Earl Scruggs' Banjo Heading to Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Earl Scruggs' Gibson RB-Granada Mastertone banjo will become part of the Precious Jewels display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. The five-string banjo, the late Hall of Fame member's primary instrument, has never been exhibited. It goes on display July 12. Scruggs acquired the instrument in a trade with banjo legend Don Reno in the late 1940s and used it on the 1949 recording of his signature composition "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" with Lester Flatt and the Foggy Mountain Boys. He continued to use the instrument on the road and in the studio with Flatt & Scruggs and the Earl Scruggs Revue. The Precious Jewels display, part of the museum's Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Through Country Music exhibit, also features Mother Maybelle Carter's Gibson L-5 guitar, Lester Flatt's Martin D-28 guitar, Bill Monroe's Gibson F-5 mandolin, Jimmie Rodgers' Martin 00-18 guitar and Hank Williams' Martin D-28 guitar.

Rare Josh Graves Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UXphD7Zd7M

Curl Seckler recovering from a stroke.

Bluegrass legend Curly Seckler, 93, is recovering at home after suffering a mini stroke on May 19. Seckler suffered some loss of his ability to speak, but fortunately did not experience any paralysis. He was transported to the hospital and underwent multiple tests, but was not admitted. He is working with a speech therapist and is making progress in his recovery.
Seckler celebrated 77 years in bluegrass music last year. Seckler is renowned as one of the pioneering tenor singers in bluegrass, including 12 years with Flatt & Scruggs' Foggy Mountain Boys and 21 years with the Nashville Grass. He celebrated his 75th anniversary in bluegrass music in 2010 and his 92nd birthday in 2011! He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2004, the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2011.

Earl with Del McCoury

Great Photo of two of the greats!

Saddest day in Bluegrass History!

Earl Scruggs, right, with wife Louise, looked away as Lester Flatt walked away outside the courtroom after their attorneys worked out agreements to breaking up the famous singing team after 21 years

Earl Scruggs Milestones

Earl Scruggs milestones

Jan 6, 1924: Earl Eugene Scruggs is born in Shelby, N.C.

1928: Father George Elam Scruggs, a farmer, bookkeeper and musician, dies following an eight-month illness. Earl begins playing his banjo later that year, practicing in a two-finger style and using instruments belonging to his older brother and his father.

1934: Begins developing a three-finger style that would become known as “Scruggs-style” banjo and would also become a central element in bluegrass music.

1935: Purchases a banjo from the Montgomery-Ward mail order company.

1945: Begins playing banjo with “Lost John” Miller and His Allied Kentuckians, which performed in Knoxville and Nashville.

Dec. 8, 1945: Makes first appearance with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, a group that already featured Monroe on mandolin, Lester Flatt on guitar, Chubby Wise on fiddle and Howart Watts (known professionally as “Cedric Rainwater”) on bass. This group would become the prototypical bluegrass ensemble and is often referred to as “The Original Bluegrass Band.”

Sept. 16, 1946: First records with Bill Monroe, adding jazzy banjo to “Heavy Traffic Ahead.”

Dec. 14, 1946: Louise Certain attends the Grand Ole Opry and meets Scruggs after the show. The two began dating.

Early 1948: Departs the Blue Grass Boys, along with Flatt. Monroe would not speak to either man for 23 years.

March 1948: Flatt & Scruggs begin working on WDVA in Danville, Va., with a band that included Jim Eanes on guitar, Cedric Rainwater on bass and Jim Shumate on fiddle. Eanes soon departed, and his place was taken by Mac Wiseman, who helped them find a job at WCYB in the Virginia-Tennessee border town of Bristol.

April 18, 1948: Earl Scruggs and Certain marry.

Fall 1948: First Flatt & Scruggs recording session for Mercury Records. The session yielded four songs: “God Loves His Children,” “I’m Going To Make Heaven My Home,” “We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart” and “My Cabin In Caroline.”

March 1949: Wiseman leaves the band and is replaced by mandolin player Curly Seckler.

Nov. 21, 1950: Flatt & Scruggs begin recording for Columbia Records.

Oct. 24, 1951: A Nashville recording session yields “Earl’s Breakdown,” in which Scruggs introduces his technique of adjusting his banjo strings’ tuning in the middle of a song. Reception to this song led Scruggs to create a mechanism for raising and lowering his strings’ pitch without adjusting the tuning pegs.

June 1953: Earl and Louise Scruggs move to Nashville and begin playing a morning radio program on WSM.

