Meet Flatt and Scruggs ･ﾟ✧

One of the reasons I love watching Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys perform (instead of just listening) is because you see how much they enjoy the music and the company they’re in.

This group of musicians (Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Jake Tullock, Josh Graves, Curly Seckler, and Paul Warren) played with one another for double-digit numbers of years. Even though there was some turnover and coming in-and-out, these guys played with one another tons.


Lester Flatt | guitar and lead vocals

Played in this band 1948-1969 (21 years*☆)


Lester was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and emcee for the group. As his name indicates, he’s one half of the Flatt & Scruggs duo. He was always welcoming and homely when he talked to audiences. It’s hard to get some of the humor from him in gifs because lots of his jokes were verbal.

Some reasons I love watching Lester are:

  • He usually looks so relaxed and makes me feel relaxed.
  • When he gives introductions for the other bandmates, it’s usually a bunch of clever insults. For instance, “He represents Knoxville, Tennessee. If you’re not acquainted with the area, he goes to show that you can raise just about whatever they want to down there.”
  • When the announcer of the show, T. Tommy, introduces Lester, it’s a joke or insult, too. The pure delight that pops on Lester’s face at a good joke is beautiful.
  • He straight out says into the microphone when someone makes a mistake. So much for “musical performance professionalism means pretending you did it right.” XD

Earl Scruggs | banjo (default), lead guitar (often enough), and baritone vocals

Played in this band 1948-1969 (21 years☆)


Earl tends to keep a solemn poker face when performing. Hilariously, while he was known for being a very shy man of few words, and while Earl let Lester do ALL the talking in their performances… in these TV Shows, Earl is the number one most likely person to toss comments at bandmates in the middle of a performance.

Some reasons I love watching Earl are:

  • His comments mid-song are genuinely hilarious. I swear he’s sometimes trying to troll his bandmates to lose their composure in the middle of the song. For instance, a bandmate might be singing a line complaining about their romantic interest, and Earl piping up, “Who? Me?” Simple as the words are, the bandmate's facial reactions are priceless.
  • There’s a quiet charisma in how he plays, straitlaced, staring straight at the camera. It sounds like he was a very humble guy, but you can feel the indisputable authority of his banjo mastery in his posture and notes.
  • Every time they switch up the show (musicians playing alternate instruments, guests coming in), you can tell Earl loves it.
  • He's my boy!!!!

Burkett “Josh” Graves | dobro (usually), bass, rarely guitar, lead vocals (on duets with Jake)

Played in this band 1955-1969 (14 years*)


Josh is one of the comedians for the band. When Jake was in the band, the two of them would work together as a duo, both to sing fun novelty songs together, and as a comedian act. Josh would play the straight man to Jake.

Some reasons I love watching Josh are:

  • He is an open book of emotions. I’d say he’s the easiest to smile and laugh of the group. I saw one song where, the entire performance, he was on the verge of breaking down laughing. Earl was off-screen making stupid jokes after every line Josh sung. Every time Josh started to regain composure, Earl said something new and broke the guy down again.
  • He is an extremely, extremely talented dobro player with great technical skill. Josh pioneered a new style of playing the instrument that hadn’t been done before. He combined multiple different ideas of musicianship together, including a lot of three-fingered banjo technique.
  • He’s very handsome, especially when he sings.


English “Jake” Pierce Tullock, Jr. | bass and high baritone vocals

Played in this band 1954-1955, 1958-1969 (12 years*)


For those of you who are like, “What the flip are high baritone vocals?” this means that Jake is singing the baritone part... but up an octave. So, Jake is singing the highest part, higher even than the tenor. Jake’s voice is a distinct, shrill, piercing sound and I love it. Jake is one half of the comedy duo and always plays the rascal. From the stories I’ve heard, Jake and Josh and their shenanigans were not that different offstage.

Some reasons I love watching Jake are:

  • Usually when he’s not doing a comedy routine or a novelty song, Jake has a serious expression on his face. However, he’s got a specific invested drive to him when he plays the music. And then other times, he’ll decide to be silly, and there's no stupidity too low for him.
  • Jake and Josh have this perfect chemistry to them. They know one another so well and you can feel it in their body language.
  • Jake has a really good cadence and sense of timing when it comes to his comedy delivery.
  • It’s always exciting when a bass player gets a solo. That’s just a rule of bluegrass. And Jake has an aggressive sound I find unique.

John “Curly” Seckler | mandolin (usually), guitar, tenor vocals

Played in this band 1949-1951, 1952-1958, 1958-1962 (12 years*)


Curly's one of the most iconic tenor voices in bluegrass, period. On their shows, Curly may chill in the background, playing rhythm mandolin and singing harmony. He’s one of the main vocalists for the group, doing duos, trios, and quartets. He’ll also pop in as a featured soloist, which is always a treat.

Some reasons I love watching Curly are:

  • I already mentioned the featured soloist, but I mean… those are a treat. He has a unique, simultaneously soft and piercing voice. Whether he’s singing harmony or a solo, his voice is something I pay attention to a lot. I remember reading in his biography that at one early point in his career, he was called “Radio’s Gift to Women.” AMAZING.
  • His mandolin solos are rare, and the group tended to tease Curly off-screen about his mandolin playing. But it’s legitimately fun when the mandolin FINALLYYYYYY gets featured in this band.

Paul Warren | fiddle, guitar (almost never), and bass vocals

Played in this band 1954-1969 (15 years*)


Paul is the fiddler that made me want to fiddle. His style of playing is the old-time hoedown style, filled with double-stops and finger flurries.

Some reasons I love watching Paul are:

  • HE IS SO FREAKING BOINGY!!!! BOINGY BOI!!!! Paul’s a chronic foot tapper. In live performance recordings, you can sometimes hear him thumping away. I heard that during rehearsals, Earl tried to get Paul to stop by standing on Paul’s foot… but that would only result in Paul’s other foot tapping. Eventually Earl had to give up. Paul also throws himself up and down, bouncing energetically in the direction his bow is going.
  • You can tell how much he likes going fast.
  • He's so serious and focused. But I think Paul is one of the first people to laugh and gawk when another bandmate makes a mistake. Maybe I have selective memory on this, though.

* Anyone with an asterisk (aka everyone except Earl) also played in Lester Flatt’s follow-up band, Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass.

☆ Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs played with one another in the band the Blue Grass Boys before they started the Foggy Mountain Boys. This is how they met. They were in that band together for over two years.