Of all the people who helped turn this book into a reality, we would like to express our sincerest thanks to Gary Scruggs for his enthusiastic participation and support. We are very grateful to him and his family members—Grace Constant, Elam Scruggs, and J. T. Scruggs—for allowing us to interview them. Our appreciation cannot be expressed enough for their faith in trusting us to preserve the memory of Earl Scruggs, whose musical genius brought so much joy to countless people around the world.
In addition to the Scruggs family, we would like to thank all of the musicians, entertainers, and media professionals who took time away from their busy schedules to share their personal accounts of the banjo man with us. Their excitement for this project validated all our reasons for writing this book. Listed alphabetically, they are Jay Adams, Tom Adams, Eddie Adcock, Bobby Atkins, Max Baer Jr., Terry Baucom, Kristin Scott Benson, Byron Berline, Norman Blake, Ron Block, Don Bryant, Sam Bush, Greg Cahill, Ryan Cavanaugh, Roy Clark, Stephen Cox, J. D. Crowe, Charlie Cushman, Charlie Daniels, Steve Dilling, Bill Emerson, Silvio Ferretti, Béla Fleck, Vince Gill, Tom T. Hall, Willie Hall, Colonel Bruce Hampton, John Hickman, David Hoffman, Doug Hutchens, Kenny Ingram, Bob Johnston, Vic Jordan, Chris Keenan, Bill Keith, Jens Koch, Jens Kruger, Pete Kuykendall, Doyle Lawson, Bernie Leadon, Sam Lovullo, Jody Maphis, Steve Martin, Haskel McCormick, Roger McGuinn, Curtis McPeake, Matt Menefee, Jim Mills, Alan Munde, Willow Osborne, Herb Pedersen, L. Leon Pendarvis, Bob Piekiel, Marc Pruett, Butch Robins, Peter Rowan, Leon Russell, Sammy Shelor, Takashi Shimbo, Tim Stafford, Ralph Stanley, Roni Stoneman, Tony Trischka, Saburo Wantanabe, Eric Weissberg, Pete Wernick, and Mac Wiseman.
We also want to extend our gratitude to the following individuals for their efforts in coordinating interviews, photographs, and other miscellaneous services that were valuable to us (in alphabetical order): Denny Adcock, Katie Altman, Carol Anderson, Fred Bartenstein, Cindy Baucom, David Bendett, Nancy Cardwell, Miss Cathy, Amanda French Clark, Mary Ann Clayton, Brenda Colladay, Leo Coulson, Joe DePriest, Maria Drummond, Emily Epley, Al Evers, Danny Forbes, Ben Hershman, Albert Ihde, Joy Johnston, Bryan Jones, Allie Kandell, Annette Kelley, Kitsy Kuykendall, Scott Lawson, Les Leverett, Matthew Lutts, LeRoy Mack, Natalie Mandziuk, Camilla McGuinn, Tom Mindte, Mike Moore, Erin Morris, Adrienne Nirde, Beth Odle, Scott O’Malley, Jerry Orr, Gale Osborne, Penny Parsons, Susan Quatresols, Victor Robinson, Virginia Russell, June Sawyers, Susan Scruggs, Bob Stinson, Paula Szeigis, Santosh Tawde, and Tim Timberlake.
An extra special thank-you to Tom T. Hall for his gracious generosity in sending us to visit the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, North Carolina, through the Dixie Hall Fund. His thoughtful consideration was truly unexpected.