Thursday, March 29, 2012

Earl Scruggs, banjo legend, dies

Country Music Hall of Famer Earl Scruggs' native of North Carolina, a singular talent of collective import, died Wednesday morning at a Nashville hospital. He was 88.

A quietly affable presence, Scruggs popularized a complex, three-fingered style of playing banjo that transformed the instrument, inspired nearly every banjo player who followed him and became a central element in what is now known as bluegrass music.

But Scruggs' legacy is in no way limited to or defined by bluegrass, a genre that he and partner Lester Flatt dominated as Flatt and Scruggs in the 1950s and '60s: His adaptability and open-minded approach to musicality and to collaboration made him a bridge between genres and generations.

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