"Foggy Mountain Breakdown"

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs

I love nothing better to write about great songwriters for Sometimes a Song. So today I am purely delighted to bring you an American classic song performed in a genre which in its own day was designated by no specific name, except as a sub-set of country music called “hillbilly song.” “Bluegrass,” which we now recognize as an utterly distinctive musical style, only got that name in the 1980’s, when promoters of a festival of such music had to decide, at last, what to call the particular music they were gathering to celebrate. The name “Bluegrass” was settled upon largely because the eldest of the promoters for the event was Bill Monroe, whose band, “The Bluegrass Boys,” were responsible for formalizing the sound and differentiating it from what was theretofore simply called “old time” or “folk” music.

It’s certainly true that “old time” music — as in the folk ballads and dance tunes which immigrants from England and Scotland brought with them to Appalachia — provided a basis for the development in the 1940’s of what we now call “Bluegrass.” Both “hillbilly music” and jazz were going mainstream, aided from the 1940’s onward by the availability of radio and recorded music which allowed for the flourishing of popular music across the land and really around the world. Still, it’s hard to imagine that an entirely new musical style was born, and that nobody had bothered to give it a name for so long.

Once everyone had agreed on a name for the music, Bill Monroe began to be called “the father of Bluegrass,” and for good reason. He brought that style to the public both in person and on the airwaves. But while I don’t fancy myself an expert on the subject, I tend to credit the songwriters as the real innovators, the more so if they are also excellent musicians. That's why I’d like to put forward here for the title “father of Bluegrass” Earl Scruggs, Monroe’s junior by 13 years, and a talented newcomer who brought something revolutionary to the band’s musical equation.

Scruggs and Lester Flatt left Bill Monroe’s band in the late 1940’s, just worn out from the demanding “road trip” schedule and each longing to have more control over his own music. Also, Scruggs appears to have written the band’s big hit song, “Bluegrass Breakdown,” but not to have received credit for it. In hindsight, it seems rather unlikely that Monroe could have written the song on his own, when his band previous to Scruggs’ arrival relied on typical banjo played as a rhythm instrument. Lester Flatt recalled that when Earl auditioned for the band, no one there had ever heard the banjo played as he played it, as a full instrument able both to accompany and to carry the melody. Earl Scruggs was a self-taught virtuoso, who had perfected a three-finger lightening-quick picking style that had to be in place for such a piece as the “Bluegrass Breakdown” even to be imaginable.

All that aside, Flatt and Scruggs did form their own band, called “The Foggy Mountain Boys” after a Carter Family song that was widely played at the time. In short order, Earl Scruggs overhauled the tune he had written for Monroe and called it “The Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” That clever and lively little number shot to the top of the charts in 1949. It quickly became a “hillbilly music” classic, and helped along by Scruggs’ innovative banjo virtuosity, brought Bluegrass music out of sub-genre status and into its own.

If you don’t know Bluegrass music, you can’t start with a better song than our choice for today. The song has had a life of its own, really. It was routinely used for “getaway” music in films, and was chosen as the theme music for the film “Bonnie and Clyde” in 1968. For that film rendition, Flatt and Scruggs won a Grammy for Best Performance by a duo. And the song was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (1999). In 2004, the Library of Congress listed the tune in The National Recording Registry. It’s been commercially recorded nearly 100 times, and is considered must-learn piece for students of the banjo even today.

Earl Scruggs continued picking into his old age. He earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, induction into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, A National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and Congress’ National Medal of the Arts. He was still “on the road” and active in Music until the age of 86. Have I made my case? I hope so!

Note: In case you are wondering, Flatt and Scruggs did have one cross-over Billboard hit, with a song written by television producer Paul Henning and recorded in 1962. That song was called “The Ballad of Jed Clampett.” (Some of our readers might remember that “poor mountaineer” who “barely kept his family fed.”) This television theme song introduced a whole new audience to Bluegrass music. I admit that I was a bit disappointed to learn that Earl Scruggs didn’t write the song, and skeptical about Paul Henning’s credentials for the music. But as it turns out, the production of the theme song was given over to the talented composer, jazz guitarist, and banjo player, Perry Botkin, who worked with countless orchestras and single artists and served as Bing Crosby’s musical director for over 17 years. You may also be happy to know that a month after the show first aired, Flatt and Scruggs had a year’s worth of bookings reserved. And there’s another great collaboration to celebrate.

I’ve included below Flatt and Scruggs’ release of that song, too, in honor of our week devoted to mountains.

Word & Song by Anthony Esolen is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymns, poems, films, and popular songs, as well a weekly podcast for paid subscribers, alternately Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. Paid subscribers also receive audio-enhanced posts and on-demand access to our full archive, and may add their comments to our posts and discussions. To support this project, please join us as a free or paid subscriber. We value all of our subscribers, and we thank you for reading Word and Song!