NASHVILLE -- His fame is such that he's referred to simply as Earl, and his fiery, rolling, three-finger attack as "Scruggs style." As the man who single-handedly transformed the banjo from a modest ...

Clear your thoughts of banjo-picking as happy music. Stop those toes from tapping. If you start humming the cheerful ripple of “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” quit it. We’re at the Corcoran Gallery of ...

Classic Banjo, out August 6, features tracks by the best American banjo players over the past 60 years. Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings The banjo conjures American musical icons: the ...

There might be no bluegrass music as we know it without Wade Mainer, who died Monday at his home in Flint, Mich., Sept. 12 at age 104. Here's what this amiable North Carolina native did in the 1930s ...