Bluegrass virtuoso Earl Scruggs, whose effortless five-string banjo style changed the sound of country music forever, died Wednesday in Nashville. He was 88. Along with picking partner Lester Flatt, Scruggs achieved a measure of mainstream recognition with songs like “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” which was used as the theme of the film Bonnie and Clyde. He'll also be remembered for his work with musicians like Bill Monroe, the inventor of modern bluegrass. Scruggs started playing banjo at the age of 4, and continued releasing albums into the last years of his life.
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