1955: Despite opposition from Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs join the Grand Ole Opry. They also begin playing a series of television programs that demand 2,500 miles of travel each week. Louise Scruggs begins managing and booking the band, thus becoming Nashville’s first female manager and booker. She remained a guiding presence in her husband’s career until her death in 2006. The year also brought the addition of Buck “Uncle Josh” Graves on the Dobro — a significant departure from Monroe’s notion of proper bluegrass, which featured only mandolin, fiddle, guitar, bass and banjo.

October 1955: Earl and Louise Scruggs were involved in a serious automobile accident that kept Scruggs from touring for several months.

Mid 1958: Seckler leaves the band.

July 1959: Plays the Newport Folk Festival, accompanied by Hylo Brown rather than by Flatt. The appearance opened folk music fans’ eyes and ears to the possibilities of the banjo and helped secure a spot for Flatt & Scruggs in the 1960s folk boom.

1960: Flatt & Scruggs include drums for the first time in a recording session. And during a rehearsal break for CBS’ Folk Sound USA program, Scruggs plays informally with sax player King Curtis. “It was then that Earl realized the banjo worked well with many forms of music,” Louise Scruggs would later write in liner notes to a Scruggs album.

1961: Flatt & Scruggs begin playing college and university folk shows.

1962: Flatt & Scruggs record a live album at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” the theme for CBS show The Beverly Hillbillies, is issued on Columbia. The single would become Flatt & Scruggs’ only No. 1 country single and the first bluegrass recording to top country charts.

1963: Louise Scruggs spearheads a live recording at Vanderbilt University, where a school official had told her that Grand Ole Opry-style music wasn’t welcome.

1964: The group records with the addition of Charlie McCoy’s harmonica, a further deviation from Monroe’s classic bluegrass sound.

1967: Columbia brass assign Bob Johnston, known for producing Bob Dylan’s material, to produce Flatt & Scruggs.

1968: The Nashville Airplane album, which features a clearly disinterested Flatt singing Dylan lyrics such as “everybody must get stoned,” is released. It was Flatt & Scruggs’ final studio effort.

1969: Flatt & Scruggs split up early in the same year they were awarded their first Grammy, for the recording of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” used in the feature film Bonnie and Clyde. In late 1969, Scruggs played the Grand Ole Opry with sons Gary and Randy in the debut performance of the eclectic, genre-bounding group The Earl Scruggs Revue. Son Steve later joined the group. “When the boys came into the group, that’s when I first started realizing real progress, for the first time in years,” he would say in 2007.

1970: Stars in the National Public Television show Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends with Gary and Randy Scruggs, Doc Watson, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and others.

1972: Scruggs and the Revue (sons Gary, Randy and Steve and fiddler Vassar Clements, pianist Bob Wilson and drummer Jody Maphis) release I Saw The Light With A Little Help From My Friends, with guests including Linda Ronstadt, Arlo Guthrie and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The cross-generational musical mix of Scruggs’ recordings and live performances in this time period would be of great influence to The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s guest-star packed Will The Circle Be Unbroken series, and Dirt Band members credit Earl and Louise Scruggs with providing inspiration and helping recruit personnel for the Circle projects. Earl Scruggs would perform on each of the Dirt Band’s three Circle albums.

1982: The Storyteller and the Banjo Man, a duo project with Tom T. Hall, is released.

1985: Flatt & Scruggs are elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

1992: Steve Scruggs dies, and a grieving Earl Scruggs ceases playing music for eight months. Back problems would keep him from heavy touring in the ensuing years.

1996: Suffers a near-fatal heart attack during hip surgery.

2001: Releases Earl Scruggs and Friends, a collection of collaborations with Elton John, Sting, Billy Bob Thornton, Johnny Cash, Steve Martin and other admirers. The album’s version of Scruggs’ “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” won a Grammy.

Feb. 13, 2003: Gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2004: Performs a multishow residency at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

2005: Plays the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

2006: Louise Scruggs dies at age 78. A memorial service is held at the Ryman Auditorium, where the couple met.

2007: Flatt & Scruggs are elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

2008: Receives a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Rounder Records releases Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends: The Ultimate Collection Live At The Ryman.

Sept. 15, 2010: Is hospitalized in Chapel Hill, N.C., after requiring medical attention prior to a concert.

March 28, 2012: Earl Scruggs dies in Nashville at age 88.

2012: Projected opening of the Earl Scruggs Center: Music & Stories from the American South in Shelby, N.C.

