Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Banjo
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Free Music Notes for Foggy Mountain Banjo
Free Music Review: Earl Scruggs: History's Most Imitated Musician
Hit: 5 Stars
It is absolutely mind boggling when you stop to consider that out of the total number of Banjos being made in the last 50 years, how large a percentage were 5 String models; and also how large a percentage were and will be played 3 finger style, as opposed to the older folk styles of "clawhammer"; "frailing"; "drop-thumb".
It can all be traced back to one man: Earl Scruggs, a soft spoken, humble North Carolina gentleman whose playing was anything but soft spoken! Earl has left his proverbial fingerprints on the musical aspirations of the 5 string banjoists for literally generations to come. When it comes to tone and taste, nobody can lay it down like Earl. This album was recorded at the height of their popularity, captured in Columbia's Nashville studio, with audiophile results. The Foggy Mountain Boys' masterful accompaniment, from Lester Flatt's beautifully understated, but powerful guitar; Paul Warren's solid fiddle; Buck "Josh" Graves' equally groundbreaking Dobro; and Jake Tullock's rock-solid, precise, upright bass made this album an absolute neccessity for anyone interested in Bluegrass music. Another recommended instrumental tour de force by Flatt & Scruggs was their 1966 album "Stricly Instrumental-with Doc Watson", together these 3 master musicians sound as if they played together all their lives; and they each considered it one of the most enjoyable recording sessions they'd ever done in their career.
It shows in their playing on every cut.
One by one, almost all of the band members passed on, but Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson still represent the pinnacle of this music. Though both men are now in their 80's they have lost none of their dynamics nor their technique. I hope they both live to be 100....they will still inspire us.
Free Music Review: Some of the best
Hit: 5 Stars
These boys are some of the great pickers of all time!Free Music Review: Essential for banjo pickers, great for bluegrass fans
Hit: 5 Stars
The sound of bluegrass music is so elemental and raw that it feels like it's been around forever. Surprisingly, it's not much older than rock 'n' roll; the first true bluegrass star, Earl Scruggs, is getting way up there but as of mid-summer 2006 was still alive and giggin'.
"Foggy Mountain Banjo" could well be the most important recording ever for banjo fans and - perhaps more importantly - banjo pickers. "The Essential Earl Scruggs" offers a much better overview of Scruggs' career, but this disc features many of Scrugs's most important compositions and arrangements (the famed Foggy Mountain Breakdown is NOT on the disc, but every banjo noob's first song - Cripple Creek - is here in all its glory, as are Groundspeed, Cumberland Gap and Fireball Mail).
Rip this disc and slow it down, and you hear how essentially simple Scruggs's left hand (fretboard) fingering is, and how deceptively difficult his right hand (picking) movements are. The right hand is everything with Scruggs; banjo players study every note. Since this disc was recorded a lot of pickers have come forth whose left hands are as busy as their right, producing more complex and considerably more melodic breaks (listening to Don Reno, JD Crowe, Bill Keith, Tony Trischka, Bela Fleck and Jens Kruger is a good way to understand the progression of the instrument). But each of these later players owes it all to Scruggs and the sound he created.
This disc puts mid-career Scruggs front and center, so fans of more modern bluegrass bands might find it somewhat lacking. The tunes aren't complex and the arrangements are simple. At the time this music was recorded the bluegrass guitar was considered purely a rhythm instrument; Lester Flatt was of course the master of bluegrass rhythm playing but there are no flatpicking breaks for guitar players to marvel at. Essentially, lead on this album swaps between banjo and fiddle - there's only minimal dobro and no mandolin. Because only two instruments are stepping out and trading lead, the songs tend to be short - 2:27 is the longest of the dozen songs on the disc.
Anyone learning to pick a banjo needs this disc in their collection - it's a primer on how it's done (no less a player than Tony Trischka will tell you that). For fans of traditional bluegrass, it's an essential. And for those interested in the more modern forms of the evolving art of bluegrass, it's as important a disc as exists. Everything comes from here.
Free Music Review: 5 String Banjo
Hit: 5 Stars
Ilearned from the record well over 30 years ago. He is the cleanest picker to learn from. A great album also.Free Music Review: A Sonic Knockout
Hit: 5 Stars
The warning about limited sound quality on the back of the CD is totally unnecessary. Stunningly immediate sound for one of the greatest of bluegrass instrumentals. Another essential set, the Complete Mercury collection, is dreadful by comparison. There, Earl's banjo sounds like a bag of tin cans falling down a flight of stairs, and the fiddle is like a dental drill. But here, you can jump for joy with nary an earache. And if the playing time seems too short for a CD, well, you can always push the Repeat button. You probably will anyway!