Burlington, MA – American music icon Earl Scruggs helped give birth to bluegrass music when he first appeared on the legendary stage of Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in 1945. Another historic night for Scruggs came in 2007 when he headlined his first-ever Ryman concert.

Rounder Records is proud to announce the release of that concert – The Ultimate Collection/Live at the Ryman – first as a digital only release on September 30 and then in CD format on November 18. On this career-spanning set of many of his signature tunes, the ingenuity and undiminished vitality of Earl Scrugg’s playing, along with the stellar contributions of his Family & Friends Band, make for a magical and unforgettable listening experience.

Featured musicians include: John Gardner, Hoot Hester, Rob Ickes, John Jorgenson, Jon Randall, and Earl’s sons Gary & Randy.

Track Listing:

1. Salty Dog Blues
2. Borrowed Love
3. Earl’s Breakdown
4. Streamlined Cannonball
5. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
6. Soldier’s Joy
7. In The Pines
8. Doin’ My Time
9. Sittin’ On Top Of The World
10. Sally Gooding
11. Foggy Mountain Rock
12. You Are My Flower
13. Bound In Jail All Night Long
14. Black Mountain Blues
15. Step It Up And Go
16. Ballad Of Jed Clampett
17. Foggy Mountain Breakdown
18. Lonesome Ruben

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Get in a conversation with a bunch of bluegrass fanatics, and all one has to utter is the name, Earl. No one will even think about responding,”Earl who?” It’s Scruggs, of course, regarded as the granddaddy of modern bluegrass banjo. Earl Scrugg is still pickin’ — and he’s one of the finalists in line to earn the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Banjo Player of the Year in October.

To recap his career to a bluegrass audience seems senseless, but for the uninitiated, Scruggs came on the national bluegrass scene with guitar player Lester Flatt when they joined Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys in late 1945. His syncopated, three-fingered style of playing — then nearly unheard — quickly became the genre’s standard style.

He was half of the famous duo, Flatt & Scruggs, which broke up in 1969. After that, he joined his sons in a country rock group, the Earl Scruggs Revue.

Awards keep piling up for this pioneer. In February, Scruggs was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.

Website: http://www.earlscruggs.com/

Discography:

Awards & Honors

Read about all the 2008 IBMA Banjo Player of the Year Nominees

• Kristin Benson
• J.D. Crowe
• Jim Mills
• Earl Scruggs
• Ron Stewart

Who’s going to win the 2008 IBMA Banjo Player of the Year? Vote for your Favorite below!

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Earl Scruggs on stage at Bean Blossom in June of 2008. Photo by Thomas Stout.

Earl Scruggs set the audience on fire last month with his brief, surprise performance at the Bill Monroe Memorial Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, Ind. With no advance announcement, Scruggs appeared on stage with Lizzy Long & Friends, joining in some harmony singing, offering a few background licks on a vocal number and wowing the crowd with his banjo anthem, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”

It’s obvious that Scruggs, at age 84, hasn’t eased into the rocking chair.

An exclamation point to Scruggs’ non-retired status came earlier this week when the pioneering bluegrasser dazzled his audience on the final night of the Seattle, Wash., Symphony Orchestra’s SummerFest series. Scruggs’ appearance on the series playbill comes as no surprise once you realize who organized the concerts — Seattle native and ace fiddler/violinist Mark O’Connor.

Scruggs’ Seattle’s appearance, it should be noted, proves that milestones can happen, no matter a person’s age. Scruggs and his band had a more-than-adequate warm-up act, the Sparrow Quartet, one of virtuoso banjo player Bela Fleck’s many side projects. It marked the first time Scruggs and Fleck had shared the stage — and share it they did, with an encore performance that also included O’Connor.

Writing for the Seattle Times, freelance critic Tom Keogh, described the banjo guru’s performance: “… Scruggs was the center of a bluegrass onslaught. He played some of his most famous material (’Sally Goodwin,’ ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’) and a number of covers, including the 19th-century folk song ‘In the Pines,’ the even older ‘Soldier’s Joy’ (’I wrote it,”‘Scruggs quipped) and the Beatles’ ‘Lady Madonna.’

“Scruggs’ flowing, three-finger syncopation gave every tune a ringing quality that was both open and epic. Yet he could sound lazy and swaying (on Bob Dylan’s ‘You Ain’t Going Nowhere’), slightly martial (’Soldier’s Joy’) or witty (’Doin’ My Time’). “Surrounded by the likes of 75-year-old, Grammy Award-winning fiddler Bobby Hicks and renowned multi-instrumentalist John Jorgenson, Scruggs took a couple of necessary rests and let his terrific band rip through a few favorites.”

Also appearing as band members were sons Gary and Randy Scruggs.

Scruggs, meanwhile, has other summer dates to perform. He’ll appear Aug. 17 at the Havelock County Jamboree in Havelock, Ontario, and Aug. 31 at the Four Corners Folk Festival in Pagosa Springs, Colo.

A complete list of his tour dates and lots of information you may not know about Earl Scruggs can be found at www.earlscruggs.com.

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Earl Scruggs made a surprise appearance during the 2008 Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival performing 3 songs with Lizzie Long and Friends during the groups evening appearance.

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Tennessee

June 26 — Earl Scruggs with Family and Friends with The Infamous Stringdusters - Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman - Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tenn. Tickets are available for $24.50. The Ryman auditorium is located at 116 Fifth Ave. North. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, The Ryman Box Office, online at Ryman.com or call 615-458-BLUE.

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