Earl Scruggs Center Coming Soon!

The Earl Scruggs Center will showcase the history, cultural traditions of the American South and the unique musical contributions of Earl Scruggs, the region’s most pre-eminent ambassador of music. Envisioned as a cornerstone for regional, cultural and economic development, the Center will serve as a cultural crossroads for visitors, students and residents.

The Center will explore Mr. Scruggs’ innovative career and the community that gave it shape while celebrating how he crossed musical boundaries and defined the voice of the banjo to the world.

http://www.earlscruggscenter.org/

 

Everett Lilly, Bluegrass Musician, Dies at 87

Everett Lilly, who was largely credited, along with his brother Burt and their band mates Don Stover and Tex Logan, with introducing bluegrass music to New England, died on Tuesday at his home in Clear Creek, W.Va. He was 87.

Mr. Lilly had been found to have an aneurysm and probably died of a heart attack, his son Daniel said.

Mr. Lilly and his brother grew up singing close harmonies in the style of the Monroe Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys and other Depression-era duos. During the 1940s they performed on radio stations and in churches, schoolhouses and theaters in their native Appalachia before moving to Boston in 1952. There, teaming with Mr. Stover and Mr. Logan, they brought bluegrass and old-time music to college campuses, folk festivals and nightclubs throughout the Northeast.

Mr. Lilly played mandolin and sang high tenor in the group, which was known as the Lilly Brothers and Don Stover. (He also occasionally played fiddle, guitar and banjo.) Mr. Lilly’s brother, who died in 2005, sang lead vocals and played acoustic guitar. Mr. Stover, who died in 1996, was the band’s banjoist. Mr. Logan, who is still living, was the fiddle player.

The Lillys’ keening vocal harmonies and hard-driving instrumental sound were well suited to Boston’s rough-and-tumble Hillbilly Ranch, a nightclub where, as the de facto house band for almost two decades, they entertained a mix of blue-collar and university regulars. They also appeared on “The Hayloft Jamboree” on the Boston radio station WCOP and toured widely, exposing urban audiences to traditional rural music.

Before moving to the Northeast, Mr. Lilly spent the better part of two years as the mandolin player and tenor singer in Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’s band, the Foggy Mountain Boys. He appeared on the Grand Ole Opry with Flatt and Scruggs, as well as on several of their early-’50s recordings for Columbia, including “ ’Tis Sweet to Be Remembered,” “Earl’s Breakdown” and “Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’.”

Charles Everett Lilly was born on July 1, 1924, in Clear Creek, W.Va., the son of a carpenter. He and his brother worked in the coal fields near their home as teenagers but soon abandoned the mines to pursue a career in music, billing themselves early on as the Lonesome Holler Boys.

The brothers moved to Knoxville, Tenn., in 1945 to appear on WNOX with the country star Molly O’Day. In 1948 they began performing on the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, W.Va., and made their first recordings for the local Page label. They later recorded for Folkways, Prestige and other independent labels.

In 1970 Mr. Lilly returned to West Virginia after his son Jiles was killed in an automobile accident. He and his brother performed in public less frequently as the years progressed. Their career together was chronicled in the 1979 documentary “True Facts in a Country Song.” The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover were inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 2002.

In addition to his son Daniel, Mr. Lilly is survived by his wife of 64 years, JoAnn; two other sons, Mark and Everett Alan; four daughters, Karen Pierangelino, Diana Tomah, Ann Lilly and Laverne Wheeler; a sister, Flossie Williams; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mr. Lilly continued to perform, with his sons Daniel and Mark, in a group called the Lilly Mountaineers until his death.

“He played music right up to the end,” Daniel Lilly said. “He was enjoying life and still riding his four-wheeler through the woods at the age of 87. He died at the kitchen table.” 

Earl Eugene Scruggs (1924–2012) The greatest banjo player of all time!

Nuff said..........

Jody Rainwater Passes. 1919-2011

In the fall of 1949, Jody joined Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in Lexington, Kentucky, as their booking agent. He soon began doing comedy routines with the band, and when Cedric Rainwater left the Foggy Mountain Boys in the summer of 1950, Jody took over as bass player and bass singer. Jody made his first recordings with the Foggy Mountain Boys in October of 1950. Just a month later they were in Nashville for their first Columbia session, which included Jody's original song, "I'm Waiting to Hear You Call Me Darling." Their two sessions in 1951 produced fourteen songs. Jody sang the bass vocal part on the three gospel quartets: "I'm Working on a Road," "Get in Line Brother," and "Brother, I'm Getting Ready to Go."




