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts ,
396-450: A $ 1.5 million economic development grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce and also funds from corporate donors. It serves as an educational center providing classes and field trips for students. The opening was celebrated by a sold-out concert by Vince Gill , Travis Tritt , Sam Bush , and others. On January 6, 2024, on what would have been Scruggs' 100th birthday, a memorial concert was held at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium to benefit
495-519: A 17-year personal album hiatus with the album Earl Scruggs and Friends , featuring Elton John , Sting , Don Henley , Johnny Cash , Dwight Yoakam , Billy Bob Thornton , and Steve Martin . It includes the song "Passin' Thru", written by Johnny Cash and Randy Scruggs. He also released a live album The Three Pickers with Doc Watson and Ricky Skaggs , recorded in Winston-Salem in December 2002. In
594-474: A 30-million viewership for Hee Haw . Clark was highly regarded and renowned as a guitarist, banjo player, and fiddler . He was skilled in the traditions of many genres, including classical guitar, country music, Latin music , bluegrass , and pop. He had hit songs as a pop vocalist (e.g., " Yesterday, When I Was Young " and "Thank God and Greyhound"), and his instrumental skill had an enormous effect on generations of bluegrass and country musicians. He became
693-449: A blind banjo player named Mack Woolbright, who played a finger-picking style and had recorded for Columbia Records. It made an impression on Scruggs, who said, "He'd sit in the rocking chair, and he'd pick some and it was just amazing. I couldn't imagine—he was the first, what I call a good banjo player." Scruggs then took up the instrument—he was too small to hold it at first and improvised by setting his brother Junie's banjo beside him on
792-518: A car. We didn't have buses like we do now, and we never had our shoes off". The self-imposed rule was to always get back in time to play the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville each Saturday night. Scruggs said of Monroe that "Bill would never let the music go down no matter how tired we were. If a man would slack off, he would move over and get that mandolin up close on him and get him back up there". Despite
891-556: A comedian's prop—and popularized the instrument in several genres of music. Earl Scruggs did not invent three-finger banjo playing; in fact, he said the three-finger style was the most common way to play the five-string banjo in his hometown in western North Carolina. An early influence was a local banjoist, DeWitt "Snuffy" Jenkins , who plucked in a finger style. According to banjoist and historian Tony Trischka , "Jenkins came about as close as one could to Scruggs style without actually playing it". At age ten, when Scruggs first learned
990-592: A heart attack; he was returned to the operating room later the same day for quintuple coronary bypass surgery. Despite the dire circumstances, he recovered and returned to his musical career. Scruggs was involved in a solo plane crash in October 1975. He was flying his 1974 Cessna Skyhawk II aircraft home to Nashville around midnight from a performance of the Earl Scruggs Revue in Murray, Kentucky. On his landing approach he
1089-437: A little depressed". Scruggs also wanted to play concerts in venues that normally featured rock and roll acts. Columbia Records executives told Flatt and Scruggs that they intended to try a new producer, Bob Johnston , instead of their long-time producer Don Law . Johnston had produced Bob Dylan 's records. This new association produced Changin' Times , Nashville Airplane , and The Story of Bonnie and Clyde albums. Flatt
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#17328562070201188-694: A member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1987, and, in 2009, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame . He published his autobiography, My Life—in Spite of Myself , in 1994. Clark was born April 15, 1933, in Meherrin, Virginia , one of five children born to Hester Linwood Clark and Lillian Clark (Oliver). His father was a tobacco farmer. He spent his childhood in Meherrin and New York City, where his father moved
1287-532: A music industry business leader. In 1955, Scruggs received word that his mother, Lula, had suffered a stroke and heart attack in North Carolina. The only flight available from Nashville involved such a series of connecting cities that it was not feasible to fly. Scruggs and his wife, with sons Gary and Randy, decided to drive all night from Nashville to see her when they were involved in an automobile accident just east of Knoxville about 3 a.m. October 2. Their car
1386-424: A popular touring band featuring a vocalist named Lester Flatt . The name " bluegrass " stuck and eventually became the eponym for this entire genre of country music and Monroe became known as "the father of bluegrass". When Scruggs was 21, Monroe was looking for a banjo player for his group, because David "Stringbean" Akeman was quitting. At the time, banjo players often functioned in the band as comedians, and
1485-411: A private service. The Earl Scruggs Center opened January 11, 2014—a $ 5.5 million, 100,000 square foot facility located in the court square of Shelby, North Carolina , at the renovated county courthouse . It showcases the musical contributions of Scruggs, the most eminent ambassador of the music of that region, and features a museum and a life-sized statue of Scruggs at a young age. The center received
