Editing Earl Scruggs (section)

==Early life==
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | audio1 = [https://freshairarchive.org/segments/bluegrass-musician-earl-scruggs-1 Bluegrass Musician Earl Scruggs], interviewed by [[Terry Gross]] on ''[[Fresh Air]]'', 34:58, January 9, 2004.<ref name="Fresh Air">{{cite web |title=Bluegrass Musician Earl Scruggs |work=[[Fresh Air]] |publisher=[[WHYY-FM|WHYY]] ([[NPR]]) |date=January 9, 2004 |url=https://freshairarchive.org/segments/bluegrass-musician-earl-scruggs-1 |access-date=September 15, 2019}}</ref> }}

Earl Scruggs was born January 6, 1924, in the Flint Hill community of [[Cleveland County, North Carolina|Cleveland County]], North Carolina, a small community just outside of [[Boiling Springs, North Carolina|Boiling Springs]], about 10 miles west of [[Shelby, North Carolina|Shelby]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Reitwiesner |first=William Addams |title=Ancestry of Earl Scruggs |publisher=William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services |url=http://www.wargs.com/other/scruggs.html |access-date=July 14, 2009 |author-link=William Addams Reitwiesner |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109065732/http://www.wargs.com/other/scruggs.html |archive-date=January 9, 2009}}</ref> His father, George Elam Scruggs, was a farmer and a bookkeeper who died of a protracted illness when Earl was four years old.<ref name="scruggsbio">{{cite web |url=http://earlscruggs.com/biography.html |title=Earl Scruggs Biography |publisher=Earlscruggs.com |access-date=March 28, 2012}}</ref> Upon his father's death, Scruggs's mother, Georgia Lula Ruppe (called Lula), was left to take care of the farm and five children, of which Earl was the youngest.<ref name="biography-dot-com">{{cite web |title=Earl Scruggs Biography |url=http://www.biography.com/people/earl-scruggs-20638979#synopsis |website=biography.com |publisher=A&E Television Networks |access-date=February 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222052637/http://www.biography.com/people/earl-scruggs-20638979#synopsis |archive-date=February 22, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The family members all played music. The father played an [[Banjo#Five-string banjo|open back banjo]] using the [[Clawhammer|frailing]] technique, though as an adult Earl had no recollection of his father's playing.<ref name="willis">{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=Barry R. |editor-last=Weissman |editor-first=Dick |title=America's music, Bluegrass |date=1998 |publisher=Pine Valley Music |location=Franktown, Colorado |isbn=0-9652407-1-1 |url=http://www.flatt-and-scruggs.com/earlbio.html |access-date=February 18, 2017 |archive-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427185254/http://www.flatt-and-scruggs.com/earlbio.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="scruggsbio" /> Mrs. Scruggs played the [[pump organ]].<ref name="scruggsbio" /> Earl's siblings, older brothers Junie and Horace and older sisters Eula Mae and Ruby, all played banjo and guitar. Scruggs recalled a visit to his uncle's home at age six to hear a blind banjo player named Mack Woolbright, who played a finger-picking style and had recorded for Columbia Records.<ref name="Lofgren">{{cite journal |last1=Lofgren |first1=Lyle |journal=Inside Bluegrass |title=Remembering the Old Songs: The Man Who Wrote the Home Sweet Home |url=http://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/RTOS-ManHomeSweet.html |publisher=Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Association |oclc=14507837 |date=November 2009}}</ref><ref name="brown-paul">{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Paul |title=The Story Of 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' |url=https://www.npr.org/2000/04/01/1072355/npr-100-earl-scruggs |website=npr.org |publisher=NPR |access-date=February 21, 2017 |date=April 1, 2000}}</ref> It made an impression on Scruggs, who said, "He'd sit in the rocking chair, and he'd pick some and it was just amazing. I couldn't imagine—he was the first, what I call a good banjo player."<ref name="brown-paul" /> Scruggs then took up the instrument—he was too small to hold it at first and improvised by setting his brother Junie's banjo beside him on the floor. He moved it around depending on what part of the neck he was playing.<ref name="websitebio">{{cite web |title=Earl Scruggs Biography/Chapter 1/The Early Years |url=http://earlscruggs.com/biography.html |website=earlscruggs.com |publisher=Earl Scruggs |access-date=February 9, 2017}}</ref> After his father's death, Scruggs seemed to take solace in playing music, and when not in school or doing farm chores, spent nearly every spare moment he had practicing.<ref name="glaser">{{cite web |last1=Glaser |first1=Emily |title=Scruggs Style: The Life and Times of Earl Scruggs |url=http://porterbriggs.com/scruggs-style-the-life-and-times-of-earl-scruggs/ |website=PorterBriggs.com |access-date=June 2, 2018 |archive-date=June 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180601171841/http://porterbriggs.com/scruggs-style-the-life-and-times-of-earl-scruggs/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> His first radio performance was at age 11 on a talent scout show.<ref name="associated" /> Because his father had died, Scruggs was deferred from military service in World War II so he could support his mother.<ref>{{cite web |title=How Earl Scruggs learned that he could make a career out of making music|last=Goldsmith|first=Thomas|url=https://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/article235197007.html|publisher=Raleigh News and Observer|date=September 19, 2019|access-date=July 18, 2024}}</ref>