Lester Flatt

American country singer, songwriter, and guitarist

• Born: June 19, 1914
• Birthplace: Overton County, Tennessee
• Died: May 11, 1979
• Place of death: Nashville, Tennessee

In partnership with Earl Scruggs and other popular musicians, Flatt defined the American bluegrass style of music. A regular performer at the Grand Ole Opry, he was one of the first bluegrass musicians to perform in Carnegie Hall.

Member of Flatt and Scruggs; Foggy Mountain Boys

The Life

Lester Raymond Flatt was one of nine children, and he grew up near Sparta, Tennesse. His father taught him to play musical instruments, and, by age seven, Flatt could play the guitar. By age ten, he was singing at school and in church.

While still a teen, he began working at a silk mill in North Carolina. When it shut down, he and his wife Gladys found work at another one, in Johnson City, Tennessee. Later, they moved to Roanoke, Virginia, where Flatt began performing on radio with Charlie Scott’s Harmonizers.

Problems with rheumatoid arthritis led Flatt to give up mill work and pursue music. In 1940 he and his wife moved to Burlington, North Carolina, where Flatt worked with a variety of musical groups. He cut his first record with Charlie Monroe’s Kentucky Partners at a radio station in Winston-Salem, and the copies sent to other radio stations gave them wider exposure. The increased popularity led to nightly tent performances before audiences of up to two thousand.

Flatt first played at the Grand Ole Opry with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys sometime in 1945, and he became a lead singer and rhythm guitarist. Earl Scruggs joined the group near the end of 1945. Unhappy with long periods on the road, Flatt and Scruggs quit the band early in 1948, and they formed a new band, the Foggy Mountain Boys. They performed together for the next twenty-one years, until they split in 1969. Scruggs had been pushing for a more contemporary sound, and Flatt wanted to stay with the traditional bluegrass they had helped create.

The Music

Flatt was not only a vocalist and instrumentalist but also a composer of dozens of popular bluegrass songs, such as “Cabin on the Hill,” “Bouquet in Heaven,” “I’ll Never Shed Another Tear,” “Come Back, Darling,” and “We’ll Meet Again, Sweetheart.” It is his performances of pieces written by others that are remembered, both by bluegrass enthusiasts and by the general public.

Martha White. Martha White, a company that made flour, cornmeal, and mixes for cornbread, cakes, and muffins, was a longtime sponsor of the radio program and live show Grand Ole Opry. The company’s advertising jingle, written by Pat Twitty in 1953, was introduced by Flatt and Scruggs on the Grand Ole Opry stage. It became a bluegrass standard, and much later it became a signature piece for Rhonda Vincent and the Rage.

“The Ballad of Jed Clampett.” Flatt and Scruggs performed this theme song for the comedy television series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971), which ran for 274 episodes. The story of a naive backwoods family striking oil and moving to California was reprised as a television movie in 1981 and a theatrical film in 1993, always with the theme made popular by Flatt and Scruggs. The song, written by Paul Henning, reached number forty-four on the music charts in 1962. The two musicians appeared periodically on the television show. They had another Billboard country Top 10 hit with “Pearl, Pearl, Pearl,” which referred to a character featured in an episode of the series.

The theme song was adapted by “Weird Al” Yankovic for his 1989 record of “Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies,” which appeared in his film UHF. It was performed in a different arrangement by banjo artist Béla Fleck in concerts, and it was parodied on television’s Saturday Night Live. It is likely the best-known vocal by Flatt and Scruggs outside of bluegrass circles.

“Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” First recorded in 1949, this instrumental was written by Scruggs, and it is probably the most popular instrumental composition performed by Flatt and Scruggs. Many five-string banjo players consider it the fastest and most challenging piece they can perform. In 2004 it was among fifty recordings added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. It was used to dramatize car chases and other highlights in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. Other motion pictures and television shows have used it in a similar manner.

Musical Legacy

Flatt is one of the reasons that bluegrass music remains popular. In conjunction with other artists, such as Scruggs and Monroe, he helped define the sound of bluegrass. Flatt brought his style of bluegrass to the Grand Ole Opry, with its national following, and, with Scruggs, he took it to such performance centers as Carnegie Hall. Bluegrass artists try to emulate his signature sound. In 2003 Country Music Television (CMT) ranked Flatt and Scruggs at number twenty-four among CMT’s Forty Greatest Men of Country Music.

Principal Recordings

albums (solo): Flatt on Victor, 1970; Flatt Out, 1970; Nashville Airplane, 1970; The One and Only Lester Flatt, 1970; Kentucky Ridge Runner, 1972; Foggy Mountain Breakdown, 1973; On the South Bound, 1973; Before You Go, 1974; Over the Hills to the Poorhouse, 1974; Flatt Gospel, 1975; Lester Raymond Flatt, 1975; Tennessee Jubilee, 1975; Heaven’s Bluegrass Band, 1977; Lester Flatt, 1977; Foggy Mountain Banjo, 1978; Nashville Grass: Fantastic Pickin’, 1978.

albums (with Scruggs): Foggy Mountain Jamboree, 1957; Country Music, 1958; Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, 1959; Flatt and Scruggs with the Foggy Mountain Boys, 1960; Songs of Glory, 1960; Foggy Mountain Banjo, 1961; Songs of the Famous Carter Family, 1961; Folk Songs of Our Land, 1962; The Ballad of Jed Clampett, 1963; The Original Sound of Flatt and Scruggs, 1963; The Fabulous Sound of Flatt and Scruggs, 1964; Beverly Hillbillies, 1965; Town and Country, 1965; The Versatile Flatt and Scruggs, 1965; Stars of the Grand Ole Opry, 1966; When the Saints Go Marching In, 1966; Changin’ Times, 1967; Hear the Whistles Blow, 1967; Sacred Songs, 1967; Strictly Instrumental, 1967; Nashville Airplane, 1968; The Original Foggy Mountain Breakdown, 1968; Original Theme from Bonnie and Clyde, 1968; Songs to Cherish, 1968; The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, 1968; Detroit City, 1969; Breaking Out, 1970; Final Fling, 1970; Flatt and Scruggs, 1970; Foggy Mountain Chimes, 1970; Country Boy, 1972; A Boy Named Sue, 1973; Blue Ridge Cabin Home, 1979; You Can Feel It in Your Soul, 1988; Father’s Table Grace, 2002; Foggy Mountain Special, 2003.

Bibliography

Lambert, Jake. A Biography of Lester Flatt: The Good Things Outweigh the Bad. Hendersonville, Tenn.: Jay-Lyn, 1982. The book recounts Flatt’s life, from his boyhood through the various bands and musicians with whom he worked, and describes his influence on the evolution of country music.

Smith, Richard D. Bluegrass: An Informal Guide. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1995. Focuses on many aspects of bluegrass in a comprehensible manner, with separate chapters on various musicians and bands, including one on Flatt and Scruggs.

Whitburn, Joel, ed. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. North Hollywood, Calif.: Billboard Books, 2006. A complete guide to the Billboard Top Country Singles, with a history of all the Top 40 hits since 1942 and photographs of the recording artists.

Willis, Barry R., Dick Weissman, Art Menius, and Bob Cherry, eds. America’s Music: Bluegrass—A History of Bluegrass Music in the Words of Its Pioneers. Franktown, Colo.: Pine Valley Music, 1997. More than six hundred pages of interviews with people in bluegrass music, including biographies, festivals, instruments, record companies, and speculation on the future of bluegrass.