Top Ten Instrumentals: Flint Hill Special (#3)

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Yes, we’ve all given thanks for what we have, and now’s the day to go out and beat people up over specials to get more or what we have. Black Friday is best left as a Steely Dan song. Hey, they didn’t make this list (they did record one instrumental, and it was the only cover they ever did), but these guys sure did. Couldn’t have a countdown without some bluegrass! Linda? NO!!!!!! #3: Flint Hill Special - Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs Oops. If I’d said “Flatt and Scruggs are going to be on the list,” you probably would have guessed “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” the song featured prominently in the movie Bonnie and Clyde. Oh, no, I can’t be that obvious (as you’ll see in a couple of days when I get to #1 ). John Hartford once said, so accurately, “Earl Scruggs didn’t invent the three-finger style of banjo playing; however, if it weren’t for him, nobody would care who DID.” Yep. Same thing with “Travis-style” thumb picking on guitar. Three-finger picking is called “Scruggs style,” and it shall ever be known as that. It was a rarity when Scruggs started (compare Bill Monroe’s banjo player before Scruggs — Stringbean — and his claw hammer style), but today it’s hard to find anyone who plays a banjo any other way than Scruggs style. Okay, that’s your banjo history lesson. Flint Hill, North Carolina is where Earl Eugene Scruggs was born, so naturally the town would show up in a song title. Here he showed off a little, using the tuning keys to change the notes. That’s a risky thing to do if you don’t get that string back in the proper tune after you’ve messed with it. This is a smoking bluegrass number for cutting a rug or rolling it up and square dancing. Instrumentals are a rich part of bluegrass music history, and this is one of the best. Flint Hill Special Written by Earl Scruggs Recorded by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs Released as a single, 1952 I could have put the recorded version here but it’s more fun to watch Earl play with the keys: