[upbeat music] - We're expecting this to be a great festival and we're really looking forward to it.

A lot of hard work by a lot of people.

Just want it to come off great and everybody to leave saying, "Man, best festival ever, can't wait 'til next year."

- I've always believed that this part of North Carolina was the cradle of civilization as far as bluegrass music and all banjo playing was concerned.

So many great banjo players came out of this part of the country.

And Earl probably had a few to listen to when he was growing up, but no one played with three fingers like he did.

[upbeat music] - His music impacted so many others, it changed American music.

He was really one of the most influential American musicians.

And so he was part of setting the foundation for the music that a lot of these folks who are playing the festival play.

And even if they didn't have an opportunity to meet him, they certainly look to him as a creator of the music, someone who continued to push boundaries.

He was traditionally bluegrass, he played bluegrass music, but he played a lot of other things too, and he collaborated with so many people.

And that's really the spirit that we wanna capture in this festival.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ I don't care how many letters they sent ♪ ♪ Morning came and the morning went ♪ ♪ Pack up your suitcase, pick up your tent ♪ ♪ You ain't going nowhere ♪ ♪ Ooh-wee, ride me high ♪ - I'm at the inaugural Earl Scruggs Festival here at the Tryon International equestrian event.

I've never been to this Tryon International equestrian location before.

And Earl Scruggs is a big hero of mine, as he is for a lot of people.

I've been playing bluegrass banjo since I was 12 or 13, and I learned on Earl's book, which many people did, I see the book for sale around here, one of the vendors.

It's the same book I learned on and same book thousands and thousands of people have.

And so Earl is, a part of Earl is in everybody who plays bluegrass banjo, that's for sure.

- I'm a banjo player, and I have been for many, many years.

And to be this close to Shelby, North Carolina, on Labor Day weekend is really an incredible thrill for me.

I mean, if it weren't for Earl Scruggs, my life would've had a completely different trajectory.

And so I really owe most of my experiences and most of my great passions in life to the man who came from Shelby, North Carolina, born in 1924, Earl Scruggs.

I can't think of a better place to be on Labor Day weekend.

[upbeat music] ♪ [upbeat music continues] ♪ Well, Earl Scruggs is known as the father of bluegrass banjo.

He's the guy who invented the three-finger style.

And what's interesting about Earl's career is that as he evolved in his career and especially with The Earl Scruggs Revue, he enjoyed taking the banjo into different musical directions, into a more pop and country rock direction.

I've kinda done the same thing with my group, I'm a three-finger-style player and I love bluegrass music, but our music, the music that I write tends to take the banjo into other directions, into jazz and other kinds of folk music and world music.

So my group will present kind of the different possibilities for the five-string banjo using Earl Scruggs technique and exploring some of the places that the banjo can go.

[upbeat music] - I wanted to be Earl Scruggs, I wanted to be Earl.

I loved how he played, I loved the drive and the fire in his playing and the technique and how clean he was and how masterful he was at his instrument.

No one has ever topped his, has played the banjo the way he plays it.

I mean, they play it like him, but there's an element missing, and that left with Earl.

♪ I ain't gonna work on the railroad ♪ - Get your tickets now for the Earl Scruggs Music Festival at the Tryon Equestrian Center.

The festival runs from September 1st through the 3rd.

To find out more, go to earlscruggsmusicfest.com.