Tony Trischka Teams Up With Billy Strings & Béla Fleck To Record ‘Brown’s Ferry Blues’ For Earl Scruggs Tribute Album

Acclaimed banjoist Tony Trischka recruited celebrated guitarist/vocalist Billy Strings, fellow banjo wizard Béla Fleck and an all-star band to contribute to a new recording of “Brown’s Ferry Blues.” The collaboration is the opening track of Trischka’s upcoming album in celebration of late great banjo icon Earl Scruggs’ 100th birthday entitled Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs.

The genesis of Earl Jam dates back to the peak of the COVID lockdown, when Tony Trischka received a thumb drive in the mail featuring rare recordings of Scruggs jamming with John Hartford. Consisting of over 200 songs, the recordings were mostly captured during private sessions held at Earl’s house in the 80s and 90s. Trischka’s interest was piqued as he had devoted over half a century to learning about and from Earl Scruggs.

After Tony Trischka spent time transcribing what he heard from Scruggs on the recordings, he presented some of the songs during a concert held in tribute to Earl’s illustrious career at Joe’s Pub in New York City. Ken Irwin of newly formed record label Down The Road listened to a recording of Trischka’s show at Joe’s Pub and spoke with the banjoist. The pair decided an album based around the unique material was a must. Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs will be released via Down The Road in late spring.

Tony Trishcka enlisted a vast array of cross-generational bluegrass musicians to help create Earl Jam including Molly Tuttle, Stuart Duncan, Ronnie McCoury, Brittany Haas, Dominick Leslie, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and Darol Anger. “Whether or not you’re a banjo player, if you play bluegrass, you’re influenced by Earl. So it was easy to get world-class players on board,” Trischka stated in a press release.

The newly-released “Brown’s Ferry Blues” is the LP’s lone track to incorporate another banjoist in Fleck. Béla produced the track at Nashville’s Parlor Studios. Trischka and Fleck are joined by Billy Strings on lead vocals and guitar, famed mandolinist Sam Bush, top-shelf fiddler Michael Cleveland and first call bassist Mark Schatz.

“This song was written by Alton and Rabon Delmore and recorded by them in 1933,” explained Trischka of Earl Jam’s lead single and opening track. “I heard Earl play it backstage at a show in Missouri in 2010. He had his banjo tuned to double C— that’s g, C, D, C, D—and as far as I know, he’d never used this tuning on a studio or live recording.” While Tony appreciated the alternate tuning, he remained faithful to the song from the recording he received in the mail. “In the various jams with John Hartford that inspired this album, however, he always played it in standard G tuning, which is the setting you’ll hear here.”

Watch the video for Trischka’s “Brown’s Ferry Blues” featuring Billy Strings below:

Earl Jam Tracklist

1. Brown’s Ferry Blues (feat. Billy Strings)
2. San Antonio Rose 
3. Chinese Breakdown
4. My Horses Ain’t Hungry
5. Roll On Buddy
6. Freight Train Blues
7. Casey Jones
8. Dooley (feat. Molly Tuttle)
9. Cripple Creek
10. Amazing Grace
11. Lady Madonna
12. Bury Me Beneath the Willow (feat. Vince Gill)
13. Shout Little Lulu
14. Little Liza Jane
 
15. Amazing Grace-Postlude