Lester Flatt (1914 to 1979) was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in the first bluegrass band. He sang and played guitar for Bill Monroe from 1945 to 1948. He then co-led Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys with Earl Scruggs from 1948 to 1969. The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted the pair in 1985, and the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inducted him in 1991.
Why Flatt matters
Flatt gave bluegrass its rhythm guitar. Before him, the guitar in a string band kept time and stayed out of the way. Flatt kept time too, but he added a two-note run at the end of phrases that told the band and the crowd where the beat was. Pickers now call it the Lester Flatt G run, and it turns up in every bluegrass jam. He also wrote or co-wrote more than 150 songs, and many of them are jam standards.
Life and career
Flatt was born on June 19, 1914, at Duncan’s Chapel in Overton County, Tennessee. His father played fiddle. The family later lived near Sparta, Tennessee. In the 1930s Flatt and his wife, Gladys Stacey, sang as a duo on radio stations. In 1943 he played mandolin and sang tenor in the Kentucky Pardners, the band of Bill Monroe’s older brother Charlie.
In 1945 Flatt joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys as guitarist and lead singer. That job brought him to the Grand Ole Opry. Earl Scruggs joined the band later that year, and that lineup became the model for every bluegrass band since. Flatt co-wrote several songs with Monroe, including Little Cabin Home on the Hill and Sweetheart, You Done Me Wrong.
Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe and formed the Foggy Mountain Boys in the spring of 1948. Early members included Mac Wiseman, Jim Shumate, and Cedric Rainwater. Curly Seckler joined on mandolin and tenor in 1949. On December 11, 1949, the band recorded Foggy Mountain Breakdown in Cincinnati for Mercury. Martha White Flour began sponsoring their radio shows in 1953. Paul Warren joined on fiddle in 1954, Josh Graves joined on Dobro in 1955, and the band joined the Grand Ole Opry that same year. Their syndicated television show was the first bluegrass TV show to reach a wide audience.
The 1960s made the band famous outside country music. The Ballad of Jed Clampett, the theme for The Beverly Hillbillies, reached number one on the country chart. The band released a live album from Carnegie Hall in 1963. Foggy Mountain Breakdown ran through the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, and the tune won a Grammy in 1969. Flatt had a heart attack in 1967. He and Scruggs split in early 1969.
Flatt formed the Nashville Grass in 1969 and kept the traditional sound. Curly Seckler, Paul Warren, and Josh Graves played in the band. Marty Stuart joined at age 13 and played mandolin, guitar, and fiddle in the band. Flatt had open-heart surgery in 1975 and kept touring. He died of heart failure in Nashville on May 11, 1979, at age 64. Curly Seckler took over the band.
Playing style
Flatt played rhythm guitar with a thumbpick. His job was to hold the band together while the banjo, fiddle, and mandolin took the breaks. He hit a strong bass note on the downbeat, brushed the treble strings on the offbeat, and kept the tempo steady no matter how fast Scruggs played.
The G run is the thing you hear in three seconds. Older players such as Riley Puckett, Zeke Morris, and Charlie Monroe had played longer runs like it in the 1930s. Flatt cut the run down to two notes, an E on the fourth string at the second fret and an open G string, so he could land it at any tempo. He used it to mark the end of a vocal line and, as Jim Shumate said, to let people know he was still there. The Library of Congress notes that Flatt played an E major chord at times under the band’s E minor, which gave Foggy Mountain Breakdown an odd clash that became part of the sound.
His main guitar on the 1950s records was a 1942 Martin D-18 he bought secondhand after Monroe told him to buy his own Martin. He also played a 1950 Martin D-28, now in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Tut Taylor said Flatt preferred the D-18 in the studio.
Influences and legacy
Flatt learned his trade in the Monroe brothers’ bands. Charlie Monroe hired him first, and Bill Monroe taught him how a bluegrass band works. His guitar run drew on Puckett, Morris, and Charlie Monroe. In turn, every bluegrass rhythm guitarist copies him. Jimmy Martin, Carter Stanley, and Del McCoury all filled the same lead singer and rhythm guitar role in their own bands. Marty Stuart started in Flatt’s band as a boy and went on to a country career. Flatt’s songwriting partners included Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted him in 2007.
Signature tunes and songs
Foggy Mountain Breakdown Salty Dog Blues Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms Blue Ridge Cabin Home Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’ Cabin on the Hill Down the Road Little Cabin Home on the Hill The Ballad of Jed Clampett.
Essential recordings
Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Mercury, 1950) Foggy Mountain Jamboree (Columbia, 1957) Foggy Mountain Banjo (Columbia, 1961) Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall! (Columbia, 1963)
Awards and honors
Grand Ole Opry member (1955 to 1979) Grammy Award, Best Country Performance, with Earl Scruggs for Foggy Mountain Breakdown (1969) Country Music Hall of Fame, with Earl Scruggs (1985) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (1991) Foggy Mountain Breakdown added to the National Recording Registry (2004) Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (2007)
Watch and listen
Flatt and Scruggs play Salty Dog Blues. Watch Flatt’s right hand and listen for the G run at the end of each line.
Flatt leads the Nashville Grass with a young Marty Stuart on mandolin. This is the traditional sound he kept after the split with Scruggs.
What to learn from Flatt
Learn Salty Dog Blues. The chords move fast, and the G run lands at the end of every line, so you get to practice it dozens of times in one song. The technique to steal is the G run itself, played the way Flatt played it: two notes, on time, at the end of the phrase. Then learn when not to play it. Flatt used the run as a signal, not as a habit. Sit with a Foggy Mountain Boys record and count how often he plays it. It is fewer times than you think.
Sources
Lester Flatt, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Flatt and Scruggs, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Lester Flatt, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum oral history Lester Flatt, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Library of Congress National Recording Registry essay Lester Flatt, Britannica Lester Flatt’s 1942 Martin D-18, Bluegrass Today The truth about the Lester Flatt G run, Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association Lester Flatt, Wikipedia Flatt and Scruggs, Wikipedia Nashville Grass, Wikipedia
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more rhythm players. Riley Puckett played an early form of the G run. Carter Stanley, Jimmy Martin, and Del McCoury each sang lead and played rhythm guitar the way Flatt did.