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Recorded between 1946 & 1984. Includes liner notes by Rich Kienzle.
"The Paganini of the banjo"'s finest moments are collected on Columbia/Legacy's aptly named Essential Earl Scruggs. Unlike many other "best-of" collections, this two-disc set gathers tracks from nearly all of the stages of Scruggs' career, from his early days as one of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, through his genre-defining work with Lester Flatt, and a sampling of his solo career, including his appearances with Hylo Brown, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and leading his own Earl Scruggs Revue. Informative liner notes by historian Rich Kienzle, banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, and Scruggs himself illustrate the man behind the fingers, and the recording quality of the music is clear and consistent throughout. Hearing all of this pickin' in one place really reminds the listener how vital Scruggs was in popularizing the sound of bluegrass in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, and his innovations through the '70s and '80s. While stronger collections of Flatt & Scruggs and Bill Monroe recordings are available, none showcase the man behind the banjo as completely as this fine compilation does. ~ Zac Johnson
This is part of "The Essential" series.
2cds-Slim-Line Brilliant Box
Compilation producer: Gregg Geller.
Personnel: Earl Scruggs (baritone, banjo); Bill Monroe (vocals, tenor, mandolin); Hylo Brown, Johnny Cash, Lester Flatt (vocals, guitar); Gary Scruggs (vocals, harmonica, electric bass); The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Stacey Belson, Arloff Boguslavaki, Tom T. Hall, Linda Ronstadt (vocals); Curly Seckler (tenor, mandolin); Randy Scruggs (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, background vocals); Josh Graves (guitar, dobro); Mark O'Connor (guitar, mandolin, fiddle); Doc Watson, Grady Martin (guitar); Charlie Daniels (12-string guitar); Ralph Mooney (steel guitar); Norman Blake (dobro); John McEuen (banjo); Jimmie Fadden (harp); Mother Maybelle Carter (autoharp); Charles Everett Lilly, Red Rector (mandolin); Byron Berline (fiddle, background vocals); Chubby Wise, Clarence "Tater" Tate, Howdy Foster, Art Wooten, Paul Warren, Benny Martin, Vassar Clements, Bobby Hicks (fiddle); Charlie McCoy (harmonica); Gene Sisk, Bob & Pauline Wilson (piano); Ron Bledsoe (harpsichord, organ); Shane Keister, Ron Oates, Steve Scruggs (keyboards); Joe & Rose Lee Maphis (drums, background vocals); Clyde Brooks, William Paul Ackerman, Kenny Buttrey, Jerry Kroon, Jerry Carrigan, Karl Himmel, Buddy Harman (drums); Jeff Hanna (washboard); Farrell Morris (percussion); The Oak Ridge Boys, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, Bonnie Bramlett (background vocals).
Liner Note Authors: Rich Kienzle; Béla Fleck.
Recording information: Chicago, IL (09/16/1946-05/15/1984); Cincinnati, OH (09/16/1946-05/15/1984); Los Angeles, CA (09/16/1946-05/15/1984); Nashville, TN (09/16/1946-05/15/1984); Newport Folk Festival (09/16/1946-05/15/1984); Tampa, FL (09/16/1946-05/15/1984).
Photographers: David Gahr; Norman Seeff; Larry Dixon; Les Leverett.
Arranger: Earl Scruggs.
Personnel: Earl Scruggs (vocals, guitar, banjo); Lester Flatt (vocals, guitar); Johnny Cash, Mother Maybelle Carter, Ricky Skaggs, Tom T. Hall, Rosanne Cash (vocals); Doc Watson (guitar); Bonnie Bramlett, Linda Ronstadt, (background vocals); The Foggy Mountain Boys, The Oak Ridge Boys, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Hylo Brown & The Timberliners.
Producers include: Art Satherley, Murray Nash, Don Law, Frank Jones, Bob Johnston.
