White County unveiled a Tennessee Musical Pathways Historical Marker commemorating bluegrass legend Lester Flatt Thursday morning.
Flatt recorded bluegrass music with Earl Scruggs as “Flatt and Scruggs” and was a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. His granddaughter Tammy Brumfield, said Flatt left his fame at the door around the family. Brumfield said despite living in Hendersonville, Flatt’s roots were in White County.
“And he came back and played with all of, you know, his musician friends and everything and people he hadn’t seen for years,” Brumfield said. They would join back up and they would all play. And that’s what I remember the most, sitting and listening to them practice, no matter who it was.”
Brumfield said Flatt got his start in music by playing in the church and with his family, which was full of musical talent. Flatt would later make radio appearances with Charlie Monroe and play venues like Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry.
Flatt is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Flatt co-wrote songs like “Little Cabin Home on the Hill,” “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” and the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. Brumfield said over 200,000 songs Flatt co-wrote were recorded.
Brumfield said she performed with Flatt several times, but he tried to keep his family away from the music business as much as possible. Brumfield said Flatt did not allow his children to date entertainers or attend college because of the nature of the industry.
“We were not allowed to engage,” Brumfield said. “We could go to the festivals and things, and I got to swim in the pools and everything at the hotel, but he really kept us distant. We weren’t in the music business, we were combined with him in the music business.”
Brumfield said behind the scenes, Flatt was very calm.
“He never got mad over anything,” Brumfield said. “If he knew somebody was stealing from him or something like that, he’d say, ‘Shh! Don’t say a word, I’ll take care of it.’ And you never heard another word out of it.”
Brumfield said Flatt’s legacy also includes his creation of the drop G guitar run, and his introduction of the resonator guitar to bluegrass music.
Lester Flatt passed away in 1979. His Tennessee Musical Pathways historical marker is located in front of the Sparta White County Chamber of Commerce on Bockman Lane in Sparta.
The Tennessee Department of Tourism installed the marker.