1584-486: A recording career or to perform on television. In the spring of 1959, Clark appeared regularly on George Hamilton IV 's short-lived television series in Washington, D.C. In 1960, Clark went to Las Vegas , where he worked as a guitarist in a band led by former West Coast Western Swing bandleader-comedian Hank Penny . During the very early 1960s, he was also prominent in the backing band for Wanda Jackson —known as
1683-475: A recurring character — actually two, as he played businessman Roy Halsey and Roy's mother, Myrtle. Once, in an episode of the Saturday evening Jackie Gleason Show dedicated to country music, Clark played a blistering rendition of "Down Home". Later, he appeared in an episode of The Odd Couple , where he played " Malagueña ". In the mid-1960s, he was a co-host (along with Molly Bee and Rusty Draper ) of
1782-575: A surprise and made me feel good." However, Flatt never recovered and died May 11, 1979. Historian Barry Willis, speaking of the meeting, said "Earl gave Lester his flowers while he was still living." (He was referring to a 1957 Flatt and Scruggs recording of "Give Me My Flowers While I'm Still Living".) In early 1969, Scruggs formed the Earl Scruggs Revue, consisting of two of his sons, Randy (guitar) and Gary (bass) and later Vassar Clements (fiddle), Josh Graves (Dobro) and Scruggs' youngest son, Steve (drums). On November 15, 1969, Scruggs performed live with
1881-493: A unique combination of older players with young ones. Bill Monroe refused to participate saying he had to remain true to the style he pioneered, and this "is not bluegrass" The album became a classic, and was selected for the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry of works of unusual merit. Scruggs had to retire from the road in 1980 because of back problems, but the Earl Scruggs Revue did not part ways until 1982. Despite
1980-426: A variety show airing on CBS . It was his first network television appearance, and he came in second. Dean, who valued punctuality among musicians in his band, fired Clark for habitual tardiness in 1957. Clark left D.C. and never lived there again. During his D.C. years, Clark said he never intended to be a country guitarist. Rather, he played when he liked and what made him feel good, and never intended to begin
2079-498: A warmer tone when compared to the tonal characteristics of the humbuckers. The Deacon was also available in a 12 string model, which country guitarist Roy Clark played. The Deacon was manufactured between 1973 and 1982. In the movie for the 1979 Electric Light Orchestra album Discovery , Jeff Lynne is seen playing the Ovation Deacon. Roy Clark Roy Linwood Clark (April 15, 1933 – November 15, 2018)
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#17328562070202178-435: A week ($ 1,900 in 2023 dollars). After the tour, Clark returned to performing at local country-music venues. He recorded singles for Coral Records and 4 Star Records . At the age of 23, Clark obtained his pilot's certificate and then bought a 1953 Piper Tri-Pacer (N1132C), which he flew for many years. This plane was raffled off on December 17, 2012, to benefit the charity Wings of Hope . He owned other planes, including
2277-546: A week. After they accepted Scruggs as one of the Blue Grass Boys, the roster consisted of Bill Monroe (vocals/mandolin), Lester Flatt (guitar/vocals), Earl Scruggs (banjo), Chubby Wise (fiddle), and Howard Watts (stage name Cedric Rainwater) on bass. This group of men became the prototype of what a bluegrass band would become. With Monroe and Lester Flatt, Scruggs performed on the Grand Ole Opry and in September 1946 recorded
2376-527: A weekday daytime country variety series for NBC entitled "Swingin' Country", which was canceled after two seasons. In 1969, Clark and Buck Owens debuted as hosts on the syndicated sketch comedy program Hee Haw which aired from 1969 until 1997 and propelled Clark to stardom. During its tenure, Clark was a member of the Million Dollar Band and participated in a host of comedy sketches. In 1976, Arthur Fiedler conducted Evening at Pops with Roy Clark and
2475-473: A year at that time. Scruggs and Certain began dating and fell in love. They were married about a year and a half later in April, 1948. When Flatt and Scruggs formed the new group, Scruggs had done most of the bookings for the band, but being on the road for hours in a car and stopping at a phone booth to communicate with venues, often at odd hours, was difficult. Louise had a business aptitude and began helping by doing
2574-475: Is followed by striking the thumb on a single string. The three-finger style of playing is radically different from frailing; the hand remains stationary and only the fingers and thumb move, somewhat similar to classical guitar technique . Scruggs style also involves using picks on three digits (see photo) , each plucking individual strings—downward with the thumb, then upward with the index and middle finger in sequence. When done skillfully and in rapid sequence,
2673-422: Is noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo-picking style now called " Scruggs style " that has become a defining characteristic of bluegrass music . Prior to Scruggs, most banjo players used the frailing or clawhammer technique , which consists of holding the fingers bent like a claw and moving the entire hand in a downward motion so that the strings are struck with the back of the middle fingernail. This motion