Jody remained with Flatt & Scruggs until June of 1952.

Earl Scruggs at the Newport Jazz Festival July 30, 2011

Earl performed at the jazz festival Saturday. He also performed there 52 years ago! Way to go Earl!

Jim Shumate to be inducted into the Blue Ridge Hall of Fame!

There have been a lot great fiddle players over the years. Some of the ones I like most are Posey Rorer, Charley LaPrade, Paul Warren and J.E. Mainer. That’s a woefully incomplete list of fiddlers, and you’ve probably guessed that I’m partial to the old-time guys.




Well, there’s one fiddler who hasn’t had a lot of mainstream press, but is one of the most influential (and many say the best) of the bluegrass fiddle players who has roots in the old-timey styles.



He’s Jim Shumate of Hickory, and he’ll be inducted into the Blue Ridge Hall of Fame in Wilkes County.



Bluegrass isn’t that old. It came along in the mid-1930s, just in time for the fabled Robert Johnson to explore the infant musical style. Johnson, known for his blues (and being one of the most influential artists ever), dabbled in bluegrass before he died in 1938.



It was Bill Monroe who started the fire that today burns brighter than ever. Shumate was once the fiddler in Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, at the time when Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt were with the group



Now, ol’ Bill was a taskmaster. Everything had to be just right. He didn’t cotton to foolin’ around on stage. His way of thinking was that the audience spent good money to see a good show and that’s what the folks were going to get. Monroe figured out what music energized a crowd, what animated people and what gave ‘em the dreamy, I-remember look.

He knew bluegrass was just the ticket.



So how good was Shumate? Good enough that the first time he was at the Grand Ole Opry (1944), the Bluegrass Boys opened the show and the first licks were Shumate doing the Opry theme song. Monroe thought Shumate was good. Real good.

Shumate didn’t record a lot. “The process was so tedious,” he recalled in a interview several years ago. And he really didn’t like the grind of road trips. Six years after Monroe first heard him play on WHKY Radio in 1943, Shumate came home for good.

However, he has a plaque hanging in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in Nashville.

Shumate’s time with Monroe was critical for bluegrass music, a reality not lost on the fiddle great. He once mused, “Once we (the Bluegrass Boys) got started, it (bluegrass) didn’t take long to get going after that. When we were at the Opry, everybody was trying to do it just like we did. I said, ‘I don’t know what it is, but we’re making some kind of history.’ We just sort of laughed it off. Bill Monroe was the backbone of it. I know that. He is one fine fella to work for.”



As long as you deliver, and nobody every accused Jim Shumate of not delivering his best. He’s still remembered and revered by veteran performers and devotees of bluegrass.



Listen and watch closely: That’s Shumate on Lester and Earl’s “The Mercury Sessions” and the dynamic duo’s TV variety show. He was featured in “High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass Music,” a film by Northside Films of Brooklyn



Ah, so you have heard of him! Don’t get the impression that I know him. I met him one time and then only because a coworker was doing a story. So I did some checking up on Shumate. By the time I was done, I knew he was the real deal



The miracle of modern technology made studio recording less tedious, and Shumate has cut a couple of albums. If you find “Buckle Up The Backstrap,” grab it. Same goes to “Up And At ‘Em.” And he performed at various venues and conducted fiddle workshops for years, as long as there wasn’t too much travel time involved.





Let’s see. He was 70 in 1993 when he recorded “Buckle Up.” Hmmm. It’s about time to honor him with induction at the Blue Ridge Hall of Fame on June 11. Shumate will be enshrined with Emmylou Harris, Jens Kruger, Jim Lauderdale and Willard Watson.



Shumate is scheduled to perform. If you go, hang on to your hat. He’s not going into the great hall because he’s ordinary. Hey, he’s got a plaque in Nashville. Bill Monroe turned him loose on his very first note at the Opry.



The Wilkes County boy who learned to play from his brother and his uncle and memorized every stop and note Arthur Smith and Sam Kirk McGee could do favored home over fame. But he isn’t forgotten. Besides, Shumate never looked at his ability as a way to get rich and grab glory.



“It’s a gift from God,” he once said. It’s a gift he’s shared for decades. It’s good knowledgeable people know he deserves recognition.

Photos of Earl Scruggs House!

Here are some photos of Earl's nice home near Nashville, TN.

