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Earl Scruggs: A Bluegrass Banjo Legend

Earl Scruggs and his sons playing with Bob Dylan.
David Hoffman
Earl Scruggs and his sons playing with Bob Dylan.

Earl Scruggs is considered one of the most influential banjo players of all time. He made a name for himself performing with Bill Monroe’s band on the stage of the Grand OleOpryin themid-1940s. Scruggs went on to compose seminal records like “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and “The Ballad of Jed Clampett.”

Host Frank Stasio talks about the life and legacy of Earl Scruggs with Gordon Castelnero, co-author of "Earl Scruggs: Banjo Icon".

The new book “Earl Scruggs: Banjo Icon” (Rowman & Littlefield/2017) traces Scrugg’s story from his origins on a farm outside Shelby, North Carolina, to his rise as a bluegrass icon. Host Frank Stasio talks with the book’s co-author Gordon Castelnero. Castelnero reads Saturday, May 6 at the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, N.C at 2 p.m.

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Charlie Shelton