2772-464: 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." At age 88, Earl Scruggs died from natural causes on the morning of March 28, 2012, in a Nashville hospital. His funeral was held on Sunday, April 1, 2012, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, and was open to the public. He was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in
2871-715: The DuMont Television Network affiliate in Washington, D.C. At 17, he made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry in recognition for winning his second national banjo title. By this time, he had begun to play fiddle and twelve-string guitar . He toured the country for the next 18 months playing backup guitar during the week for David "Stringbean" Akeman , Annie Lou and Danny , Lonzo and Oscar , and Hal and Velma Smith , working county fairs and small town theaters. On weekends, these acts usually teamed up with country music superstars like Red Foley or Ernest Tubb and played large venues in big cities. He earned $ 150
2970-487: The Earl Scruggs Revue with his sons. Neither Flatt nor Scruggs spoke to each other for the next ten years—until 1979 when Flatt was in the hospital. Scruggs made an unannounced visit to his bedside. The two men talked for more than an hour. Even though Flatt's voice was barely above a whisper, he spoke of a reunion. Scruggs answered yes, but told Flatt they would talk when he was better. Flatt said, "It came as quite
3069-585: The Grammy Hall of Fame . After Scruggs' death in 2012 at age 88, the Earl Scruggs Center was founded in Shelby, North Carolina, near his birthplace with the aid of a federal grant and corporate donors. The center is a $ 5.5 million facility that features the musical contributions of Scruggs and serves as an educational center providing classes and field trips for students. Earl Scruggs was born January 6, 1924, in
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3168-568: The Soviet Union . On August 22, 1987, Clark was made a member of the Grand Ole Opry . He played an annual benefit concert at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia , the proceeds of which went to fund scholarships for aspiring musicians. Clark was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009. On April 12, 2011, Clark was honored by the Oklahoma House of Representatives . He
3267-599: The 1970s. Their album I Saw the Light with a Little Help from my Friends featured Linda Ronstadt , Arlo Guthrie , Tracy Nelson , and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band . This collaboration sparked enthusiasm by the latter to make the album Will the Circle be Unbroken . Earl and Louise Scruggs made phone calls to eminent country stars like Roy Acuff and "Mother" Maybelle Carter to get them to participate in this project to bring
3366-829: The Boston Pops Orchestra. In 1983, Clark opened the Roy Clark Celebrity Theatre in Branson, Missouri , which was the "first venue linked permanently to a widely known entertainer" in the resort town. Clark frequently played in Branson during the 1980s and 1990s. He sold the venue in 1992 (now owned by the Hughes Brothers and renamed the Hughes American Family Theatre) and went back to a light touring schedule. Clark annually appeared with Ramona Jones and
3465-473: The Flint Hill community of Cleveland County , North Carolina, a small community just outside of Boiling Springs , about 10 miles west of Shelby . His father, George Elam Scruggs, was a farmer and a bookkeeper who died of a protracted illness when Earl was four years old. Upon his father's death, Scruggs' mother, Georgia Lula Ruppe (called Lula), was left to take care of the farm and five children, of which Earl
3564-502: The Grand Ole Opry at first. According to Tennessean writer Peter Cooper, Bill Monroe was in opposition and worked behind the scenes to keep Flatt and Scruggs off the Opry to the extent of having petitions made against their membership. In 1955 Martha White Foods' CEO Cohen E. Williams intervened by threatening to pull all of his advertising from WSM unless the band appeared on the Opry in the segment sponsored by his company. As years went by,
3663-757: The Halsey Agency, which represented him for the remainder of his career. During this period, Jackson performed at the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas . Within two years, Clark had become a headliner in Vegas, and made numerous appearances there in the 1960s and 1970s. Clark's backup work for Jackson brought him to the attention of Capitol Records . He signed with Capitol and in 1962 released his first solo album, The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark . The album won solid critical praise, and "above-average" notice from fans. By
3762-708: The Jones Family Band at their annual tribute to Clark's former Hee Haw co-star Grandpa Jones in Mountain View, Arkansas . On July 4, 1984, Roy played Washington D.C. along with several other acts to over 500,000 fans. Some of the other acts included Ringo Starr , the Beach Boys , Three Dog Night , George Jones , and B.J. Thomas . In 1960, Clark began touring with rockabilly star Wanda Jackson , and playing backup instrumentals on several of her recordings. Through Jackson, Clark met Jim Halsey . Clark signed with
3861-528: The Lily Textile Mill near his home in North Carolina. He worked there about two years, earning 40 cents an hour, until the draft restriction for World War II was lifted in 1945, at which time he returned to music, performing with "Lost John Miller and his Allied Kentuckians" on WNOX in Knoxville. About this time an opening to play with Bill Monroe became available. Bill Monroe , 13 years older than Scruggs,
