Legendary Rutherford County musicians with ties to Earl Scruggs. Much of the following information is credited to Bob Carlin on the Remember Cliffside website: Local legend has the young Earl Scruggs making his first public appearance at the fiddlers convention held yearly by the Withrow family in the tiny town of Hollis in Rutherford County. Newspaper articles report that this prominent contest with a reputation for lucrative prizes was held from 1925 into the 1960s in the foothills of Rutherford County at the Hollis School. Founded by Julius Plato Durham Withrow (known by his initials JPD), the Hollis convention on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was begun as a memorial to Withrows late spouse Laura Hamrick. When JPD died following the first gathering, his son Grady took up the reins. Probably the best banjoist to appear during the 1920s at Hollis was Smith Hammett. It was during this period that Harmmett was to become the most important musical influence on the young Earl Scruggs: As far as Im concerned, Smith Hammett was the first man to come out with the three-finger style playing. I dont say he was the first, but I do say he was the first one that I heard do it. Theres a lot of people give me credit, but that is not true. Smith Hammett and Rex Brooks were the first to my knowledge to play like that.--Letter, Dewitt Snuffy Jenkins to Paul Carpenter (courtesy Larry Hammett). Snuffy Jenkins and Earl Scruggs both credit Smith Hammett and Rex Brooks as playing three-finger banjo rolls before Jenkins or Scruggs ever picked up the instrument. Earls oldest brother, Junius Emmett Junie Scruggs, inspired by their relative Smith (Hammetts wife and Earls mother were cousins), had already owned a banjo for several years and Earl attempted to play on both his fathers mail-order open-back and the instrument owned by Junie. Earl Scruggs writes: When I was a little boy, the only way I could pick Junies banjo or the old banjo my father had played was to sit down with the body of the banjo resting to my right. I would slide it around quite a bit depending on which position on the neck I was trying to reach. That was pretty rough on a banjo if I happened to be sitting on the hardwood floor or outside on the porch or in the yard. Needless to say, Junie wasnt too pleased with me whenever he caught me playing his banjo. The alternative for Earl was an instrument of reduced size owned by Smith Hammett. Earl recollects: Our families visited each other fairly often, and we always ended up playing some music before the visits were over. Smiths banjo picking inspired me, too, but what 1 remember most about him was a little banjo that he owned. The banjo head on Smiths little banjo was about nine inches in diameter, and the neck was quite a bit shorter than the length of a standard banjo neck. It always thrilled me to pick that little banjo, because I could hold it in my lap and pick just like the grownups did with their regular-sized banjos. [Earl Scruggs, Earl Scruggs And The 5-String Banjo, Hal Leonard, 2005; Earl Scruggs, Banjo Newsletter, Nov. 06.] That the banjo still exists (as does Earls fathers instrument, exhibited in the Country Music Hall Of Fame in Nashville) is a small miracle. At one time, the banjo belonged to Rex Brooks, who ordered it through a store in Sunshine, N.C., just north of Bostic. Made by the Henry C. Dobson Company of New York City, it is stamped with the patent date: 11/08/1881. It has a later addition of a metal pie plate resonator labeled Bestone. Banjo collector James Bollman dates the instrument to the late 1880s into early 1890s.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 12:33:59 +0000
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