Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs were among the leading exponents of bluegrass music in the post-war era.

Scruggs is famous for developing the three-finger style of banjo picking, elevating its status from being a background accompanying instrument to a featured solo role. Both Flatt and Scruggs had been members of Bill Monroe’s ground-breaking band during the 1940s, resigning from that outfit in 1948, and forming their own band The Foggy Mountain Boys, themselves becoming one of the best known and longest-established bluegrass bands of all time.

This 56-track set comprises selected A- and B-sides of their singles on the Mercury and Columbia labels during what is generally regarded as one of their classic eras of recording. It features their eight US pop and country hits during these years, including the The Ballad Of Jed Clampett, Tis Sweet To Be Remembered, Cabin In The Hills and Go Home.

The Ballad Of Jed Clampett was used as the theme for the Beverly Hillbillies television series. The song reached No.42 on the record charts during the series' debut season of 1962. The song hit No.1 on the country charts in January 1963, and was the only number one hit song of their career. The song is one of only five TV theme songs to ever reach No.1 on the country charts.

The title track, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, is an instrumental originally released in 1949 and used in many rural car chase movie sequences, notably in Bonnie and Clyde. It has won two Grammy awards. With original songs alongside compositions by other writers, and examples of the classic bluegrass “breakdown” style, it’s a feast of top-class and archetypal bluegrass music by two of its most illustrious representatives.

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