Rounder Records is preparing a unique release for a new live album from banjo patriarch Earl Scruggs.

Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends – The Ultimate Collection, Live At The Ryman will be released as an audio CD on November 18, but will be offered as an iTunes exclusive digital download starting on September 30.

The new Scruggs project was recorded at The Ryman Auditorium on June 21, 2007 with his sons Gary and Randy, along with Rob Ickes, Jon Randall, John Jorgenson, Hoot Hester and John Gardner.

Songs were chosen primarily from the classic Flatt & Scruggs catalog, many of which were repeatedly heard from the Ryman stage during the band’s hey day.

In 1969, the duo [Flatt & Scruggs] played their final show at the Ryman. “I knew times were changing and you just can’t play the same old five or six songs for 100 years,” Earl says. “You need to learn a new tune.” Later that year, he reappeared on the Opry with the Earl Scruggs Revue, a band that included sons Gary and Randy and later included son Steve. The Revue blended traditional sounds with innovative country-rock and folk-rock settings.

“It seemed to excite the audience to see me on the stage with my boys,” Earl says. “The whole family practically was onstage. And when the boys came into the group, that’s when I first started realizing real progress, for the first time in years.”

Look for Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends – The Ultimate Collection, Live At The Ryman on iTunes starting next Tuesday (9/30).