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.”

Earl and his sons slip into town from time to time to visit with relatives. They were here as recently as March 18, 2009. On that trip, we took the opportunity to have our museum film director, Robert Gordon, fly in from Memphis. With the able assistance of Earl’s nephew, J.T. Scruggs, filming for the future center continued over several days. We all loved hearing Earl tell stories about his childhood and his journeys since leaving here after World War II. His sons chipped in with a story or two-ask them about eating the famed “livermush” or the time Ravi Shankar called their father and asked if he could come to their home and play with Earl. We have heard disks of Earl with artists of many genres and we can just imagine the thrill of the universal language of music that those two created.

We are proud to have Earl Scruggs as a native of our county and feel honored and humbled by his willingness to come here once again for a benefit concert. We hope to see you at the concert. If you can’t join us but are interested in supporting the efforts of Destination Cleveland County, please contact us at info@destinationclevelandcounty.org.

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.

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.

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.

Tom & Ryan have each won a pair of tickets to the Earl Scruggs and Friends concert in Charlotte, NC on April 11. We hope you guys enjoy the show.

Thanks to Cindy Baucom for providing the tickets and the concert info. We all appreciate your hard work promoting and providing quality bluegrass music to the masses!

Our friend Cindy Baucom of Knee-Deep In Bluegrass, has teamed up with JohnBoy & Billy to produce an Earl Scruggs – Family & Friends concert in Charlotte, NC on Saturday April 11, 2009. To celebrate the event, Cindy has graciously given us 4 tickets to share with our readers.

Here’s the concert info.

JohnBoy & Billy and Knee-Deep In Bluegrass present:

The Legendary EARL SCRUGGS with Family & Friends

Saturday April 11, 2009
Ovens Auditorium
2700 East Independence Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28205

Tickets: $26 – $46.50 (available through TicketMaster and these locations)

Doors open at 7PM, Show starts at 8PM

Here’s how this is going to work. We have 4 tickets to give away, so we’re going to give away two pairs of tickets. That means you have two chances to win.

Between now and April 7, 2009 we’ll place the following text somewhere on the main page of The Bluegrass Blog, in blue.

FREE EARL SCRUGGS TICKETS

When you see that text, be the first to email us at giveaway@thebluegrassblog.com with the exact location of the text, and the tickets are yours. You must specify the location in order to win. For example, the text might appear directly below the search box in the left sidebar, or at the top of a particular post (in which case you will need to specify the title of the post).

We’ve used random.org to preselect the dates and times for the two appearances of the winning notice.

Have fun, and keep an eye out for that winning text!

Now Paul’s son Johnny – a fiddle player in his father’s style – assisted by banjo ace Charlie Cushman, has reminded us of the finesse that is captured on recordings with those great names in country and bluegrass music by reprising some of the tunes that Warren Sr. played, plus a couple of original compositions.

Johnny Warren shared his observations about A Tribute To Fiddlin’ Paul Warren (no label or number) ‚Ķ‚Ķ‚Ķ‚Ķ.

(There are) "17 fiddle tunes on the project, lead instruments being fiddle and banjo only, cut in the old time tradition of my dad and Earl Scruggs. I can tell you that we got the sound we were after. I felt a strong presence of my dad while cutting the tunes, all of which I learned from him. Four of the tunes I learned off a home recording done around 1964 by my dad, Charlie Collins and Larry McNeeley. Seven others from a home recording done in 1977 by dad, with me accompanying him on guitar at our old home-place in Madison, Tennessee, only a short time before his passing in January of 1978.

Charlie Cushman did an awesome job on banjo. We have known each other since our late teenage years and have played a lot of music together. He really captured the Scruggs style on these recordings, probably because he truly loves their sound as much as I do. There are a lot of really good fiddle players out there but nothing stirs me inside like my dads style. The energy and precision in which he played stands alone. Unfortunately, he was never allowed to record on his own while he was still at his best.

However, I hope that some of the new Flatt and Scruggs DVDs that are being released by the Country Music Hall of Fame will help those that never got to see Paul Warren play see that he deserves to be inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.

I am very honored that Earl Scruggs helped me on one of the fiddle and banjo tunes. Charlie played banjo on all the other tunes including five other fiddle and banjo tunes. He also doubled on guitar. Curly Seckler (rhythm mandolin) played on one of the tunes. My good friends Marty Stuart (mandolin rhythm on all band tunes except one), Kent Blanton (upright bass) and Uncle Josh’s nephew Tim Graves (dobro riffs on three tunes) round out the musicians."