3960-546: The Party Timers —during the latter part of her rockabilly period. During Jack Paar 's temporary absence from The Tonight Show in early 1960, Jimmy Dean was asked to guest-host the program. Dean asked Clark to appear on the last night of his guest-host stint, and showcased Clark in two songs. Clark made his solo debut on The Tonight Show in January 1963. Subsequently, Clark appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies as
4059-405: The actual origin of three-finger picking style. Don Reno , an eminent banjo player who also played this style and who knew Scruggs at that young age, described Scruggs' early playing as similar to that of Snuffy Jenkins. Scruggs, however, consistently referred to it as his own, saying that he adapted to it "a syncopated roll that was quite different." On the subject, John Hartford said, "Here's
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4158-463: The band became synonymous with Martha White to the extent that the advertising jingle became a hit, and the band rarely played a concert without it. Fans shouted requests for them to play it, even at Carnegie Hall. On September 24, 1962, the duo recorded " The Ballad of Jed Clampett " for the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies . Sung by Jerry Scoggins , the theme song became an immediate country music hit and
4257-420: The band recorded "Earl's Breakdown" which featured a technique where Scruggs would manually de-tune the second and third strings of the banjo during a song using a cam device he had made to attach to the instrument, giving the surprise effect of a downward string bend. He and his brother Horace had experimented with it when they were growing up. Scruggs had drilled some holes in the peghead of his banjo to install
4356-421: The band's regular early morning radio shows on WSM in Nashville, where the duo sang the company's catchy bluegrass jingle written by Pat Twitty. About this time, country music television shows, on which Flatt and Scruggs appeared regularly, went into syndication, vastly increasing the group's exposure. Despite the group's increasing popularity and fan mail, WSM did not allow Flatt and Scruggs to become members of
4455-669: The classic hit "Blue Moon of Kentucky"; a song that was designated by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry, and later added to the Grammy Hall of Fame. The work schedule was heavy in Monroe's band. They were playing a lot of jobs in movie theaters all over the south, riding in a 1941 Chevrolet from town to town, doing up to six shows a day and not finishing up until about eleven at night. Lester Flatt said, "It wasn't anything to ride two or three days in
4554-523: The country chart in 1963. Scruggs published an instruction book entitled "Earl Scruggs and the Five String Banjo" in 1968. It received a Gold Book Award by the publisher, Peer-Southern Corporation when it sold over a million copies. Over their 20-year association, Flatt and Scruggs recorded over 50 albums and 75 single records and featured over 20 different musicians as "Foggy Mountain Boys"— side men backing
4653-583: The device and chipped the pearl inlay. He covered the holes with a piece of metal, which can be seen on the album cover of Foggy Mountain Jamboree . The technique became popular and led to improvement of the design (without drilling holes) by Bill Keith who then manufactured Scruggs-Keith Tuners . The original tuners Scruggs made and used are now in a museum display at the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, North Carolina. In 1953, Martha White Foods sponsored
4752-400: The dissonance years later, Scruggs said he had tried to get Flatt to consistently play a minor there to no avail; he said he eventually became used to the sound and even fond of it. The song won a Grammy and became an anthem for many banjo players to attempt to master. The band routinely tuned its instruments a half-step higher than standard tuning in those days to get more brightness or pop to
4851-418: The duo. By the end of the 1960s, Scruggs was getting bored with repetition of the classic bluegrass fare. By now, his sons were professional musicians, and he was caught up in their enthusiasm for more contemporary music. He said, "I love bluegrass music, and still like to play it, but I do like to mix in some other music for my own personal satisfaction, because if I don't, I can get a little bogged down and
4950-473: The early 1960s with their country hit " The Ballad of Jed Clampett ", the theme music for the television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies —the first Scruggs recording to reach number one on the Billboard charts . Over their 20-year association, Flatt and Scruggs recorded over 50 albums and 75 singles . The duo broke up in 1969, chiefly because, while Scruggs wanted to switch styles to fit a more modern sound, Flatt
5049-504: The early 1970s, Clark was the highest-paid country music star in the United States, earning $ 7 million ($ 54,900,000 in 2023 dollars) a year. He switched to Dot Records and again scored hits. He later recorded for ABC Records , which had acquired Dot, and MCA Records , the latter of which then was allowed to absorb the ABC label. Clark endorsed Mosrite , Gretsch , and Heritage guitars ;
