Earl Scruggs, RIP
Earl Scruggs (1924-2012)
There were banjo players, and there was Earl Scruggs. These days fame can be achieved, and usually it seems, is achieved, by random no-talent nobodies who strike lucky and rise to prominence on the backs of reality shows, or else former no-talent nobodies who rise over the ashes of their brief has-been careers to exploit themselves as the butt of jokes in other reality shows, but Earl Scruggs was the Real Deal. He taught himself to play - taught himself! And of course he had to, because who else would have even dreamed of that lunatic, syncopated, blizzard of notes? There is a pantheon of musicians that just to hear them is to feel good, and Earl Scruggs was one of them. You just had to grin to hear that white-water river rhythm and those mad-cap riffs. And on top of this, Scruggs was a good man. Like the best of the old-timey country musicians, there was no pretense in him, no humbug. He was not out to sell some agenda or even himself; he was content to disappear behind his music. Not that this matters a whit as regards his well-deserved fame. He would be listened to were he the veriest asshole to trod the earth. He was great because of his musicianship. He was loved for who he was.
There were banjo players, and there was Earl Scruggs. These days fame can be achieved, and usually it seems, is achieved, by random no-talent nobodies who strike lucky and rise to prominence on the backs of reality shows, or else former no-talent nobodies who rise over the ashes of their brief has-been careers to exploit themselves as the butt of jokes in other reality shows, but Earl Scruggs was the Real Deal. He taught himself to play - taught himself! And of course he had to, because who else would have even dreamed of that lunatic, syncopated, blizzard of notes? There is a pantheon of musicians that just to hear them is to feel good, and Earl Scruggs was one of them. You just had to grin to hear that white-water river rhythm and those mad-cap riffs. And on top of this, Scruggs was a good man. Like the best of the old-timey country musicians, there was no pretense in him, no humbug. He was not out to sell some agenda or even himself; he was content to disappear behind his music. Not that this matters a whit as regards his well-deserved fame. He would be listened to were he the veriest asshole to trod the earth. He was great because of his musicianship. He was loved for who he was.
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