Foggy Mountain Boys

The Foggy Mountain Boys was an influential bluegrass band that performed and recorded during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs met as members of Bill Monroe's band, the Blue Grass Boys, in 1946. The two left that band early in 1948, and within a few months had formed their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys. Scruggs' banjo style and Flatt's vocals gave them a distinctive sound that won them many fans. In 1955 they became members of the Grand Ole Opry. Many of the songs on their albums are credited to "Certain and Stacey". These songs were in fact written by Flatt, Scruggs, and various other members of the Foggy Mountain Boys. Certain and Stacey are the maiden names of the wives of Flatt and Scruggs (Louise Certain, wife of Earl Scruggs, and Gladys Stacey, wife of Lester Flatt).

Scruggs, who had always shown progressive tendencies, experimented on duets with saxophonist King Curtis and added songs by the likes of Bob Dylan to the group's repertoire. Flatt, a traditionalist, did not like these changes, and the group broke up in 1969. Following the breakup, Lester Flatt founded the Nashville Grass and Scruggs lead the Earl Scruggs Revue. Flatt died in 1979 at the age of 64. Scruggs still performs occasionally, as his health permits. Flatt and Scruggs were elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.

In 2003, they ranked #24 on CMT's "40 Greatest Men of Country Music", one of only four non-solo artists to make the list (The Eagles, Alabama, and Brooks & Dunn are the others.).

Members

*Lester Flatt (lead guitar)
*Earl Scruggs (banjo, back up guitar)
*Paul Warren (fiddle)
*John Ray "Curly" Seckler (mandolin)
*Burkett "Uncle Josh" Graves (Dobro, bass)
* [http://www.tennesseeoverhill.com/heritagegallery/exhibit.asp?Gallery=4&Exhibit=7&Section=46 English P. “Cousin Jake” Tullock] (bass)
*Robert "Chubby" Wise (fiddle)
*Jim Shumate (fiddle)
*Benny Martin (fiddle)
*Benny Sims (fiddle)
*Howdy Forrester (fiddle)
*Art Wooten (fiddle)
*Howard Watts aka "Cedric Rainwater" (bass)
*Charles Johnson aka "Little Jody Rainwater" (bass)
*Frank "Hylo" Brown (bass, guitar)
* Charles “Little Darlin’” Elza (bass)
*Joe Stuart (bass)
*Everette Lilly (mandolin)
*Curly Lambert (mandolin)
*Jim Eanes (guitar)
*Mac Wiseman (guitar)
*Billy E. Powers (guitar)
*Johnny Johnson (guitar)
*Earl Taylor (mandolin and harmonica)

Notable songs

*Foggy Mountain Breakdown - an instrumental originally released in 1949 and used in many rural car chase movie sequences, notably in "Bonnie and Clyde". It has won two Grammy awards. Parts of the song can be heard in the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" "Killer Sheep" sketch in the episode entitled "The Attila The Hun Show."
*"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" () - used as the theme for the "Beverly Hillbillies" television series. The song reached #42 on the record charts during the series' debut season of 1962. It was #1 on the country charts in January 1963, their only one of their career, and one of only two TV theme songs to ever do that on the country charts (Waylon Jennings' "The Good Ol' Boys" (theme from "The Dukes of Hazzard" in the late 1970s was the other.).
*Martha White jingle (still used in advertising today).

Discography

*"Foggy Mountain Jamboree" (Columbia, 1957)
*"Country Music" (Mercury, 1958)
*"Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs" (Mercury, 1959)
*"Songs of Glory" (Columbia, 1960)
*"Flatt and Scruggs with the Foggy Mountain Boys" (Harmony, 1960)
*"Foggy Mountain Banjo" (Columbia, 1961)
*"Songs of the Famous Carter Family" (Columbia, 1961)
*"Folk Songs of Our Land" (Columbia, 1962)
*"The Original Sound of Flatt and Scruggs" (Mercury, 1963)
*"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" (Columbia, 1963)
*"Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall" (Columbia, 1963)
*"Recorded Live at Vanderbilt University" (Columbia, 1964)
*"The Fabulous Sound of Flatt and Scruggs" (Columbia, 1964)
*"The Versatile Flatt and Scruggs" (Columbia, 1965)
*"Great Original Recordings" (Harmony, 1965)
*"Stars of the Grand Ol' Opry" (Starday, 1966)
*"Town and Country" (Columbia, 1966)
*"When the Saints Go Marching In" (Columbia, 1966)
*"Flatt and Scruggs' Greatest Hits" (Columbia, 1966)
*"Strictly Instrumental" (Columbia, 1967)
*"Hear the Whistle Blow (Columbia, 1967)
*"Sacred Songs" (Harmony, 1967)
*"Changing Times" (Columbia, 1968)
*"The Story of Bonnie and Clyde" (Columbia, 1968)
*"Nashville Airplane" (Columbia, 1968)
*"Original Theme From Bonnie and Clyde" (Mercury, 1968)
*"The Original Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (Mercury, 1968)
*"Songs To Cherish" (Harmony, 1968)
*"Detroit City" (Columbia, 1969)
*"Final Fling" (Columbia, 1970)
*"Flatt and Scruggs" (Columbia, 1970)
*"Breaking Out" (Columbia, 1970)

References

*Rosenburg, Neil V. (1998). "Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys". In "The Encyclopedia of Country Music". Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 173-4.