Shelby in Cleveland County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
Earl Scruggs
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, April 23, 2022
1. Earl Scruggs Marker
Earl Scruggs was born and raised a few miles from Shelby, North Carolina in the Flint Hill Community. Best known for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style that became known as "Scruggs style," Scruggs transformed the voice of the banjo across many genres of modern music. During his career, Earl won four Grammy awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a National Medal of the Arts, and a National Heritage Fellowship. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
For more information on Earl Scruggs visit earlscruggscenter.org, or scan the QR code to the right.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment.
Location. 35° 17.412′ N, 81° 32.406′ W. Marker is in Shelby, North Carolina, in Cleveland County. Marker is on West Arey Street just east of South Lafayette Street (State Highway 150), on the left when traveling east. Earl Scruggs marker and mural are on the south wall of the building at this address. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 213 South Lafayette Street, Shelby NC 28150, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Shelby Sit-ins (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct
this page online
Also see . . .
1. About Earl Scruggs.
At age four, Earl began learning to pick his father’s open back banjo. At age ten, he advanced to a more complicated 3-finger banjo style, using a “forward roll” he learned from a few of the older banjo pickers in the region. Over the next several years, Earl devised new picking rolls and timing patterns that enabled him to play in a more syncopated, hard-driving manner that accentuated the melody lines in a song. “I pretty well lived and breathed the banjo all the way,” he once said. On December 8, 1945, Earl joined Bill Monroe’s band and introduced his innovative 3-finger style of playing 5-string banjo on WSM-radio’s(Submitted on June 5, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)Grand Ole Opry and Bluegrass was born. Earl’s refined musicianship electrified audiences, radically redefined old-time and string band music, and forever changed the perception of the 5-string banjo in modern music.Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, April 23, 20222. Earl Scruggs Mural and Marker(marker is mounted at eye-level on wall, near left/west edge of mural)
2. Flatt and Scruggs.
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs paired up in a new group they called Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys. Scruggs' banjo instrumental called "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", released in 1949, became an enduring hit, and had a rebirth of popularity to a younger generation when it was featured in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. Flatt and Scruggs brought bluegrass music into mainstream popularity in the early 1960s with their country hit, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" — the theme music for the television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies — the first Scruggs recording to reach number one on the Billboard charts. Over their 20-year association, Flatt and Scruggs recorded over 50 albums and 75 singles.(Submitted on June 5, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
3. Earl Scruggs - Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
The public never lost its fascination for Earl Scruggs. Jam sessions at Earl and Louise’s house in Madison, Tennessee, continued to attract the A-list of performers from bluegrass and related genres throughout the eighties and nineties. Occasional guest appearances with artists like Ricky Skaggs and Tom T. Hall kept him in the recording game. Earl Scruggs continued to receive accolades from new generations as well as surviving contemporaries from the dawn of the bluegrass era.(Submitted on June 5, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on June 5, 2022. It was originally submitted on June 5, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 162 times since then and 24 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on June 5, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
