Earl Scruggs - Essential Earl Scruggs (Rmst)
Product Information
Track List: Essential Earl Scruggs (Rmst)
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Disc 1:
- Heavy Traffic AheadDownload & Buy
- It's Mighty Dark To TravelDownload & Buy
- Molly And Tenbrooks (The Race Horse Song)Download & Buy
- Down The RoadDownload & Buy
- Foggy Mountain BreakdownDownload & Buy
- Roll In My Sweet Baby's ArmsDownload & Buy
- Old Salty Dog Blues
- Pike Country BreakdownDownload & Buy
- Come Back DarlingDownload & Buy
- Don't Get Above Your RaisingDownload & Buy
- Jimmie Brown, The NewsboyDownload & Buy
- Earl's BreakdownDownload & Buy
- Get In Line BrotherDownload & Buy
- Dear Old DixieDownload & Buy
- Flint Hill SpecialDownload & Buy
- Foggy Mountain ChimesDownload & Buy
- Till The End Of The World Rolls RoundDownload & Buy
- Foggy Mountain Special
- Randy Lynn RagDownload & Buy
- Shuckin' The CornDownload & Buy
Disc 2:
- John Henry - Live
- Cumberland Gap - Live
- Cripple Creek
- Reuben
- Sally Goodwin
- Foggy Mountain Top
- Georgia Buck
- John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man
- The Ballad Of Jed Clampett
- Nashville Skyline Rag
- Nashville Blues
- I Saw The Light
- Some Of Shelley's Blues
- Peking Fling
- I Shall Be Released
- Stash It
- Song Of The South
- I Still Miss Someone
- We'll Meet Again Sweetheart
- American-Made, World-Played
More Earl Scruggs CDs and Albums
Album Details: Essential Earl Scruggs (Rmst)
- Release Date:
- 03/02/2004
- Label:
- Sony
- UPC:
- 827969085820
User Reviews: Essential Earl Scruggs (Rmst)
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Where would the music be without Earl?
, April 1, 2004Reviewer:
Joe Ross - See all Joe Ross's reviews
read all (1) user reviews for Essential Earl Scruggs (Rmst)
Pro Reviews: Essential Earl Scruggs (Rmst)
| EXPERT RATING: From AMG Reviews "The Paganini of the banjo"'s finest moments are collected on Columbia/Legacy's aptly named Essential Earl Scruggs. Unlike many other "Best Of" collections, this two disc set gathers tracks from nearly all of the stages of Scruggs' career, from his early days as one of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, through his genredefining work with Lester Flatt, and sampling his solo career including his appearances with Hylo Brown, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and leading his own Earl Scruggs Revue. Informative liner notes by historian Rich Kienzle), banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck and Scruggs himself illustrate the man behind the fingers, and the recording quality of the music is clear and consistant throughout. Hearing all of this pickin' in one place really reminds the listener how vital Scruggs was to popularizing the sound of bluegrass in the '40s, '50s and '60s, and his innovations through the '70s and '80s. While stronger collections of Flatt Scruggs and Bill Monroe recordings are available, none showcase the man behind the banjo as completely as this fine compilation does. - Zac Johnson, All Music Guide |
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Earl Scruggs Biography
Earl Scruggs is to the five-string banjo what Paganini was to the violin. After more than 20 years with the Foggy Mountain Boys, forming the most famous band in bluegrass history, Scruggs and Lester Flatt parted company in 1969 because of artistic di...Full Earl Scruggs Biography
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-- ©2008 All Media Guide, LLC
Pros: The historical overview
Cons: Some "essential" tunes always get forgotten on projects like this
Orignally from North Carolina, Earl Eugene Scruggs is an indisputable master of the three-finger style of bluegrass banjo playing. John Hartford once asked and opined, “Who was the first threefinger style banjo picker? It doesn’t really matter, because without Earl no one would be asking that question.”
In Twentieth Century America, the terms “Banjo” and “Scruggs” are nearly synonymous. Once can barely speak of one without mention of the other. That is why I was particularly excited to hear about Columbia/Legacy’s release of the double-CD “Essential Earl Scruggs,” in early 2003 to coincide with Scruggs’ 80th birthday. Spanning the seminal picker’s career, the 40 tracks from 1946 to 1984 give us a good overview of his music. Only three tracks (Heavy Traffic Ahead, It’s Mighty Dark to Travel, Molly and Tenbrooks) emanate from Scruggs’ involvement with Bill Monroe in the late-40s, and this cursory treatment is unfortunate. The great majority (about 26 tracks) document the great collaboration of Earl Scruggs with Lester Flatt. I’m not certain how many of the tracks here overlap with another 2-CD set, “The Essential Flatt & Scruggs.”
I recently learned on the BGRASS-L listserv that Flatt & Scruggs had 20 entries on the Billboard chart between 1952 and 1968, with 15 of them reaching the Top 40. One could certainly argue that all twenty are essential listening. So where are the likes of charting tracks like Legend of the Johnson Boys, New York Town, My Saro Jane, California Uptight Band, and Like A Rolling Stone? Certainly, a song’s charting success may not be a good measure of its essentialness today. Songs like Roll in my Sweet Baby’s Arms, Salty Dog, Jimmie Brown the Newsboy, Get in Line Brother, and most of Scruggs’ great instrumentals are a basic, indispensable foundation of the bluegrass repertoire. Be sure to tune into Scurggs’ lead guitar work on Jimmie Brown. The cornerstone of bluegrass is well represented here.
Of special note are “John Henry” and “Cumberland Gap,” recorded live in 1959 at the Newport Folk Festival with Hylo Brown and the Timberliners, and the 1961 cut of “Foggy Mountain Top” with Mother Maybelle Carter. Johnny Cash appears in the 1975 recording of “I Still Miss Someone,” and Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas and Bobby Hicks make the 1982 rendition of “We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart” quite special.
The pioneer banjoplayer’s contributions to Earl Scruggs Revue is documented in four tracks. “Nashville Blues,” recorded in 1971 with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, was originally released on the seminal “Will the Circle be Unbroken” album. Scruggs’ 1982 collaboration with Tom T. Hall is captured with “Song of the South.”
Rich Kienzle’s liner notes document the musical innovator’s life. Bela Fleck adds a page of insight also. Earl had hip replacement surgery and suffered a heart attack requiring bypass surgery in October, 1996. It’s very gratifying to read Earl’s own extensive liner notes in which he concludes, “After eighty years, I am thankful that I am able to go out on the road and enjoy working concerts with more enthusiasm than ever.” Every bluegrasser today should occasionally contemplate just where the music would be today without the likes of Earl Scruggs. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now) ...