EARL SCRUGGS

Earl Scruggs was born and grew up near Shelby, North Carolina in Cleveland County. Located in the Piedmont section of the state, it isan area known for its strongholds of banjo enthusiasm. Earl’s father, George Elam Scruggs, was a farmer and a bookkeeper. He also played fiddle and banjo. Earl’s older brothers, Junie and Horace, and his two older sisters, Eula Mae and Ruby, played the banjo and guitar. His mother, Lula Ruppe Scruggs played the organ.

George Elam Scruggs died when Earl was only four years old. “Due to his eight month illness prior to his death, I never remembered his picking although I do remember him,” Earl says.

Earl began playing the banjo at the age of four using a two finger style picking. “The only way I could pick Junie’s banjo, or the old one my father played, was to sit on the floor with the body part of the banjo to my right and slide it around quite a bit, depending on what position on the neck I was attempting to play.” More about Earl Scruggs…

Bio source earlscruggs.com/biography, accessed August 13, 2018.