Earl Scruggs, with family and friends, played at the Ryman last week to kick off the Springer Mountain Farms Bluegrass at the Ryman concert series. He has played this series several times before, but this is the first time I’ve ever been free to go see him at the venue where he made bluegrass history when he stepped on the Grand Ole Opry stage with Bill Monroe. I hadn’t planned on going, but in the middle of teaching a lesson that afternoon it struck me—how the heck can I call myself a banjo player if I’m in town and Earl is playing and I don’t go see him? So I bought my ticket— at 5:00 that afternoon—and got a great seat in the tenth row (there are some advantages to attending concerts by oneself).
The Infamous Stringdusters opened the show, and Earl took the stage after intermission. I only had eyes for Earl, but for the sake of completeness I’ll tell you who else he had playing with him: Bryan Sutton (guitar), Jon Randall (guitar, mando), Randy Scruggs (elec. guitar), Gary Scruggs (bass), John Gardner (percussion), Hoot Hester (fiddle), and Rob Ickes (Dobro).
They kicked off the show with “Salty Dog” and it is hard not to get goose bumps of joy to think that you are sitting there listening to Earl play IN PERSON! (I’ve included a complete set list below.) Alas Earl seemed to have a bit of a cold and kept wiping his nose, and he was playing quite far back from his microphone, requiring the sound folks to really run it hot. But those are trivial details compared to the excitement of seeing the man in person. (more…)
