| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Lawrence |
Posted - 03/29/2012 : 07:01:03 AM
It was yesterday morning, but I just found out.
Bluegrass Legend Earl Scruggs has died.
One of my office mates here played with him (and Lester Flat) from time to time. And my college band fronted for the Earl Scruggs Review in the seventies at a college concert event.
Not Hawaiian Music of course, but influential in many areas.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46886699
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| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Trev |
Posted - 03/29/2012 : 10:55:58 PM
Yes indeed. Mr Scruggs invented a way of playing music that nobody had done before. When I was a kid, the Beverly Hillbillies was on. Being five or six, a lot of the humour of the programme went somewhat over my head, but I loved the theme tune, and when the banjo kicked in on the fast bit, well I thought it was the most exciting thing I’d ever heard.
It wasn’t until many years later (when I was in my 20s) that I discovered that there was more of this kind of music, that it was called ‘bluegrass’, and that the main progenitor of the style was a mandolin player. As I too was learning the mandolin by then, (which I still am) this was exciting news indeed. To this day I play bluegrass with others once or twice a month. Without a banjo player, it’s still fun, but it’s not the same. Mr Earl Scruggs was a pioneer and a great influence.
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| thumbstruck |
Posted - 03/29/2012 : 1:01:32 PM
Again, RIP Earl. Besides my Dad and the music we had in the house, Bluegrass was huge in getting me to pick up an instrument. I wanted a 5-string banjo, but at the music store, I found that I could only afford an inexpensive mandolin. I had a cheap Flatt&Scruggs album (now a "collectors' item") and work on scales, chop chords and tunes. A couple years later (because of interest in "roots" music) I became enmeshed in slack key. Earl, you done good. You touched a bunch of folks to the good! |
| slipry1 |
Posted - 03/29/2012 : 09:57:36 AM
As I said in the Slack Key page, Earl invented, or at least, first played bluegrass banjo, and the style was named after him. There were a lot of 3 finger banjo players in the Peidmont area of North Carolina, but Earl put the "back kick" into the roll, which gives it it's jazzy style. He will be missed. |
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