John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man Foggy Mountain Boys, Lester Flatt, Lester Flatt / Earl Scruggs / Mother Maybelle Carter / Foggy Mountain Boys, Mother Maybelle Carter
2:14
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Ballad of Jed Clampett Foggy Mountain Boys, Lester Flatt, Lester Flatt / Earl Scruggs / Foggy Mountain Boys
I Still Miss Someone (with Revue, Earl Scruggs Revue / Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash)
3:26
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We'll Meet Again Sweetheart
3:11
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American-Made. World-Played
2:43
Essential Earl Scruggs Music Review
Customer Essential Earl Scruggs Reviews
Average Rating: (5 out of 5 stars)
Great This is a good CD with a lot of good songs. Submitted by michelle.jessee (Gallatin, TN USA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
All in all Satisfied The quality and sound of the CD is awesome. The songs were just what i was looking for. The only thing that wasn't completly satisfactory was how long it took for me to receive my product. Come on, you should be able to receive products from any where in the world in 8 days, and that was with premium shipping. Submitted by dorthycouch (Muldrow, OK, USA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
Where would the music be without Earl? Orignally from North Carolina, Earl Eugene Scruggs is an indisputable master of the three-finger style of bluegrass banjo playing. By age 15, he was playing pro with Zeke and Wiley Morris (The Morris Brothers). He joined Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys in 1945, then formed Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1948 .In 1969, Scruggs parted company with Flatt to form a country rock band, The Earl Scruggs Revue, with his sons, Gary, Randy and Steve. That group disbanded a decade later. In 1992, President Bush presented Earl with a National Medal of Artistic Achievement. The year 1997 saw him back on stage at the IBMA Awards Show, Grand Ole Opry, and various festivals. John Hartford once asked and opined, “Who was the first threefinger style banjo picker? It doesn’t really matter, because without Earl no one would be asking that question.”
In Twentieth Century America, the terms “Banjo” and “Scruggs” are nearly synonymous. Once can barely speak of one without mention of the other. That is why I was particularly excited to hear about Columbia/Legacy’s release of the double-CD “Essential Earl Scruggs,” in early 2003 to coincide with Scruggs’ 80th birthday. Spanning the seminal picker’s career, the 40 tracks from 1946 to 1984 give us a good overview of his music. Only three tracks (Heavy Traffic Ahead, It’s Mighty Dark to Travel, Molly and Tenbrooks) emanate from Scruggs’ involvement with Bill Monroe in the late-40s, and this cursory treatment is unfortunate. The great majority (about 26 tracks) document the great collaboration of Earl Scruggs with Lester Flatt. I’m not certain how many of the tracks here overlap with another 2-CD set, “The Essential Flatt & Scruggs.”
I recently learned on the BGRASS-L listserv that Flatt & Scruggs had 20 entries on the Billboard chart between 1952 and 1968, with 15 of them reaching the Top 40. One could certainly argue that all twenty are essential listening. So where are the likes of charting tracks like Legend of the Johnson Boys, New York Town, My Saro Jane, California Uptight Band, and Like A Rolling Stone? Certainly, a song’s charting success may not be a good measure of its essentialness today. Songs like Roll in my Sweet Baby’s Arms, Salty Dog, Jimmie Brown the Newsboy, Get in Line Brother, and most of Scruggs’ great instrumentals are a basic, indispensable foundation of the bluegrass repertoire. Be sure to tune into Scurggs’ lead guitar work on Jimmie Brown. The cornerstone of bluegrass is well represented here.
Of special note are “John Henry” and “Cumberland Gap,” recorded live in 1959 at the Newport Folk Festival with Hylo Brown and the Timberliners, and the 1961 cut of “Foggy Mountain Top” with Mother Maybelle Carter. Johnny Cash appears in the 1975 recording of “I Still Miss Someone,” and Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas and Bobby Hicks make the 1982 rendition of “We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart” quite special.
The pioneer banjoplayer’s contributions to Earl Scruggs Revue is documented in four tracks. “Nashville Blues,” recorded in 1971 with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, was originally released on the seminal “Will the Circle be Unbroken” album. Scruggs’ 1982 collaboration with Tom T. Hall is captured with “Song of the South.”
Rich Kienzle’s liner notes document the musical innovator’s life. Bela Fleck adds a page of insight also. Earl had hip replacement surgery and suffered a heart attack requiring bypass surgery in October, 1996. It’s very gratifying to read Earl’s own extensive liner notes in which he concludes, “After eighty years, I am thankful that I am able to go out on the road and enjoy working concerts with more enthusiasm than ever.” Every bluegrasser today should occasionally contemplate just where the music would be today without the likes of Earl Scruggs. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)
Submitted by Joe Ross (Roseburg, OR, USA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
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