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#17328562070205148-606: The existing vintage Mercury recording of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", and rejected the argument that it was recorded 18 years prior at a radio station with no modern enhancements. The film was a hit, called by the Los Angeles Times "a landmark film that helped usher in a new era in American filmmaking". In 2005, the song was selected for the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry of works of unusual merit. In October 1951,
5247-605: The family to take jobs during the Great Depression . When Clark was 11 years old, his family moved to a home on 1st Street SE in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of Washington, D.C., after his father found work at the Washington Navy Yard . Clark's father was a semi-professional musician who played banjo , fiddle , and guitar, and his mother played piano. The first musical instrument Clark ever played
5346-505: The floor. He moved it around depending on what part of the neck he was playing. After his father's death, Scruggs seemed to take solace in playing music, and when not in school or doing farm chores, spent nearly every spare moment he had practicing. His first radio performance was at age 11 on a talent scout show. Because his father had died, Scruggs was deferred from military service in World War II so he could support his mother. Scruggs
5445-543: The group's albums. She helped market the group to younger audiences at college campuses and arranged a live album to be recorded at Carnegie Hall . Earl Scruggs said, "What talent I had never would have peaked without her. She helped shape music up as a business, instead of just people out picking and grinning." Louise died from complications of respiratory disease on February 2, 2006, at age 78, six years before her husband. In 2007, The Country Music Hall of Fame created The Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum, an annual event to honor
5544-641: The group's commercial success, they were never embraced by bluegrass or country music purists. Scruggs remained active musically and released The Storyteller and the Banjoman with Tom T. Hall in 1982, and a compilation album Top of the World in 1983. In 1994, Scruggs teamed up with Randy Scruggs and Doc Watson to contribute the song "Keep on the Sunny Side" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country . In 2001, Scruggs broke
5643-540: The group's success, Scruggs decided the demands were too great. He was single at the time, and the brief few hours on Saturdays that he made it home, it was just to pack his suitcase at the Tulane Hotel where he lived alone, then repeat the cycle—he had done this for two years. He turned in his resignation, planning to go take care of his mother in North Carolina. Flatt had also made up his mind to leave, but he had not told anyone. He later gave his two-week notice, but, before
5742-457: The helicopter blades from the Kaman Company - plastic dot fretboard marker inlays, and no binding. Less obvious differences include a higher quality hardware in the form of the tuners. A gold plated tuner set were available along with a brass bridge saddle just before the design's end of life. Like the Breadwinner, early models utilized Ovation's "toroidal" dual pole, single wound pickups with
5841-414: The injury, but after working a week or so, one of the hips collapsed, and he returned to the hospital for a metal hip to be implanted. Seven years later, the other hip required similar surgery. The first metal hip lasted for some 40 years, but eventually failed, requiring a total hip replacement in October 1996, when he was age 72. While still in the recovery room after this hip operation, Scruggs suffered
5940-670: The instrument was in poor condition and he sent it to the Gibson Company for refurbishing, including a new fingerboard, pearl inlays, and a more slender neck. During this time Scruggs used his Gibson RB-3 for some of the Mercury recording sessions. Banjo enthusiasts have located the shipping records from Gibson to determine the exact dates the Granada Mastertone was missing on certain recordings. On May 22, 2023, Scruggs' personal Gibson Granada Mastertone, heard on "Foggy Mountain Breakdown",
6039-433: The instrument was often held as a prop—their clawhammer playing was almost inaudible. Monroe, along with band member Lester Flatt, auditioned several banjo players who had the same traditional playing style as Akeman. When Scruggs auditioned for them at the Tulane Hotel in Nashville, Flatt said, "I was thrilled. It was so different! I had never heard that kind of banjo picking." Scruggs joined Monroe in late 1945, earning $ 50
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#17328562070206138-540: The instrument). The banjo was originally gold-plated, but the gold had long-since worn off and had been replaced with nickel hardware. Gibson elected to make the replica model nickel-plated as well, to look like Scruggs' own. Scruggs' actual 1934 model was previously owned by a series of influential players beginning with Snuffy Jenkins, who bought it for $ 37.50 at a pawn shop in South Carolina. Jenkins sold it to Don Reno, who sold it to Scruggs. When Scruggs acquired it,
6237-584: The late 1950s Scruggs met with Bill Nelson, one of the owners of the Vega Musical Instrument Company in Boston, to sign a contract to design and endorse a new banjo to be called "The Earl Scruggs Model". The company had made banjos since before 1912 and already had a Pete Seeger model. There would be four Scruggs models in the top-of-the-line banjos they produced. It was the first time a prominent bluegrass banjo player had played any brand other than
