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Scruggs Corner Alive and Well!

Editor's note: this article originally ran in Banjo Newsletter's January 1982 edition. It is re-published here by permission from the author and the Banjo Newsletter.

SCRUGGS CORNER LIVES! And SC will remain true to the objective Jack Hatfield expressed back in November of 1977: "to feature tablatures that are strictly in the style of Earl Scruggs." SC will of course bring you immaculately accurate Scruggs tabs. In addition, the picking of such hard-core stylists as Sonny Osborne and J.D. Crowe will be represented from time to time. (For example, an upcoming column will represent Toy Heart as done by Earl, Sonny, and J.D.)

Other features to which you can look forward are corrections to the Scruggs book; list of publications, records, services, addresses, and other material that the properly rabid Scruggs nut must have handy; an explanation of why you must own and pick an old Gibson Mastertone (no, Virginia, Earl does not play a Richelieu) and some suggestions on how to get one; impartial commentary on the chromatic/melodic manner, ranging from icy scorn to boisterious hoots and guffaws; and additional good, true things as they occur to me.

In short, F.H. Flash Is Going To Deliver The Goods. Don't make me spend months "building credibility" with you. Believe me from the start, because Scruggs Corner is where you can come to get The Truth.

This month's tabs are of songs Earl recorded back-to-back on the same 1947 recording session with Bill Monroe. These two early, basic Scruggs breaks are pure platinum. When we listen to them down in the Flint Hill community, we say that we are "immersed in boiling Earl." You can hardly practice breaks like this too much. Getting the right notes is the easy part. Then you can spend a lifetime on tone and timing. Try to play an entire break without the slightest scraping sound as pick hits string and without the slightest blur as you note the left hand.

The records offered as sources for these breaks are essential, as is Volume I of County's "The Classic Bluegrass Recordings" (CCS 104). Another essential record, just recently available from County Sales, is Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, "Bluegrass Classics; Radio Shows 1946-1948" (Bluegrass Classics, BGC 80). This Bill - Lester - Earl stuff is beyond price. Scruggs Corner has already presented Earl's fine break on Sunny Side Of The Mountain (November 1978), which can be heard on this record, and we'll soon tab some of the other breaks, so send County some money - $5.75 for this and the other three records referred to above; see their ad on the inside cover for postage instructions. (I am a County Sales fan. Their record reviews match my taste, and their service and attitude are impeccable.)

Now I'm going to pop open a can of Brown Mountain Light and pick a while. 

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