bluegrass · progressive bluegrass

Tony Trischka's EarlJam: A Tribute to Earl Scruggs

1 upcoming festival

Banjo pioneer Tony Trischka built this tribute from tapes of Earl Scruggs and John Hartford jamming at Scruggs's house, transcribing the solos note for note so others could play them.

Tony Trischka is an American banjo player and teacher who has been a central figure in progressive bluegrass since the 1970s, both as a bandleader and as an instructor whose students include Béla Fleck. His playing extends the three-finger style associated with Earl Scruggs into jazz, old-time and composed material.

EarlJam is his project drawn from private recordings of Scruggs, in which Trischka worked out and adapted Scruggs's improvised playing for performance with a full band. The music stays close to the bluegrass repertoire Scruggs helped define, with banjo at the centre and an emphasis on how his lines actually sounded away from the studio.

bluegrassprogressive bluegrass