From the Bean Blossom Festival, we have word that George Shuffler will be inducted in the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame on Saturday, September 21, 2013.
The 39th Annual Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Uncle Pen Days Festival will be held September 18-21, 2013 at the Bill Monroe Memorial Bluegrass Music Park & Campground in Brown County, Indiana
Shuffler is an innovative bluegrass guitar player and an early practitioner of the crosspicking style of playing.
On Saturday, September 21, George Shuffler will be inducted into the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
George grew up in Burke County, NC where he taught himself to play on a mail-order guitar. He made his Grand Ole Opry debut at the age of 17 performing with The Bailey Brothers.
During his career Shuffler played with The Bailey Brothers, The Stanley Brothers and Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys. He was a 2007 recipient of the North Carolina Heritage Award and in 2011 was elected to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
"It was just out of necessity," was how George Shuffler described the birth of crosspicking. When Ralph and Carter played their slow songs there were long pauses at the end of every line, during which they would be catching their breath for the next line.
During these pauses Shuffler had to take every break, and at the time the only two guitar styles were scratch/Mother Maybelle Carter's style, and Travis style. Travis style could keep the rhythm, but sounded repetitive during breaks, while scratch style could play lead but lost the rhythm. Shuffler created a style that allowed him to keep the rhythm and play a lead melody at the same time. This style was crosspicking, the guitar equivalent of a banjo roll.
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