Lester Flatt
June 19, 1914 – May 11, 1979
Lester Flatt was a singer and guitarist whose remarkable talents added to the success of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys through most of the ’40s. In 1948, Flatt teamed up with banjo great Earl Scruggs to form Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys. Together they became one of the most popular bluegrass bands of their time and one of the most influential of all time. His smooth picking and rich voice can be heard on literally hundreds of songs that make up one of acoustic music’s most important catalogs. But perhaps Flatt’s biggest contribution to pop culture came by way of The Beverly Hillbillies for which they wrote and recorded its theme song, “The Ballad Of Jed Clampett,” backing singer Jerry Scoggins. They even appeared on the show as themselves a few times. Lester Flatt died of heart disease on May 11, 1979.
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