A Short Tribute by Doug Draper
He was to the banjo what Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar and Oscar Peterson was to the piano.
One of popular music's greatest, the irreplacable Earl Scruggs
Unfortunately, but fortunately just the same, many people of an older age may remember him the most for his banjo playing in the theme song to the super popular 1960s TV show ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’. “Come listen to the story ‘bout a man named Jed. Poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed,” were among the memorable lyrics before Earl Scruggs punched in with a banjo solo that was mind-blowing for an instrument that had not much more stature than a vaudeville toy before he picked one up.
Earl Scruggs took up a banjo, like the late, great Paul Butterfield took up an equally under-rated instrument called the harmonica or harp, for short, and made it soar majestically and like a sconic boom, above guitars, string sections or any other musical backing laid down behind it.
As just one example, remember his playing on the soundtrack of the classic late 1960s ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ during the many car chase scenes in that film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
A Grammy Award-winning artist with a signature tune called ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’, Earl Scruggs was one of the driving forces of Bluegrass Music, and was the go-to banjo player who performed with everyone from Johnny Cash and Joan Baez to Elton John.
You may ask why Niagara At Large is doing this little tribute to someone who is not from our greater Niagara region and at a time when we have budgets and other serious matters right here at home to deal with. Yet sometimes it is good – isn’t it? – to give a thought to those who have brought a bit of joy to our lives through their extraordinary artistry.
Earl Scruggs died in Nashville, Tennessee this March 29 at age 88.There may never be another in the world to replace him on his instrument of choice. The world of music has lots a great one.
(Niagara At Large invites our readers to share their views on this post in the comment boxes below.)
Niagara At Large 
Agreed, Scruggs was a virtuoso
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJOIqmlI65Y
By the way, I still have a vinyl copy of Paul Butterfield’s – Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw . Here’s PBBB at Monterey in 1967- Driftin’ Blues
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I’m a banjo picker but embarrassingly bad! The 4 string tenor banjo reached a degree of recognition in dixieland but Scruggs really brought the 5 string banjo to the front line in bluegrass while it had always been a sort of eccentric background novelty. Steve Martin is an excellent musician and I hope he and others carry on the tradition of Earl Scruggs. Like Martin says, you can’t be sad when you’re playing the banjo.
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