Earl Scruggs remembered at funeral as "humble musician"

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CBS/AP) Thousands crowded into this city's Ryman Auditorium Sunday to pay tribute to bluegrass musician and Grand Ole Opry star Earl Scruggs.

The pioneering banjo player, who teamed for 20 years with guitarist Lester Flatt, died Wednesday at age 88.

The Academy of Country Music planned a tribute Sunday night at its annual awards show in Las Vegas.

Pictures: Earl Scruggs
Pictures: Earl Scruggs Funeral

At the Ryman Auditorium funeral, the four-time, Grammy-winning Scruggs was remembered as an influential, helpful and humble banjo player who put his own trademark on bluegrass music.

Flatt and Scruggs were best known for their song "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" from "The Beverly Hillbillies" TV series. For many viewers, the hummable theme song was their first introduction to country music. Flatt died in 1979.

Charlie Daniels, better known for his fiddle and guitar playing, told the mourners that when he was a young studio musician, Scruggs invited him to join the Earl Scruggs Revue.

"No one will ever play the banjo like Earl," Daniels said.

Country star Ricky Skaggs said Scruggs "was the most humble musician I ever met. He was always listening not at himself but at the next generation."

Bluegrass great Del McCoury told the gathering that he was enthralled as a youngster by the Scruggs' sound.

"If not for Earl Scruggs, I might not have played music at all," said McCoury, a guitarist.

Among the mourners was Von Moye, who drove from Flat Top, W.Va., for the funeral.

"He had a gift," Moye, a banjo player himself, said before the service. "He took three fingers and gave it a whole new style."

Scruggs' closed casket sat just below the famous stage, with a banjo just behind it. A dozen floral arrangements decorated the stage.

Performers during the service included McCoury, Skaggs, Bela Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Jon Randall Stewart, John McEuen, Jim Mills, Marty Stuart and Patty Loveless.

The funeral was near a cluster of downtown honky-tonks where Scruggs' music is still played. His plaque in the Country Music Hall of Fame is three blocks away.

As rock 'n' roll threatened country music's popularity 50 years ago, Flatt and Scruggs became symbols of traditional country music before going their separate ways in 1969.

Before that, their song "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" was played in the 1967 movie "Bonnie and Clyde" and enhanced its status as a bluegrass standard. It had been recorded in 1949.

The North Carolina native's use of three fingers instead of the limited clawhammer style that was once prevalent elevated the banjo from a part of the rhythm section to a lead instrument that was as versatile as the guitar and far more flashy. He is credited with helping create modern country music with a string-bending style of playing.