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Wednesday January 7th, 2004

Earl Scruggs serenaded by Nashville's finest on his 80th birthday
By Michelle Nikolai

"The Earl"

"It's obvious that with all the musicians who are here, and all the people that love and revere Earl and Louise, that anything recorded today on Music Row is probably not going to be very good," joked Vince Gill during Earl Scruggs' 80th birthday celebration on Tuesday, January 6. The gala at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tenn., brought out the city's finest bluegrass and session players, including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Ronnie and Rob McCoury, Jon Randall, Bryan Sutton, Glen Duncan, Marty Stuart, Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Rob Ickes, "Cowboy" Jack Clement and many others. Musical sons Randy and Gary Scruggs joined in the tribute.

"When Earl started that three-finger banjo style, everybody I know who heard it was stopped in their tracks," Gill said. "And they said, I have to find that, I have to learn that. I remember my dad, he was like a Pete Seeger kind of banjo player, he would strum some and sing, and he was mad at Earl Scruggs the rest of his life after that. He couldn't get it, but he tried and tried."

Gill went on to list some of the influential artists Scruggs has collaborated with over the years, including Don Henley, Sting, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Doc Watson, Johnny Cash, King Curtis, Billy Bob Thornton and Elton John. "So he's played with kings AND queens," Gill remarked to thunderous laughter.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is honoring Earl and Louise with a major exhibit that will continue through 2006. Scruggs will perform on four consecutive Tuesdays in September at the Hall of Fame as the artist-in-residence, and the official exhibition opens Nov. 15. Segments from the Flatt & Scruggs syndicated television series will be immortalized on a special DVD along with a companion album. Martha White baking products is the corporate sponsor of the exhibit.

Earl and Louise and OAI GM Charlie Derrington with "The Earl"

Born in 1924 in rural North Carolina, Scruggs has played Gibson banjos from the beginning of his professional career in the 1930s. His "three-finger roll" technique - known as "Scruggs-style picking" - virtually reinvented the five-string banjo and brought it from near-obscurity into many different types of music, from traditional fiddle tunes to modern rock styles.

Working with Bill Monroe in the 1940s, his driving banjo became the signature sound of bluegrass music. From 1948-69 with musical partner Lester Flatt, Scruggs spread his banjo style beyond bluegrass, into folk music and eventually to Hollywood with the No. 1 recording of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" (the theme from TV's "Beverly Hillbillies.") In 1967 Warren Beatty chose "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" to be the music for the chase scenes in his hit film Bonnie and Clyde, and the recording went on to win a Grammy.

Scruggs then formed the Earl Scruggs Revue with his three sons and from 1969-80 he continued to advance the banjo into an eclectic mix of pop and rock styles. In 1984, Gibson finally made its longstanding relationship with Scruggs official with the first Earl Scruggs model. "Every banjo that we sold after 1946 can be traced to one man," said Charlie Derrington, general manager of Gibson's Original Acoustic Instruments division. Derrington called Scruggs' career a "tipping point," after which everything in country music history changed. Henry Juszkiewicz, Gibson chairman and CEO, and Derrington presented Scruggs with "The Earl," a limited edition, tribute Gibson banjo with a hand-drawn portrait of Scruggs on the resonator done by world-renowned artist Randall Martin. "That's like writing home for five [dollars] and getting 10," Scruggs said humbly.

Henry Juszkiewicz, Gibson chairman and CEO, presents the birthday gift

There were many luminaries onhand to wish the Scruggs well, including Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, State Representative Mike Turner, Senator Thelma Harper, and Hall of Fame members Brenda Lee, Charlie Louvin and Porter Wagoner. "All of us at the Hall of Fame and Opry are so proud of your accomplishments," said Wagoner. "Earl is to the 5-string banjo what Babe Ruth was to baseball - the best there ever was and the best there ever will be."

Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell with Nashville's gift in hand

Some sent their greetings via letter, including President George W. Bush, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (David Bennett, executive director of the Film, Entertainment and Music Commission, relayed Bredesen's greetings and presented a State of Tennessee proclamation), U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Tenessee, and U.S. Rep. Howard Coble of North Carolina. BMI President and CEO Frances Preston, Doc and Rosalee Watson and Dolly Parton also sent their regards. "Hey Earl, I'm sorry I can't be with you to party today," wrote Parton. "I'll bet we could still get down. Getting back up would be the problem. I will always love you."

Dwight Yoakam performed "Happy Birthday" in a videoclip sent from California, and Billy Bob Thornton resurrected his Karl Childers character from Sling Blade in an audiotaped message which entertained all and ended with him singing Cash's "Ring of Fire."

Everybody sing, "Happy Birthday To You...."

At the end of the festivities, a clearly moved Louise Scruggs tearfully thanked those who were present. The excited pickers filed onstage in the Hall of Fame's Ford Theater to take part in the rousing rendition of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" that closed the celebration.

"I want to say one thing," Earl said. "These are the cream of the crop, these pickers back here. I enjoyed every lick."

Country Music Hall of Fame Director Kyle Young (left) and Chairman E.W. "Bud" Wendell (right) present Earl with a framed Hatch Show Print commemorating the event

Left to right: Kyle Young, Ricky Skaggs (behind Earl), Kix Brooks (behind Louise), and Marty Stuart

Louise is overcome with emotion

...and many more