FLATT, LESTER RAYMOND (1914-1979)

Guitarist and lead singer Lester Flatt was born in Sparta, Tennessee. He appeared with Charlie Monroe’s Kentucky Pardners before joining Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys in 1945, the year that all the elements of modern bluegrass came together in that band. Three years later, Flatt and another Blue Grass Boy, Earl Scruggs, struck off to form their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys, which made their first sixteen recordings for Mercury in Cincinnati. After splitting from Earl Scruggs in 1968, Flatt continued to tour and record bluegrass until his death with his band The Nashville Grass. In 1991, he was part of the first class of inductees to the IBMA Bluegrass Hall of Fame, along with his former partner Earl Scruggs and his former employer Bill Monroe. He was elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007.

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