Richard Moeschl
Mail Tribune

In these days of hype, superstars and standing ovations for practically anything, it’s hard to find the words to describe a true legend. Someone without whom the world of music would definitely not be the same. Earl Scruggs is such a person. Britt Festivals will present Scruggs, his 5-string banjo and his 5-piece band in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 29, at the Festival grounds, Jacksonville.

Scruggs started playing the banjo at age 4 and hasn’t stopped. Now 81, he shows no sign of slowing.

Scruggs will be joined by his son Gary, who plays bass and is the group’s lead singer and emcee; Rob Ickes, dobro; John Gardner, drums; Jon Randal, acoustic guitar and Bobby Hicks, fiddle.

"I try to carry the very best," Scruggs said. "This will be a great show. They’re the best of pickers."

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Scruggs hasn’t been to our part of the country in a long time and said he’s looking forward to the concert.

Scruggs is famous for inventing what has become known as Scruggs-style banjo picking. It’s heard so often today that it’s hard to realize that before 1934, no one played this way and no one had heard anything like it.

Scruggs was 10 and sitting in his room noodling on the banjo.

"Have you ever been looking at the floor and someone asked you what you were thinking and you couldn’t tell them because you didn’t know?" Scruggs recalled. "I was picking ‘Ruben,’ playing with my thumb and index finger when I realized I was using my middle finger. It happened while I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. You can’t think about it, you just go ahead and pick it. I came out of the room saying, ‘I got it! I got it!’"

What Scruggs got was a distinct style. That style made it possible to establish the banjo as a full-time member of a band, capable of handling all kinds of tempos and melodies. With this new three-finger picking style, the 5-string banjo became the bedrock of bluegrass music, Scruggs’ wife Louise said.

"Before that it was called old-time string music," she said. In old-time music, one instrument typically carried the lead throughout while the others provided accompaniment. "It became country music," Louise explained. "In the later part of the 1950s people called it bluegrass."

Like jazz, bluegrass is played with each melody instrument switching off, playing the melody in turn while the others revert to backing. Thanks to Scruggs’ influence, the banjo is now part of that rotation.

Scruggs, his partners Lester Flatt and the Foggy Mountain Boys, were a mainstay of bluegrass from 1948 until Scruggs and Flatt parted ways in 1968 to pursue their own musical interests. For Scruggs, that meant teaming up with his three sons to form the Earl Scruggs Revue.

"I loved the Revue," Scruggs said. "We had a country-rock band."

With country-rock bands emerging in the form of The Byrds, Loggins and Messina, and Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, Scruggs joined inand brought the banjo to yet another new level and a wider audience. Eighty to ninety percent of the Revue’s dates were at colleges and university concerts.

"I have to give my boys credit for most of it," Scruggs said. "I thought we had a real interesting sound."

Scruggs continues to explore new musical terrain. He has recorded with musicians all over the musical map, from Bob Dylan to Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen to Waylon Jennings, the Pointer Sisters to Elton John, Sting, Melissa Etheridge, Dwight Yoakam, Billy Bob Thornton and others. His Grammy-Award winning instrumentals have been theme songs for "The Beverly Hillbillies" TV show and the movie "Bonnie and Clyde."

Scruggs is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, has a National Medal of Arts Award and 17 Grammy nominations. In 2003, he was honored with his own star embedded into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, Calif.

Last March, Scruggs received an honorary doctorate degree from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. This week the North Carolina Newpaper Association named him Citizen of the Year for North Carolina.

Gibson, the manufacturer of guitars, mandolins and banjos, has created a line of six different Earl Scruggs banjo models. The top of the line is "The Earl." Its resonator and neck are made from Indian rosewood, the fingerboard has a green abalone inlay with 14K gold outlines on the neck and headstock veneer and a 14K gold "mastertone" inlay block. The binding is maple with marquetry. The hardware is pure silver and silver-plated, the tuners have pearl buttons and the finish includes a hand-drawn portrait of Scruggs by Randall Martin. The banjo, autographed by Scruggs, comes with a leather case with humidity gauge and sells for $55,000.

Tickets to Earl Scruggs’ Britt concert are $37, $34 reserved; $23 lawn and $14 for children (0-12). Call 800-882-7488.