Eleven of the tracks are with the band, including Sugar Tree Stomp, which features Seckler, and the remaining six tracks are simple banjo/fiddle duets, including Buck Creek Gal, which features Scruggs.

Ten pieces are under two minutes in length.

As well as notes from Cushman and Warren, Marty Stuart and Eddie Stubbs pen their own tributes to Paul Warren.

You can get a taste of the music in a series of videos posted on YouTube. Each features Johnny Warren and Charlie Cushman on one or more banjo/fiddle duets from A Tribute To Fiddlin’ Paul Warren.

Here are the nominees for Best Bluegrass Album for 2009.

• Cherryholmes III: Don’t Believe – Cherryholmes
• Del McCoury Band ‚Äî Live At The 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival – Del McCoury Band
• The Ultimate Collection / Live At The Ryman – Earl Scruggs With Family & Friends
• Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass: Tribute To 1946 And 1947 – Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• Wheels – Dan Tyminski

Cherryholmes also was nominated in the Best Country Instrumental Performance category for the track Sumatra from that same CD, as was Jerry Douglas for Two Small Cars In Rome from Glide, and B?©la Fleck & The Flecktones for Sleighride on Jingle All The Way.

The Steeldrivers were nominated in the Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals category for Blue Side Of The Mountain from their self-titled debut release.

Alison Krauss received several with Robert Plant for their Raising Sand CD – Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, Best Country Collaboration With Vocals and Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album.

Bill Monroe’s 1940 single recording of Mule Skinner Blues will also be inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame this year.

The 51 st Grammy Awards will be broadcast live on CBS February 8, 2009. The bluegrass awards are announced and distributed in a  separate ceremony to be held earlier that day.

It features Scruggs with his sons Gary on bass/vocals and Randy on guitar, along with Rob Ickes on resonator guitar, Hoot Hester on fiddle, John Jorgenson on mandolin, Jon Randall on guitar and vocals, and John Gardner on percussion.

The material and presentation rely more on the sound of the Earl Scruggs Revue, the folk-rock group featuring Earl, Gary and Randy that performed and recorded in the 1970s, than it does the classic Flatt & Scruggs repertoire. Even Scruggs banjo gems like Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Earl’s Breakdown, Sally Gooding and Soldier’s Joy get a more modern treatment than Lester & Earl ever gave them.

But, as Earl himself might remark, Flatt & Scruggs are past and gone, and what we get here is a current look at one of the few musicians who can lay claim to having truly revolutionized the way an instrument is perceived by both the general public and fellow musicains alike.

Let’s get the first, and most obvious qualification out of the way.

No… Earl doesn’t sound just like he did in the 1950s. He was 83 years old when this recording was made in the summer of 2007, and it doesn’t take a physician to describe the loss of dexterity endemic to such an advanced age. It’s still a joy to hear him play, however, and the live audience at The Ryman in Nashville certainly ate it up.

The show has a jam-like vibe and the performers are obviously enjoying their moment on stage with a legend. Jon Randall stands out singing In The Pines and Sitting On Top Of The World, reminding us of what a shame it is that he has never found wider success in country or acoustic music. Rob Ickes shines throughout – as he always does – and it’s a real treat to catch him throwing down some Josh Graves licks on Foggy Mountain Rock. Hoot Hester tears up Sally Gooding, starting off as a banjo/fiddle duet just like Earl did it in the old days.

The CD booklet features a number of photos from the concert and extensive biographical notes from Jay Orr of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and Eddie Strubbs of WSM and The Grand Ole Opry.

There are no audio samples on the Rounder site, but you can hear clips from all 18 tracks in iTunes.

The DVD, Preachin’, Prayin’, Singin’,  features the likes of Mac Wiseman, Earl, Gary and Randy Scruggs, Del, Ronnie and Rob McCoury as well as Sharon, Cheryl and Buck White as guests. It features songs from Daniels’ Grammy nominated bluegrass gospel release, Songs From The Longleaf Pines, sung at a 2005 concert in the Ford Theater, at The Country Music Hall of Fame And Museum.

Most of the songs are Gospel ones, the exceptions are Salty Dog Blues, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and Uncle Pen. However, the set is kicked off with a rendition of Walking In Jerusalem, with Mac Wiseman assisting Daniels and The Whites providing background vocals.

The atmosphere in the auditorium is very relaxed and informal, to such an extent that the audience is soon clapping along to the music, as on I’ve Found A Hiding Place.  I’m Working On A Building and The Old Crossroads are given a heavy blues treatment with Daniels’ raspy voice bringing an additional edge to both of those songs.  Contrastingly, The Old Account and What Would You Give are low-key duets with Mac Wiseman.

