Earl Scruggs Dead at 88

03/30/2012
. (Gibson) Earl Scruggs, the famed bluegrass player whose hard-driving banjo-picking technique on songs such as "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" altered the way people looked at the instrument, passed away on Wednesday (March 28) at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. Scruggs died of natural causes, the Associated Press reported, citing his son, Gary. He was 88.

Scruggs's influence on the bluegrass genre is infinite. A revolutionary banjo player who helped craft the sound and style of modern country music, his playing is instantly recognizable. He propagated a three-finger picking style that took the banjo from its place as part of the rhythm section to a lead instrument.

Mr. Scruggs was likely best known for performing with Lester Flatt in the Foggy Mountain Boys. Among their most popular songs were "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," which was played as the getaway tune in the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde, and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," which served as the theme song of the hugely popular 1960s television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. more on this story

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