Earl Scruggs Earliest Known Recording (3/23/1946 WSM Grand Ole' Opry )

[@oldcremona]

Powerful banjo work. Low C tuning. That up the neck break really smoked.

[@FANJG24]

More videos like this of Earl playing in the mid 40s through the late 50s will be uploaded when I get the chance. These recordings are American treasures.

[@jackvalentine566]

FANJG24 have any more been uploaded?

[@sidgriffin813]

I believe this is the earliest, the first pickin' of Earl Scruggs with Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys which I have ever heard. A fascinating slice of history.

[@bluegrassman3040]

Someone where on KZbin, they have the whole transcripts from whence this song was recorded from. The recording they sido of Earl picking Cumberland Gap was the best I’ve heard.

[@stephenhilliard5223]

There is nothing like the old time music and the old time way of life. I was born too late. Take me back down yonder and leave me there…

[@kishintuchis4133]

this was recorded approx. 3 months after scruggs was hired by monroe. wonderful stuff.

[@tonymallers9628]

Pure gold.

[@shamsam4]

Spittin' fire!

[@iragitlin7549]

There's an earlier song, from about a month earlier, where the Blue Grass Boys back up Howdy Forrester. But the fiddle is the focus. You can hear a little of Scruggs' backup, but nothing like what we hear here.

[@JohnDuncanfiddler]

Where can that be heard?

[@iragitlin7549]

Aggghhh! I forget. Maybe try a little creative googling?

[@robertmontgomery10]

@@JohnDuncanfiddler kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWmvhJ6eeMaXgc0si=0eMDYnKpzpvJBNEn

[@kishintuchis4133]

follow up to my comment of 9 months ago. listen to how high and pure monroes voice was back then. that was a perfect example of the high,lonesome sound.

[@charlesvisser8110]

Blue Grass at its BEST!!!! doesn't matter the sound quality.

[@lukewarren7857]

Rest audio recovery

[@texican65]

WOW...I love it! Thats how a bluegrass banjo ought to sound! Is that the RB-11 also?

[@FANJG24]

texican65 I honestly have no idea. I would assume it's the earliest banjo Earl had with Monroe

[@RichStillman]

Pretty sure that's the 11. There are several other recordings from this era - Rolling In My Sweet Baby's Arms, Will You Be Loving Another Man, others - where he was clearly playing either the RB-4 or the Granada, and the difference in the banjo sound is obvious even though everything else in the recording sounds pretty much the same. These tracks are a fantastic look into the very earliest days of bluegrass music. It's good that someone other than collectors is getting to hear them.

[@joshuahymer15]

Rich Stillman lot of misinformation in your post there. This is definitely the style 11 you can hear the hollow tone of the non Mastertone style. Also he never had a style 4 or Granada while in Monroe’s band. He later acquired a style 75 he played with Monroe and the earliest Flatt and Scruggs records.

[@lennartsjostrom3167]

Bill Monroe invented bluegrass and Earl made it what it is today.

[@andrewrice6526]

@@joshuahymer15 you can definatly hear the lack of the flat head tone ring that the style 11 had, it sounds more hollow

[@jackvalentine566]

Did Earl have his Granada at this point or was it the style 11?

[@runeulriksen]

I believe it was the RB-4 or “Nellie”. As you probably know, he traded that banjo for the Granada he used for the rest of his life with Don Reno. Jim Mills once told me Earl used parts of the 11 to fix up the Granada, then threw the rest in the bin!

[@jackvalentine566]

@@runeulriksen was the style 11 before Nellie or after?

[@runeulriksen]

Jack Valentine After the 11.

[@田中幸治-w5o]

前月の02/16/1946には「He Will Set Your Fields On Fire」「Kentucky Waltz」を やっているね。

[@davycrokett3862]

Moor moor moor

[@joshbiddle2541]

I wish I could find the live blue moon of Kentucky that's playing on the radio in coal miners daughter when Tommy Lee Jones walks in and levon helm is singing the song

[@josephanderson7237]

What banjo is Earl playing in this recording. Sounds rather “tubby”. Might just be the recording quality. Nice piece of history.

[@FANJG24]

I believe it's his style 11.