Cousin Jake Bluegrass Festival March 12th

Gem Theater-Downtown Historic Etowah


This festival of bluegrass music, named in honor of Cousin Jake Tullock, is held every year in March and located at the Gem Theater. Jake grew up in Etowah, Tennessee where he learned to make music with his family. After leaving home to make a career as a musician he landed a job with Flatt and Scruggs, playing bass and telling jokes. He traveled with Flatt and Scruggs for 20 years. Jake retired from the music scene and moved back to Etowah, where he served as a police dispatcher until his death. Come hear the music that Jake loved played. The festival is held at the Historic Gem Theater in downtown Etowah. There will be lots of jamming going on across the street at the L&N Depot Museum, so bring your instrument along. Between sets, pick up bargains at the many antique shops and outlets located in the downtown.



This event begins at 12:00 p.m. and is $15 for an all day ticket which is available at the box office the day of the performance.



For more information, contact Etowah Area Chamber of Commerce 423-263-2228

Reminiscing on Sandy Ridge Shows

In 1948 Cleo Lemons heard on the radio that Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs had left Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys to form their own band. Upon hearing this news Cleo wrote a letter to Lester Flatt to see if they would agree to come to Sandy Ridge School and play a bluegrass show that would be sponsored by the American Legion. In a few days, Cleo received a response and the very first bluegrass show at Sandy Ridge School was scheduled.



That first evening Cleo met Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Mac Wiseman, Jim Shumate and Howard Watts in a 1937 Ford two-door with bass on top and instruments along with sound equipment in the back. This would mark the beginning of one of the longest running annual bluegrass shows in history.



Flatt and Scruggs continued to appear at Sandy Ridge School until their breakup in 1969. Flatt and Scruggs broke up the Saturday night before the Sandy Ridge Show would have been played on March 7th. The Osborne Brothers agreed to play the show in their place. After this, Lester Flatt continued to do the show for many years. The Osborne Brothers became annual performers at the show along with others including The Lewis Family, Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, and more.



In the 60 plus years this concert has been held, there is just too much history that has taken place to be included in a few short paragraphs. One interesting fact relayed to Doug Hutchens by Earl Scruggs is that “Flatt and Scruggs played this show more times than any other one place except for the Grand Ole Opry.”

The Ballad of Jed Clampett

Happy 87th Birthday Earl Scruggs! Jan 6, 1924

Happy Birthday Earl! Thanks for all the great music! It has brought joy to thousands of people through the years! Wishing you many more years of good health!

Country Music Hall of Fame Celebrates Curly Seckler

photo: (Patti Longmire/AP Photo)

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will celebrate Bluegrass Music Hall of Famer Curly Seckler during a Saturday, Dec. 4 program at 1:30 p.m.

Seckler, who turns 91 on Christmas day, sang harmony vocals on classic Flatt & Scruggs hits including “Salty Dog Blues,” “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” and “I’ll go Stepping Too.” He was also a part of Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass band, and led that group after Flatt’s 1979 death. He remains an in-demand live attraction, performing at MerleFest, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and other high-profile events.

SIRIUS XM radio’s Kyle Cantrell will interview Seckler on December 4, and Seckler will perform several signature songs.

The event is included with Museum admission and is free to Museum members. For more information, check www.countrymusichalloffame.org or call 416‑2001.

Lester Flatt inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame

This is a couple years old but wanted to post it:

Memories. Gladys Flatt (third from left) holds the award presented by Songwriters Hall of Fame as they inducted her late husband, Lester Flatt, into its ranks of stars. L-R: Marty Stuart, who presented the award to Gladys; Earl Scruggs, Lester's partner who was also inducted; Gladys; and Tammy Herren Brumfield, the granddaughter of Lester and Gladys.

Wife and granddaughter accept award




The man who helped put Sparta on the map with his continuous string of bluegrass hits has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Lester Flatt, whose slow drawl and easy manner won the hearts of millions of fans in the United States, as well as overseas, was given the award posthumously during an Oct. 14, 2007, event at Renaissance Hotel, in Nashville.



Marty Stuart, one of Lester's former prot�s, presented the trophy to Flatt's widow, Gladys Flatt, and his granddaughter, Tammy Herren Brumfield, both of White County. Stuart, who has risen to stardom in the world of bluegrass music through the past three decades, lived with the Flatts when he was a young boy and remained in their home approximately three years. Also honored Sunday night was Earl Scruggs, Lester's former partner. Lester first hooked up with Scruggs as part of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, in 1945. Within three years, the two men had left Monroe to venture out and start their own act.