6336-536: The latter produced a signature model. In the 1980s, he served as a spokesman for Hunt's ketchup. Clark married Ruby Conley in 1954. They had a son, Roy Linwood Clark Jr. The couple divorced in 1957. Roy married Barbara Joyce Rupard on August 31, 1957. They remained wed until Roy's passing in 2018 The couple had five children. They made their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma , where the Roy Clark Elementary School
6435-622: The name "the Foggy Mountain Boys" for their backing band. The name came from a song by the Carter Family called "Foggy Mountain Top" that the band used as a theme song at the time. Flatt later acknowledged that they consciously tried to make their sound different from Monroe's group. In the spring of 1949, their second Mercury recording session yielded the classic "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", released on 78 RPM phonograph records that were in use at
6534-447: The name for an entire genre of country music. Despite considerable success with Monroe, performing on the Grand Ole Opry and recording classic hits such as " Blue Moon of Kentucky ", Scruggs resigned from the group in 1948 because of their exhausting touring schedule. Fellow band member Lester Flatt resigned as well, and he and Scruggs later paired up in the duo Flatt and Scruggs . Scruggs' banjo instrumental " Foggy Mountain Breakdown "
6633-624: The newly formed group on an open-air stage in Washington, D.C. at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam . Scruggs was one of the few bluegrass or country artists to give support to the anti-war movement. The Earl Scruggs Revue gained popularity on college campuses, live shows and festivals and appeared on the bill with acts like Steppenwolf , The Byrds and James Taylor . They recorded for Columbia Records and made frequent network television appearances though
6732-406: The notice was up, the bass player Howard Watts announced that he was leaving too. Despite Monroe's pleading, they left the band. Monroe thought Flatt and Scruggs had a secret understanding, but both men denied it. Monroe did not speak to either one for 20 years thereafter, a feud well known in country music circles. In 1948, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs formed the duo Flatt and Scruggs and chose
6831-412: The original FET preamp. During the 1972 and 1973 model years, these pickups were gradually phased out and replaced with new humbucker, twelve pole dual winding pickups. Touted by Ovation as the quietest pickups manufactured at the time, they may have been a step up to a more mainstream design, rather than a true electronics breakthrough. Many owners preferred the sound of the original pickups as providing
6930-425: The other founding inductees. †Honorary former member; was scheduled to be invited, but died before the invitation was extended Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called " Scruggs style ", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music . His three-finger style of playing
7029-550: The phone work. She eventually became the booking agent and ultimately the group's manager, Nashville's first woman to become prominent in that role. Her acumen and skills in the job were prescient. She turned the band into TV personalities and helped propel them into what today would be called rock stars, touring with Joan Baez and performing at the prestigious Newport Folk Festival . She recruited noted artist Thomas B. Allen , who had done covers for The New Yorker and Sports Illustrated to create cover illustrations for 17 of
7128-525: The same concert and was unaware of the crash, but his niece became worried when he did not arrive. She called police at about 4 a.m., and they went to the airport, where they heard Scruggs' cries for help from a field near the runway. He recovered, but was in a wheelchair for a few weeks, including for the premiere of the Scruggs documentary Banjoman at the Kennedy Center. Steve Scruggs, Earl's youngest son,
7227-426: The sound, returning to standard pitch in the 1960s. The popularity of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" resurged years later when it was featured in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde , which introduced the song to a younger generation of fans. Scruggs received a phone call from the show's producer and star, Warren Beatty , first asking Scruggs to write a song for the movie. Soon Beatty called back saying that he wanted to use
7326-491: The style allows any digit (though usually the thumb) to play a melody, while the other two digits play arpeggios of the melody line. The use of picks gives each note a louder percussive attack, creating an exciting effect, described by The New York Times as "like thumbtacks plinking rhythmically on a tin roof". This departure from traditional playing elevated the banjo to become more of a solo instrument—a promotion from its former role of providing background rhythm or serving as
7425-462: The technique, he recalled that he was at home in his room after a quarrel with his brother. He was idly playing a song called "Reuben" and suddenly realized that he was playing with three fingers, not two. "That excited me to no end", he later recalled, and said he ran through the house repeatedly yelling "I've got it". From there he devoted all his free time to perfecting his timing and to adding syncopation and variations to it. Controversy exists as to
