We received a note from Emily Epley, Executive Director of Destination Cleveland County, with an update on the Earl Scruggs Center, a museum program currently in development to commemorate the music of Earl Scruggs near his childhood home in Shelby, NC.

Emily fills us in on what is happening with the Scruggs Center since we last posted about their efforts in July of 2008.

Progress is being made though as many museum experts tell us, “museum time is slow time.” A foundation of the project, the master plan, has been completed with input from local citizens led by Cissy Foote Anklam of museumconcepts.com. The “Stories” piece is underway as our volunteer oral historians, initially led by UNC-CH graduate students, capture and preserve stories of the people to bring life to the Center in four key areas: textiles, music, the untold African American story and the 21st Century. How enriching to hear stories of folks impacted by Earl or who shared the seemingly mundane daily life at the textile mill where he worked (and sometimes played). Each story brings a new dimension to who Earl Scruggs is and what elements of our region may have impacted him.

The Earl Scruggs Center will be a remarkable showcase for the history and cultural traditions of the Carolina Foothills, as well as the unique musical contributions of Earl Scruggs, the region’s most pre-eminent ambassador of music. Planned as a cultural crossroads, the Earl Scruggs Center stands to become a model for fostering community understanding, cultural tourism and regional pride.  DCC’s efforts on two projects, The Earl Scruggs Center and The Don Gibson Theatre (opening Fall 2009) have gained recognition regionally and beyond as catalyst projects for economic development.

We are so excited to have Earl and his sons coming home again for a benefit concert on June 19, 2009. Earl performed in his home county on October 11, 2007 to a sold-out crowd at Malcolm Brown Auditorium. What a concert! There are no words to describe how Earl electrified and mesmerized his audience with his incredible banjo playing. Concert tickets for this year are on sale at www.destinationclevelandcounty.org.

In The Charlotte Observer, Earl was quoted in connection with DCCs project as saying “I think it’s a high honor.  I’m real proud of it.” (more…)

Earl Scruggs will be the guest this week on Track-By-Track, airing for the first time today (5/6) at 11:00 a.m. (EDT) on Bluegrass Junction, the Sirius-XM bluegrass channel.

Earl, along with his sons Randy and Gary, sit with host Kyle Cantrell for an hour-long listening party featuring each track from his live CD from 2008, The Ultimate Collection – Live At The Ryman. Kyle will also discuss the CD track by track with the assembled Scruggses.

Regular listens to Bluegrass Junction should note a new schedule for Track-By-Track, which affects this week’s shows (all times Eastern):

Find Bluegrass Junction on Sirius channel 65 and XM track 14.

Johnny Warren and Charlie Cushman will mark the release of the new CD A Tribute To Fiddlin’ Paul Warren with a special show at the Station Inn in Nashville on Saturday, May 2.

The CD features Johnny Warren playing a superb collection of old-time fiddle tunes that he learned from his father, the legendary Paul Warren, and banjo playing partner Charlie Cushman. The elder Warren spent many years performing with Flatt & Scruggs, and later with Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass.

The Station Inn CD release party will feature Johnny Warren on fiddle, Charlie Cushman on banjo, Kent “Superman” Blanton on bass, and special guest Curly Seckler. Further special guests are expected to join the quartet as well.

Earl Scruggs, Marty Stuart and Tim Graves are featured on the CD in addition to Johnny Warren, Cushman, Blanton and Seckler.

The new CD will be available at the show and can also be ordered from Charlie Cushman‘s website.

BMI’s Music World, an online publication of the venerable performing rights organization, has a new article up that features an interview of Earl Scruggs by B?©la Fleck.

They plug the interview as being about composing – not surprising since they are both BMI writers – but the pair of  banjo pickers covered a good bit of ground in their brief exchange.

BF: So back before, when you were just working on your banjo playing on your own, how much would you play? What was the typical day of playing?

ES: Well, that varied‚ĶI was in school‚Ķwe were on the farm‚Ķwe’d have to milk cows, feed the mules and slop the hogs, as they call it, and if you had any time left, you’d probably get in a few minutes with the banjo‚Ķ

I was sitting picking one day, and I’d pick with thumb and index finger‚Ķand all of a sudden, I was adding that one-two-three thing‚Ķand I thought, "Dang, that sounds good." My oldest brother‚Ķhe didn’t know I could pick with three fingers on that banjo‚Ķhe said, "Is that all you can pick?" A little streak of electricity went up my spine. I didn’t know if I could pick anything else or not.

Great stuff. Read the full interview online.