For a break from the performances Daniels is shown with US troops in Iraq from where he had just returned and he offers a prayer to all the US forces wherever they may be.

Mid set the Scruggs family ‚Äì Earl, Randy and Gary ‚Äì join Daniels, initially for Salty Dog Blues, although they stay around for the remainder of the show.  Salty Dog Blues and the closing number, an instrumental version of I’ll Fly Away allowed for extended instrumental breaks such as banjo and guitar breaks from Earl and Gary Scruggs, respectively.

There is a mistake in the sequencing of the songs on the accompanying leaflet, which lists Uncle Pen after 1952 Vincent Black Lightning when it is in fact the other way round.  On the latter Del McCoury sings solo while on the former he is aided by Daniels.

The support band consists of Ronnie and Rob McCoury, Jason Carter, Andy Hall, Tim May and Mike Bub, all top professionals with choice of notes and sympathetic back up being just two of the strengths that are apparent here.

Background vocals are supplied by Sharon, Cheryl and Buck White and Cyndi Wheeler.

In addition to the performance footage, Preachin’, Prayin’, Singin’ features commentary and behind-the-scenes footage of Daniels as he reflects on the early days of The Charlie Daniels Band, playing with The Earl Scruggs Review and the music of close friend, Mac Wiseman.

Other features include interviews and behind-the-scenes conversations with Daniels, Scruggs, Wiseman and others who were an integral part of the evening’s entertainment.

The main part of the film is shown in mono-chrome with a sepia tinge with only the beginning, end and interludes in full colour.  The variations don’t detract from the enjoyment of the film.

Daniels will host an in-store event at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Store in celebration of this DVD release on November 19 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

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).

Although a very brief conversation, Scruggs is asked about his contemporaneous perception of his time of his time with Bill Monroe; punctuality and life on the road; and baseball. He has some interesting things to say that remind us what bluegrass music life was like was in the mid-1940s. It’s another world!

The full interview can be read at the Country Music Goodness website.

In accordance with that goal, the DCC is currently working on development of The Earl Scruggs Center: Songs and Stories of the Carolina Foothills.

The center will be housed in the old county courthouse in downtown Shelby. The old courthouse already serves as a museum. The Earl Scruggs Center will inhabit one of the historic courtrooms, and will also include an exterior courthouse porch for music and storytelling. Plans are underway for renovation now.

The DCC has already put together a National Advisory Board consisting of 15 members, including many professors and two museum curators with the Smithsonian.

Also being put together right now is a musician and entertainment board. No word yet on who might be on that board.

Visit the organization’s blog for updates on progress.

* Photo by Jim Ford *

Imagining how devastating such an injury could be to a musician, we were delighted to hear this week from Bobby’s daughter, Melissa Holland, that her dad was on the mend, and back to playing while continuing with twice weekly physical therapy.

Melissa says that Bobby taught last week at Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp last week, and did fine, though he still doesn’t feel like he is back in top form.

“I know Dad was worried about how much movement he would get back on that finger. Luckily, he knows how to make accommodations until it’s back at 100%.”

Look for Bobby back on stage doing shows with Earl Scruggs in July.

Scruggs will open the series on June 26 with the Infamous Stringdusters. While other concerts include Gill and the Steeldrivers (July 3), Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, IIIrd Tyme Out and Dailey & Vincent (July 10), Cherryholmes and Bradley Walker (July 17), Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder with his special guests the Whites (July 24) and Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys and the Grascals on July 31.

Tickets are available for all concerts, full details online.

The Hall of Fame is located on the second floor of the Wilkes Heritage Museum, housed in a turn of the century (1902) historical courthouse. The exhibit actually opened on May 29, featuring instruments, biographies, and historical recordings. Intending to include both famous musicians, as well as those who have worked behind the scenes to make the music possible, from a geographic area ranging from northern Georgia into northern Virginia, the Hall of Fame inducted the following persons.

• Doc Watson
• Dolly Parton
• Wayne Henderson
• David Johnson (a studio musician and performer from Wilkes County)
• Earl Scruggs

Deceased inductees:

• The Carter Family
• Ralph Epperson (the founder of radio station WPAQ in Mount Airy)
• Tommy Jarrell (an influential banjo player and fiddler from Surry County)
• Folklorist Ralph Rinzler of the Smithsonian Institution
• Sam Love Queen Sr. (known as the Square Dance King of Western North Carolina)

You can see photos and short bios of each inductee at this link.

