NNASHVILLE, TN. (CMHOF) - The Country
Music Hall of Fame and Museum will survey the life and career of banjo guru Earl Scruggs in Banjo Man: The Musical
Journey of Earl Scruggs, a cameo exhibit opening in the Museum's East Gallery on March 4, 2005. The exhibit also honors Scruggs' wife and business partner,
Louise Certain Scruggs. Banjo Man will remain open through June 16, 2006.
"It is altogether fitting that we undertake this salute to Earl and
Louise Scruggs," said Vince Gill, president of the Museum's Board of Officers and Trustees. "For decades, following in the tradition of Ralph Peer and Jimmie Rodgers, or Fred Rose and Hank Williams, they have formed one of country music's most productive musical and business partnerships. The path they have forged is very much in keeping with our Museum philosophy, which encourages an open-ended, broad-minded interpretation of the country music story."
Few figures loom larger in the history of American music than Earl Scruggs.
His revolutionary approach to the five-string banjo transformed an almost forgotten instrument into an immediately recognizable element of a new genre, which later became known as bluegrass. Ultimately, Scruggs has demonstrated the banjo's utility as a lead instrument in many musical styles.
Since his first appearance on the national scene almost 60 years ago, Earl Scruggs has become synonymous with virtuosity, creativity and an untrammeled willingness to experiment and innovate within and beyond a traditional framework. A Grammy-winning member of the Country
Music Hall of Fame and the International Bluegrass
Music Association's Hall of Honor, a recipient of the
National Medal of the Arts, a Hollywood Walk of Fame honoree and venerated as one of the 20th century's greats, Earl Scruggs is a true American original.
The exhibit will trace Scruggs' life and career from early childhood in rural North Carolina through his years with Bill Monroe, the evolution of Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys and the adventurous folk-rock of the Earl Scruggs Revue. The exhibit will also demonstrate how
Louise Scruggs' understanding of music and musical trends, coupled with her formidable business acumen, allowed her to steer her husband's career in the direction of ever-widening audiences. In 1955, she began booking and managing the Flatt & Scruggs show and continues to manage her husband's career today. She was the first woman in country music to assume these roles, and she set new standards for the industry.
Museum curators will use instruments, costumes, vintage photographs, original art, archival video, show posters and music to tell the story of a modern master who was nurtured in a musical family as a child and who has now introduced his own sons to the same tradition.
The Banjo Man exhibit will be accompanied by related publications, the DVD release of vintage Martha White-sponsored Flatt & Scruggs television shows from the Museum's collection, and a series of public programs including interviews, film screenings, concerts, and panel discussions.
The Museum's salute to Scruggs and his family kicked off with a star-studded 80th birthday salute on January 6, 2004 and continued in
September when Scruggs presided over four sold-out residency performances in the Museum's Ford Theater.
