"Earl Scruggs: His Family And Friends" screening June 18, 2009

Earl Scruggs is a banjo. Born under a foggy mountain top straight out of Cleveland County, North Carolina, no other name in the history of mountain music is more directly associated with three-finger pickin' ("Scruggs-Style") than Earl. Originally part of Bill Monroe's "Blue Grass Boys", Earl built on earlier musical traditions and formulated a singular style known for being smoother than glass and never wavering in syncopation or uninterrupted flow. Most know Earl as the picker behind the "Dueling Banjos" riff in Deliverance, but thankfully the 1972 PBS documentary Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends offers a more complex portrait of the man behind the hand. Featuring Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Byrds (Clarence White and Skip Battin!) and Charlie Daniels, Earl and his banjo embark on a personal renaissance, taking the instrument where it has never gone before. Unmissable highlights include Earl playing for anti-war protesters, battling a mini-Moog (which cannot keep up with his style!), and Earl visiting the Morris brothers' garage to hear them sing their hit song "Salty Dog" and pick a tune together.
Dir. David Hoffman, 1972, DigiBeta, 90 min.