In 1953, Flatt and Scruggs began their WSM radio show for Martha White Flour. In 1956, they joined the Grand Ole Opry. In 1962, Flatt and Scruggs gained worldwide recognition when they recorded the theme song to The Beverly Hillbillies TV show. The duo did not write the song, but it still hit number one within five weeks of the show's first broadcast. In 1962, they also performed at Carnegie Hall, becoming the first bluegrass act to have this honor bestowed upon them and performed the now-famous Martha White jingle. In 1967, Scrugg's instrumental, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, was used in the film Bonnie and Clyde. The song earned the duo a performance Grammy and went on to achieve Million-Air status from BMI. Flatt and Scruggs wrote many of their popular songs, including Don't Get Above Your Raisin', Crying My Heart Out Over You, Flint Hill Special and "Cabin in the Hills. They disbanded in 1969, but both were inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Honor. In 1985, Flatt and Scruggs became only the second bluegrass act to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.



"It's really neat that more than 25 years after he died that he's nominated for something like this," said Brumfield, when talking about the man she affectionately still refers to as Poppa. "I'm just really sad that it couldn't have happened when he was living."



Flatt passed away in 1979 and is buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery, in Sparta.



Brumfield recalled a story her grandmother had told her about one of the times Lester had gotten the inspiration to write a song. At that point in the interview, Gladys took over the storytelling and said she and Lester were traveling down the highway one day when he told her to find something on which to write. The only thing Gladys could find was a brown paper sack. Lester began reciting the words as Gladys took dictation. That song was Be Ready for Tomorrow may Never Come.




"When we got here [Sparta], he got his guitar out at my sister's house," said Gladys. "I mean he didn't change the tune. He didn't change a word. They [songs] would just come to him like that. It was amazing."

By Kim Swindell Wood

13th Annual Liberty Square: A Lester Flatt Celebration Oct. 9th.

Sparta, Tennessee will again honor its bluegrass heritage on Saturday, October 9, 2010 with the 13th Annual Liberty Square: A Lester Flatt Celebration. Sparta is the hometown of bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Benny Martin, current bluegrass stars Blake Williams of The Expedition Show and Josh Swift of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Last year, during an unprecedented ceremony, the city of Sparta unveiled new city limits signs, declaring itself "Bluegrass USA" and also established the Sparta, Tennessee Bluegrass Hall of Fame, inducting Lester Flatt, Benny Martin and Blake Williams as well as local musicians John Henry Demps and Bill Jones.


In keeping with the branding of Sparta, Tennessee as Bluegrass USA while honoring the area's bluegrass heritage and annual event, city officials have commissioned a new logo for Liberty Square: A Lester Flatt Celebration. "The celebration at Liberty Square gives our entire region an opportunity to come together as one to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Lester Flatt", stated Sparta's Mayor, Jeff Young. "Lester Flatt is a name known around the world and Sparta is fortunate to have been his hometown."


W.D. Stone & Associates, a public relations firm based in Cookeville, Tennessee designed the new logo. "The logo created for Liberty Square: A Lester Flatt Celebration is intended to pay homage to the old concert prints of Lester Flatt' s era, but in a more modern design style", stated Roman Stone, owner of W.D. Stone & Associates. "Being such a legend in bluegrass music, it was only natural to include Lester's likeness in the new logo, especially considering the event was originally intended to honor him. Our design team used vintage colors and retro elements to be consistent with Sparta's historic bluegrass tradition, and to further enhance the brand that the area projects to the world. We feel the logo evokes a feeling of nostalgia while still honoring a relevant bluegrass pioneer."



Liberty Square: A Lester Flatt Celebration draws thousands to the Sparta and White County, Tennessee region annually. This year's event will take place on Saturday, October 9, 2010 on the city's square. The event will include craft and food vendors from many local businesses and non-profit organizations in the area as well as a classic car "cruise-in". At the center of the event, will be the national talent performing in front of the historic Oldham Theatre.



This year's lineup will include one of the most awarded groups in bluegrass, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, the International Bluegrass Music Association's 4-time Instrumental Group of the Year Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, hard-driving traditionalists Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramb lers and The Expedition Show which features Sparta native and past honoree, Blake Williams. Music will begin at 11:30am CST. For information on Liberty Square: A Lester Flatt Celebration, please visit www.SpartaTN.com or call 931-836-3248.