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Composed

More than 150 songs, many co-written with Bill Monroe or Earl Scruggs

  • “Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong” (Billboard peak at #11, 1948 for Bill Monroe)
  • “When You Are Lonely (Billboard peak at #12, 1949 for Bill Monroe)
  • “Cabin on the Hill” (Billboard peak at #9, 1959 for Flatt & Scruggs)
  • “The Legend of the Johnson Boys” (Billboard peak at #27, 1962 for Flatt & Scruggs)
  • “My Saro Jane” (Billboard peak at #40, 1964 for Flatt & Scruggs)
  • “Don’t Get Above Your Raising” (Billboard peak at #16, 1981 for Ricky Skaggs)
  • “Backin’ To Birmingham”
  • “Crying My Heart Out Over You”
  • “Get in Line Brother”
  • “I’m Going To Sleep With One Eye Open”

Early Influences

  • Monroe Brothers

Came to Fame With

  • Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, 1945-1948

Performed With

  • Charlie Scott’s Harmonizers, Roanoke, VA, 1935
  • Clyde Moody and the Happy-Go-Lucky Boys, Burlington, NC, 1940
  • Jim Hall and the Crazy Mountaineers, Burlington, NC, early 1940s
  • Charlie Monroe and the Kentucky Pardners, Winston-Salem, NC ,1943-1945
  • Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, 1945-1948
  • Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, 1948-1969
  • Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass, 1969-1979

By the Way

  • Lived on a lake, where he enjoyed fishing with his wife Gladys.
  • Mentored Marty Stuart, who joined the Nashville Grass and moved in with the Flatts at the age of
  • Bluegrass and country star Keith Whitley could do a close imitation of Lester Flatt’s distinctive speaking voice. Lester enjoyed hearing it, and holding conversations “with himself.”

Led the Way

  • Lead singer and guitarist for the classic edition of the Blue Grass BoysCo-led the first nationally and internationally prominent bluegrass act
  • Popularized the famous “Lester Flatt G-run” among rhythm guitarists
  • Hosted the first widely syndicated bluegrass television show
  • Grand Ole Opry member, 1955-1979
  • Country Music Hall of Fame, 1985
  • Bluegrass Hall of Fame, 1991

From the Archives

Lester Flatt and Bill Monroe signing autographs in Garland, Texas 1971

From the Archives: Lester Flatt and Bill Monroe signing autographs in Garland, Texas 1971. Photo by Ron Petronko.

Concert poster for Flatt & Scruggs, sponsored by Martha White Flour & Corn Meal.

From the Archives: Concert poster for Flatt & Scruggs, sponsored by Martha White Flour & Corn Meal.

“I remember the first time I heard them – I really liked them from the start, because it was singing like we used to do at home. When I went to work with Bill, I didn’t have any problem, because it fit right in there.”
“A Conversation with Lester Flatt,” interview with Vernon, Bill in Muleskinner News, August, 1972.
“That little run you hear on the guitar, and hear so many people doing today – I used that for a time setter; we were playing so fast we had to have something to come back in on, and it fit perfectly.”
“A Conversation with Lester Flatt,” interview with Vernon, Bill in Muleskinner News, August, 1972.
“In their 21 years together, Flatt and Scruggs had more impact on the music, in my opinion, than anything that’s gone on before or since.”
Lance LeRoy, quoted in Willis, Barry R., America’s Music: Bluegrass, 1989.
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