While "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" became a big hit, Scruggs’ wife and manager, Louise, almost put a stop to the project. Speaking with NPR in 2003, she recalled showrunner Paul Henning approaching ...

On this day (May 11) in 1979, Lester Flatt died of heart failure in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 64. Most remember him as half of Flatt & Scruggs, the foundational bluegrass duo. He and Earl ...

Earl Scruggs became a household name in the early 1960s when he and Lester Flatt joined vocalist Jerry Scroggins in recording "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," becoming the theme song for the hit ...

We mark the 100th anniversary of The Grand Ole Opry, country music’s biggest stage, and feature interviews with two of its members. First up, bluegrass banjo player Earl Scruggs. He and guitarist ...

When he was three years old, Jerry Douglas heard the groundbreaking banjo licks of Earl Scruggs on the turntable each morning during breakfast at his childhood home in northeastern Ohio. “And we’d ...

Lester Raymond Flatt (June 19, 1914 – May 11, 1979) was an American bluegrass guitarist and mandolinist, best known for his collaboration with banjo picker Earl Scruggs in The Foggy Mountain Boys ...

Through his work as a solo artist, session musician, collaborator, and member of a host of bluegrass groups over the past 50 years, Jerry Douglas has established himself as arguably the premier Dobro ...

Smithsonian Institution, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, 600 Maryland Ave., S.W., Suite 2001, Washington ...

Backstage at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival in North Carolina, Marty Stuart has just finished a whirlwind set on the Flint Hill Stage. A blitzkrieg of country, bluegrass, and rock, Stuart & His ...