Grandson of banjo legend Earl Scruggs, Chris Scruggs has taken a different musical path. He performs rock, and sometimes country, music as a singer, songwriter, musician and producer.
He’s been largely disconnected with the bluegrass roots in his family. In fact, he only just met his famed grandfather in January of this year. In a recent article in the Nashville Scene, Chris tells of the meeting.
“We had a really nice, hour-long conversation about music and traveling, and then the thing turned into a big pickin’ party and we played music together for about an hour,” Scruggs says. “That was really something big for me, because people will — on a daily basis — say, ‘How’s Earl?’ and I’ve just always said ‘Well, he’s still playin’.’ It always did put me a little bit on edge [to be asked about it], but now that I’ve met him, and we had this really wonderful evening, it’s kind of made peace with a lot of things for me.”
The younger Scruggs is now taking a turn in the movies. He will be appearing in a movie to be released later in 2010, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Garrett Hedlund, Leighton Meester, and Tim McGraw. The film is titled Love Don’t Let Me Down, and will feature two of Chris’s songs in the film and on the soundtrack. Here’s the description of the movie.
A drama centered on a rising country-music songwriter (Hedlund) who sparks with a fallen star (Paltrow). Together, they mount his ascent and her comeback, which leads to romantic complications involving her husband/manager (McGraw) and a beauty queen-turned-singer (Meester).
No mention anywhere of Scruggs’ role, one suspects it will be a musical appearance as the film is set in the music world.
While it’s not bluegrass, we thought it possible that fans of the senior Scruggs might take an interest in it.
