Lester Flatt

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American singer-songwriter (1914–1979)

title: "Lester Flatt" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1914-births", "1979-deaths", "20th-century-american-singer-songwriters", "bluegrass-musicians-from-tennessee", "american-country-singer-songwriters", "country-musicians-from-tennessee", "grand-ole-opry-members", "people-from-overton-county,-tennessee", "singer-songwriters-from-tennessee", "american-country-guitarists", "american-country-mandolinists", "american-bluegrass-guitarists", "american-bluegrass-mandolinists", "guitarists-from-tennessee", "20th-century-american-guitarists", "country-music-hall-of-fame-inductees", "nashville-grass-members", "foggy-mountain-boys-members", "flying-fish-records-artists", "blue-grass-boys-members", "columbia-records-artists", "cmh-records-artists"] description: "American singer-songwriter (1914–1979)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Flatt" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American singer-songwriter (1914–1979) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Lester Flatt
image	Lester Flatt 1979.jpg
caption	Flatt in 1979
background	solo_singer
birth_name	Lester Raymond Flatt
birth_date
birth_place	Overton County, Tennessee, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
instrument	Guitar, vocals, mandolin
genre	Bluegrass, country
occupation	Musician, songwriter
years_active	1940–1979
past_member_of	Flatt and Scruggs, Nashville Grass
::

Lester Raymond Flatt (June 19, 1914 – May 11, 1979) was an American singer, bluegrass guitarist, and mandolinist, best known for his collaboration with banjo picker Earl Scruggs in the duo Flatt and Scruggs.

Flatt's career spanned multiple decades, breaking out as a member of Bill Monroe's band during the 1940s and including multiple solo and collaboration works exclusive of Scruggs. He first reached a mainstream audience through his performance on "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", the theme for the network television series The Beverly Hillbillies, in the early 1960s.

Biography

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Earl_Scruggs_and_Lester_Flatt.jpg" caption="Flatt (right) with [[Earl Scruggs]] (left) as part of [[Flatt and Scruggs]] in 1949"] ::

Flatt was born in Duncan's Chapel, Overton County, Tennessee, United States, to Nannie Mae Haney and Isaac Columbus Flatt. In 1943, he played mandolin and sang tenor in The Kentucky Pardners, the band of Bill Monroe's older brother Charlie. He first came to prominence as a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in 1945 and played a thumb-and-index guitar style that was in part derived from the playing of Charlie Monroe and Clyde Moody. In 1948, he started a band with fellow Monroe alumnus Earl Scruggs, and for the next 20 years, Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys were one of the most successful bands in bluegrass. When they parted ways in 1969, Flatt formed a new group, the Nashville Grass, hiring many of the Foggy Mountain Boys. He continued to record and perform with that group until his death in 1979. His role as rhythm guitarist and vocalist in each of these seminal ensembles helped define the sound of traditional bluegrass music. His solid guitar playing and rich lead voice are unmistakable in hundreds of bluegrass standards. He is also remembered for his library of compositions.

Death and legacy

Flatt died of heart failure in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 64.

He was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985 along with Scruggs. Flatt was also posthumously inducted as an inaugural member of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1991.

Lester's hometown of Sparta, Tennessee, held a bluegrass festival in his honor for a number of years, before being discontinued a few years prior to the death of the traditional host, resident Everette Paul England; Lester Flatt Memorial Bluegrass Day remains part of the annual Liberty Square Celebration held in Sparta.

Flatt and Scruggs were ranked No. 24 on CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003.

Discography

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Lester-flatt-sparta-tn-memorial2.jpg" caption="Lester Flatt memorial in Sparta, Tennessee"] ::

::data[format=table]

Year	Album	US Country	Label
1970	Flatt Out		Columbia
One and Only		Nugget
1971	Flatt on Victor		RCA Victor
Lester 'N' Mac (w/ Mac Wiseman)	42
1972	Kentucky Ridgerunner
On the Southbound (w/ Mac Wiseman)
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
1973	Country Boy	45
Over the Hills to the Poorhouse (w/ Mac Wiseman)
1974	Before You Go
Live Bluegrass Festival (w/ Bill Monroe)
The Best
1975	Flatt Gospel (w/ Nashville Grass)		Canaan Records
1976	Lester Raymond Flatt		Flying Fish
Heaven's Bluegrass Band (w/ Nashville Grass)		CMH Records
A Living Legend (w/ Nashville Grass)
1978	Pickin' Time (w/ Nashville Grass)
1979	''Fantastic Pickin''' (w/ Nashville Grass)
::

References

"Lester Flatt | American musician".
(2001). ["The Guide to United States Popular Culture"]({{Google books). [[Popular Press]].
"Biography: Lester Flatt".
Rosenberg, Neil V.. (1998). "The Encyclopedia of Country Music". Oxford University Press.
Samuelson, Dave. (1998). "The Encyclopedia of Country Music". Oxford University Press.
Rockwell, John. (May 12, 1979). "Lester Flatt, Singer and Guitarist in Duo With Earl Scruggs, Dies". [[The New York Times]].
"Flatt and Scruggs".
(September 29, 2007). "Lester Flatt Memorial Bluegrass Day".

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