So Long Earl

Thanks to spending so much time with my grandparents as a young child, Earl Scruggs has been a musical influence on me since before I can remember. I loves seeing him and Lester Flatt on the Beverly Hillbillies and in my early teens, I wanted to learn to play like him. I bought a very cheap (read junk) banjo and plugged away at it after school, annoying friends and roommates for the next decade and a half. I never became a great player but still love to sit around and pluck the strings when I’m alone. I went off to college to become a classical musician but spent far more time strumming a banjo than studying or practicing my chosen instrument.

Very few people can affect a whole new sound and style of music and be emulated by so many musicians. People like Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, and even John Hartford influenced so much music in ways many younger people wont even know and took virtuosity to a high and classic level. I’ll pull out the Scruggs book I’ve been carrying around for 25 years and maybe try my hand at some American classical music tonight.