Birth of Bluegrass

Earl Scruggs was born in 1924 in the Flint Hill community of Cleveland County, North Carolina, and popularized the three-finger banjo style that became a defining feature of bluegrass. He did not invent it, since local players such as Snuffy Jenkins used similar techniques, and its origin is disputed. He joined Bill Monroe's band in late 1945 and left in 1948 largely because of the exhausting touring schedule. He and Lester Flatt then formed a duo and named their band the Foggy Mountain Boys. Their recording of The Ballad of Jed Clampett reached number one on the country chart.

What the plaque says

Birth of Bluegrass In December 1945, Grand Ole Opry star Bill Monroe and his mandolin brought to the Ryman Auditorium stage a band that created a new American musical form. With the banjo style of Earl Scruggs and the guitar of Lester Flatt, the new musical genre became known at "Bluegrass." Augmented by the fiddle of Chubby Wise and the bass of Howard Watts (also known as Cedric Rainwater), this ensemble became known as "The Original Bluegrass Band," which became the prototype for groups that followed.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ryman Auditorium — steps away
  The 1892 brick tabernacle in downtown Nashville that was the Grand Ole Opry's home from 1943 to 1974, now a National Historic Landmark and working concert hall.
• National Museum of African American Music — steps away
  A downtown Nashville museum, opened in 2021, tracing gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and hip-hop through Black history from 1619 to 2016.
• Civil Rights Room at the Nashville Public Library — steps away
  A room in the downtown library with a circular lunch counter, a timeline and oral histories of the 1960 Nashville sit-ins, a few blocks from the stores where they began.
• Tennessee State Capitol — 0.4 mi
  William Strickland's Greek Revival capitol on Nashville's Capitol Hill, finished in 1859 and built from the bottom up with the labor of enslaved men.

More markers nearby

• Downtown Presbyterian Church — steps away
• Maxwell House Hotel — steps away
• First Masonic Hall — steps away
• Sampson W. Keeble — 0.2 mi