Plain Folk

by Les Pearson
Earl Scruggs Trivia from Bassist Burgess and Banjo King, Korth

Bluegrass is blooming in Canada. Proof that it is thriving north of Kentucky can be seen in the number of summer festivals across the nation. Jerusalem Ridgehas played at the Stony Plain Blueberry Festival for thirteen consecutive years. Like all JR fans, I enjoy their tight vocal harmonies and fine instrumental musicianship. My additional pleasure came from sopping up the band's extensive bluegrass musicology before their concert last week.

Keith Burgess threw the first seed on bare patches in my bluegrass background. He took a swift kick at last week's "grass" article to correct one weedy note. Earl Scruggs was a genuine original and no student of Snuffy Jenkins. Jenkins was a two-finger banjo picker. Scruggs, on his own, developed the three-finger picking style. It was this style, and a fortunate encounter with Bill Munroe, that makes Scruggs a legitimate forefather of bluegrass.

In 1946 Munroe had just replaced Jimmy Martin with a new guitar picker, Lester Flatt. Munroe's "Bluegrass Boys" were a regular feature on The Grand Ole Opry Show when Earl Scruggs showed up. Scruggs' three-finger picking received the first Opry standing ovation for an instrumental act. When Munroe asked Flatt about Scruggs and his potential membership in their band, Flatt's response was clear: "Get him at any cost." Munroe took the advice and bluegrass, as we currently know it, bloomed.

Craig Korth was my second mentor. He half-jokingly boasts that his banjo, the centerpiece of most bluegrass bands, is "a party in a case." Craig has actually talked to Earl Scruggs. He believes that Flatt, Scruggs and Munroe all share paternity for bluegrass.

In conversation Scruggs had philosophized that bluegrass is much like jazz. Both are improvisational. Then Scruggs made this interesting assertion. Jazz is music that is hard to play and hard to understand. Bluegrass, on the other hand, is hard to play but easy to understand.

Korth's agreement is as strong as a March mountain breeze. He says that bluegrass simplicity comes from its stories. They are about going to work, missing a loved one, family, God, the land, and day-to-day existence. Yes, there are even songs about murder and other real-life events. But all are pure and uncluttered.

To prove his case Craig cited one of Bill Munroe's hit tunes, "Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake." Munroe's ballad simply tells how a lass was killed by a rattlesnake. The song was inspired by an actual event.

Both Burgess and Korth agree that many popular music stars toothed their skills on basic bluegrass soothers. But Korth is even more insightful. When radio stations stopped playing Garth Brooks' tunes several years ago, he turned to basic bluegrass roots. Garth rounded up the original New Grass Revival band that had recorded a minor hit song, "Callin' Baton Rouge." Brooks re-recorded the song, note-for-note, only with his own lead voice. The old hit was revived and Garth's music appreciation was rewarded.

Inside trivia stories are the fertilizer that fosters my interest in this music. But the real attraction is still the music itself. I know that Jerusalem Ridge and Earl Scruggs would agree.