7524-467: The things that influenced me growing up around Washington, D.C., in the '50s was that it had an awful lot of good musicians. And I used to go in and just steal them blind. I stole all their licks. It wasn't until years later that I found out that a lot of them used to cringe and say 'Oh, no! Here comes that kid again' when I'd come in. As for his banjo style, Clark said in 1985, "When I started playing, you didn't have many choices to follow, and Earl Scruggs
7623-478: The time. In the mid-1950s, they dropped the mandolin and added a Dobro , played by Buck "Uncle Josh" Graves . Previously, Scruggs had performed something similar, called "Bluegrass Breakdown" with Bill Monroe, but Monroe had denied him songwriting credit for it. Later, Scruggs changed the song, adding a minor chord, thus creating "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". The song contains a musical oddity: Flatt plays an E major chord against Scruggs's E minor. When asked about
7722-418: The way I feel about it. Everybody's all worried about who invented the style and it's obvious that three finger banjo pickers have been around a long time—maybe since 1840. But it's my feeling that if it wasn't for Earl Scruggs, you wouldn't be worried about who invented it." At age 15, Scruggs played in a group called The Morris Brothers for a few months, but quit to work in a factory making sewing thread in
7821-491: Was a four-string cigar box with a ukulele neck attached to it, which he picked up in elementary school. His father taught Clark to play guitar when Roy was 14 years old, and soon Clark was playing banjo, guitar, and mandolin . "Guitar was my real love, though," Clark later said. "I never copied anyone, but I was certainly influenced by them; especially by George Barnes . I just loved his swing style and tone." Clark also found inspiration in other local D.C. musicians. "One of
7920-508: Was a traditionalist who opposed the change and believed doing so would alienate a fan base of bluegrass purists. Although each of them formed a new band to match their visions, neither of them ever regained the success they had achieved as a team. Scruggs received four Grammy awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a National Medal of Arts . He became a member of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and
8019-403: Was an American singer, musician, and television presenter. He is best known for having hosted Hee Haw , a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1997. Clark was an important and influential figure in country music , both as a performer and in helping to popularize the genre. During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed
8118-473: Was both of them." Clark won the National Banjo Championship in 1947 and 1948, and briefly toured with a band when he was 15. Clark was very shy, and turned to humor as a way of easing his timidity. Country-western music was widely derided by Clark's schoolmates, leaving him socially isolated. Clowning around, he felt, helped him to fit in again. Clark used humor as a musician as well, and it
8217-655: Was celebrated by a party at his home on Franklin Road in Nashville. After a buffet dinner, guests would gather in the living room for an informal "pickin' party" where some of country music's best known stars would sing and play with no one around but family and close friends. The attendees over the years included Tom T. Hall , Béla Fleck , Travis Tritt , Vince Gill , Tim O'Brien , Emmylou Harris , Mac Wiseman , Marty Stuart , Porter Wagoner , Bill Anderson , Jerry Douglas , Josh Graves and many others. At Scruggs' 80th birthday party in 2004, country singer Porter Wagoner said, "Earl
8316-400: Was completely mesmerized." He said it awakened a deeply embedded predisposition that "was just in there" to learn how to play the banjo. Flatt and Scruggs appeared in several episodes as family friends of the fictional Clampetts. In their first appearance (season 1, episode 20), they portray themselves in the show and perform both the theme song and "Pearl, Pearl, Pearl". That song went to #8 on
8415-457: Was donated by the family to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to become part of the permanent collection. A ceremony to celebrate the gift was attended by a host of bluegrass, Americana, and country music stars. On December 14, 1946, 19-year-old Anne Louise Certain attended the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. She went backstage after the performance to meet some of the performers, including Scruggs, who had been with Bill Monroe's band about
8514-407: Was enveloped in dense fog and overshot the runway at Cornelia Fort Airpark in Nashville and the plane flipped over. The automatic crash alert system in the plane did not function, and Scruggs remained without help for five hours. He crawled about 150 feet from the wreckage with a broken ankle, broken nose, and facial lacerations, afraid that the plane might catch fire. His family was driving home from
8613-590: Was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . In 1985, Flatt and Scruggs were inducted together into the Country Music Hall of Fame and named, as a duo, number 24 on CMT 's "40 Greatest Men of Country Music". Scruggs was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts , the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States. Four works by Scruggs have been placed in