Art Menius, a longtime fixture at MerleFest and now director of Appalshop, a nonprofit group in Whitesburg, Ky., that documents and celebrates the culture of Appalachia, will be an honorary inductee. He did much of the preliminary work for the hall of fame.

Art is an active member of the online bluegrass community and we congratulate him on this well deserved honor.

The charter inductees to be honored at the first annual Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony, to be held at the Walker Center on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro on Friday, June 13, 2008, are: Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, The Carter Family, Tommy Jarrell, Dolly Parton, David Johnson, Ralph Rinzler, Ralph Epperson, Wayne Henderson and Sam Love Queen, Sr.

Each of these individuals is well noted for their considerable contributions to the special cultural and musical heritage of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with many having world-wide influence.

The Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame, created in 2006, will be housed on the second floor of the Wilkes Heritage Museum (in the restored, famous old Wilkes Courthouse) located at 100 East Main Street, Wilkesboro, NC. Wilkesboro is located less than twenty miles from milepost 235, or the halfway point on the Blue Ridge Parkway, easily allowing a visit the Hall of Fame or Museum.

Tickets for the June 13 concert and induction ceremony, to be emceed by Mike Cross, are on sale now and may be purchased from the Walker Center box office (336-838-6260). A limited number of dinner tickets are available with a cost of $75 that includes seats for the ceremony. Tickets for the Concert and Induction Ceremony are $25.

In our previous post, we mentioned that no pricing information was found on the Gibson site, and that our efforts to reach someone there for details were unsuccessful.

A commenter indicated that the suggested retail prices were $18,499 for the first five and $11,999 for the remaining production run. We also reached Janet Davis of Janet Davis Music, a large and prominent dealer for Gibson Banjos, who told us that they are offering them for $16,665 (1-5) and $10799 (6-20).

Only 20 will be built, and Janet Davis Music Center is taking orders at this time. They are being built now, and should be ready for delivery in 2-3 weeks.

Only one or two of the first five are still available. Each banjo is personally and professionally shop adjusted before it is shipped to you from our facility.

A true investment you can enjoy forever!

You can see more details about the new Scruggs banjo in our earlier post.

Included on that 1957 LP was Flint Hill Special, a Scruggs instrumental originally recorded in 1952 that, along with Earl’s Breakdown, Foggy Mountain Chimes and Randy Lynn Rag (all three also featured on that album), introduced the bluegrass world to what came to be known as the Scruggs tuner, a device that allowed Earl to quickly detune and retune a string.

Gibson has long marketed a banjo known as the Earl Scruggs Flint Hill Special (the name of both the song and the banjo taken from Scruggs’ birthplace in North Carolina), and their new 2008 commemorative banjo is a special edition of that model.

Only 20 Commemorative Limited Edition Earl Scruggs Flint Hill Special banjos will be made, and purchasers will receive a number of pieces of Earl Scruggs memorabilia as well.

The banjo will be made of figured maple (neck, and resonator overlay) with an ebony fingerboard inlaid with Gibson’s Hearts & Flowers pattern. The neck and resonator are bound with white/black/white trim and the peghead with mother of pearl. The heel cap is also mother of pearl, and the banjo is engraved and gold plated. Each will ship in an Earl Scruggs signature model red line case, with the head signed by the man himself, an autographed copy of Earl’s banjo book and a CD copy of Foggy Mountain Jamboree.

The first five purchasers will also get Earl’s signature on the back of the peghead, plus a signed and framed Flint Hill Special tablature from the Scruggs book.

Gibson has not responded to our requests for more details about the selling price, but similar limited edition models have carried retail prices close to $50,000. When we hear from them with a price (and availability/ordering info), we’ll update this post. (See update below)

The Gibson folks also included this classic YouTube clip in their press release about the new Scruggs banjo. Nice!

Although the official release date isn’t until March 25th, audio samples from the 12-song album, which pays tribute to Bill Monroe and the ‘Original Bluegrass Band’ (Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise and Howard Watts) who created the genre in 1946 and 1947, are now available on the Skaggs Family web site. There you will also find a special pre-order deal from the record company, where orders placed before the release date will have their copy autographed by Ricky Skaggs.

The album features material drawn from early recordings made by Monroe’s Original Bluegrass Band. Full track listing is as follows ‚Ķ.

As well as the members of Kentucky Thunder (Jim Mills, Paul Brewster, Andy Leftwich, Cody Kilby, Mark Fain) two guests are featured – both former Blue Grass Boys – Earl Scruggs adds his banjo to the mix on Goin’ Back to Old Kentucky and Del McCoury provides vocals on The Old Crossroad.