[78-L] I'll take Three Finger Earl any day

[David Sanderson]

On 3/29/2012 6:21 PM, Cary Ginell wrote:
>
> The comment was not made with regard to Reser and Scruggs' relative technical abilities. The key word here is "influential," and using that barometer, Scruggs beats Reser by a country...pardon me, a "hillbilly" mile, to use the pejorative, outdated word you employed. Anyone who knows anything about Scruggs knows that he did not limit his abilities to bluegrass music - which, by the way, has a lot more to do with jazz and improvisation than most people realize. After he broke up his partnership with Lester Flatt, he started one of the first fusion country/rock bands, the Earl Scruggs Revue. Listen to Earl's banjo along with such rock icons as Sting, Melissa Etheridge, John Fogerty, and Don Henley is a revelation. I can't even fathom how the Clicquot Club Eskimos (which most people can't even pronounced without tripping over their tongues) can compare to the Foggy Mountain Boys or Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys in world-shattering influence. Go to Japan some day - they have blueg
>   rass festivals there, with each and every banjo player playing Scruggs' three-finger technique. There's nary a Harry Reser festival to be found. Get with it, Al. Earl Scruggs was an earth-shaker, on par with Armstrong, Crosby, Bernstein, and anyone else you want to mention in the 20th century. "Three Finger Scruggs" was a giant among giants and there should not be an argument there at all.
>
> Cary Ginell

If I were looking for early banjo players, I'd go back to Van Eps and 
Ossman, whose recordings were ubiquitous. The extent to which they may 
have influenced the traditional three-finger style that Scruggs built on 
is hard to say; but the connections between traditional Southern 
musicians and recorded professionals were plentiful, though not always 
recognized. One important example is Charlie Poole, whose Van Eps 
influence shows up in his covers of Van Eps recordings, most prominently 
"Dixie Medley." Other proto-Bluegrass/Scruggs three-finger players of 
note were Snuffy Jenkins and the Mainer bands' banjo players. Another 
thread here shows up in the multiple banjo styles of Uncle Dave Macon, 
where the finger styles he played pretty certainly go back to vaudeville 
and the early recordings of the likes of Golden and Marlowe.

If you do a search you'll find a good supply of discussions of Scruggs 
and related history.


-- 
David Sanderson
East Waterford Maine
dwsanderson685 at roadrunner.com
http://www.dwsanderson.com