8712-572: Was hit by a drunk driver, a Fort Campbell soldier who had pulled out from a side road into their path, then fled the scene after the collision. The children were not hurt, but Earl suffered a fractured pelvis and dislocations of both hips, which would plague him for years, and Louise had been thrown into the windshield, receiving multiple lacerations. They were flown to a Nashville hospital where Scruggs remained hospitalized for about two months. He received thousands of letters from well-wishers. He returned to music in January 1956, about four months after
8811-788: Was honored by the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame as Oklahoma's Music Ambassador for Children and presented with a commendation from Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin . In 2007, he was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame . He was inducted into the Fiddlers Hall of Fame. Roy Clark was one of the founding inductees into the Virginia Musical Museum & Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Wayne Newton, Ella Fitzgerald, The Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Bruce Hornsby, Pearl Bailey and Ralph Stanley were
8910-669: Was named in his honor in 1978. Clark died on November 15, 2018, at age 85, at his Tulsa home from complications of pneumonia . By the early 1970s, Clark had been named "Entertainer of the Year" three times by the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association (CMA). The Academy also named him "Best Lead Guitar Player" and "Best Comedy Act", while the CMA named him an "International Friendship Ambassador" in 1976 after Clark toured
9009-503: Was not happy with some of this material—he didn't like singing Bob Dylan songs and refused to perform them, saying "I can't sing Bob Dylan stuff, I mean. Columbia has got Bob Dylan, why did they want me?". Even the success of the Bonnie and Clyde album was not enough to prevent their breakup in 1969. After the split, Flatt formed a traditional bluegrass group with Curly Seckler and Marty Stuart called The Nashville Grass , and Scruggs formed
9108-423: Was not until the mid 1960s that he felt confident enough to perform in public without using humor in his act. The D.C. area had a number of country-western music venues at the time. Duet acts were in favor, and for his public performance debut Clark teamed up with Carl Lukat. Lukat was the lead guitarist, and Clark supported him on rhythm guitar. In 1949, at the age of 16, Clark made his television debut on WTTG ,
9207-583: Was played at the beginning and end of each episode of the series. The song went to #1 on the Billboard country chart, a first for any bluegrass recording. The song spent 20 weeks on that chart; it also reached #44 on Billboard's pop chart. The television show was also a huge hit, broadcast in 76 countries around the world. In Queens, New York a five-year-old boy named Béla Fleck heard the Jed Clampett theme on television. Fleck said, "I couldn't breathe or think; I
9306-487: Was prominent in country music at the time. His career started with the "Monroe Brothers", a duo with his brother Charlie . Bill sang the high tenor harmony parts, a sound called "high lonesome", for which he became noted. The brothers split up in 1938 and Bill, a native of "the Bluegrass State" of Kentucky, formed a new group called Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. They first played on the Opry in 1939 and soon became
9405-495: Was radically different from the traditional way the five-string banjo had previously been played. This new style of playing became popular and elevated the banjo from its previous role as a background rhythm instrument to featured solo status. He popularized the instrument across several genres of music. Scruggs' career began at age 21 when he was hired to play in Bill Monroe 's band, the Blue Grass Boys. "Bluegrass" eventually became
9504-487: Was recorded in December 1949 and released in March 1950. The song became an enduring hit. The song experienced a rebirth of popularity to a younger generation when it was featured in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde . The song won two Grammy Awards and, in 2005, was selected for the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry of works of unusual merit. Flatt and Scruggs brought bluegrass music into mainstream popularity in
9603-452: Was sold to the C.F. Martin company in 1970, and the contract was dissolved. In 1984, Gibson produced what Scruggs had wanted—the Gibson "Earl Scruggs Standard", a replica of his personal 1934 Gibson Granada RB Mastertone banjo, number 9584-3. This banjo had been changed over its long existence and the only remaining original parts were the rim, the tone ring and the resonator (the wooden back of
9702-454: Was the drummer for the Earl Scruggs Revue at one point. He died in September 1992 of a self-inflicted gun shot after killing his wife, according to prosecutor Dent Moriss. Middle son Randy Scruggs, guitarist and music producer, died after a short illness on April 17, 2018, at the age of 64. Eldest son Gary Scruggs, also a musician, songwriter and music producer, died December 1, 2021, at age 72. Every January for many years, Scruggs' birthday
9801-417: Was the youngest. The family members all played music. The father played an open back banjo using the frailing technique, though as an adult Earl had no recollection of his father's playing. Mrs. Scruggs played the pump organ . Earl's siblings, older brothers Junie and Horace and older sisters Eula Mae and Ruby, all played banjo and guitar. Scruggs recalled a visit to his uncle's home at age six to hear
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