Every serious bluegrass-music aficionado is well acquainted with both the three-fingered banjo-picking style that gives the genre its pizzazz and the banjo-playing genius who popularized it, Earl Scruggs. Even those who grew up watching the TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies are familiar with one of Scruggs’ most famous compositions, 'The Ballad of Jedd Clampett,' the show’s theme song. In this laudatory, blessedly scandal-free biography, television writer Castelnero and banjo instructor Russell follow the complete arc of Scruggs’ rags-to-riches story, from his impoverished childhood in Flint Hill, North Carolina, to his early livelihood as a traveling musician and later fame as an American music icon. According to the authors, Scruggs’ greatest career highlight came on December 8, 1945 at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, where the banjo player was performing with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. The consummate skill and revolutionary picking style Scruggs displayed that night have been influencing banjo players ever since. Must reading for bluegrass fans and an essential acquisition for every library’s performing arts collection.

Booklist

When I began reading my new copy of Earl Scruggs, Banjo Icon, I was so engrossed I couldn’t put it down. This biography of our beloved banjo guru will take you back as if you’re there every step of the way, growing up as part of Earl’s family, sharing in the music, the simple farm life that was his home in his early years, and the various steps that took him to the forefront of the bluegrass world.... [A]fter reading this book, you’ll feel like you knew [Scruggs] his entire life.

Banjo Newsletter

Earl Scruggs: Banjo Icon by Gordon Castelnero and David L. Russell uses an oral history approach to produce a volume both scholarly and readable. With the full cooperation of the Scruggs family, they conducted 72 interviews with family members, musicians, recording industry people, and Earl Scruggs' many friends and admirers to create a well-rounded account filled with lots of previously unpublished information while never losing the human touch, always keeping the subject matter interesting and real.

No Depression

[Earl Scruggs: Banjo Icon] should be enjoyable for musicians and non-musicians alike.

GateHouse Media, Inc.

This is an insightful tribute to the man who put the banjo in bluegrass. Taken from many oral histories or first-hand accounts of folks who knew Scruggs, we get a rather detailed look into his life from the time he was a child right up to the time of his death. With a foreword by Bela Fleck setting the stage, we hear from a who’s who of modern banjo players of all ages. The authors have even extrapolated the influence that Scruggs had upon succeeding generations by including interviews with so many young players who felt his influence first-hand and through his many recordings and appearances.... This book is essential for all fans of bluegrass banjo, Flatt & Scruggs, and the Earl Scruggs Revue or even The Beverly Hillbillies.... [It presents] a solid representation of the man behind the music.

Bluegrass Unlimited

Earl Scruggs: Banjo Icon gives the most comprehensive and complete history of a man who changed the world of music forever. Earl was an innovator, perfectionist, risk taker and a global inspiration to countless musicians... A must-read for any music fan!

Travis Tritt, singer and songwriter