Béla Fleck, Earls of Leicester Crown First Day of Earl Scruggs Fest 2026

Editor’s Note: This review and photos is from Saving Country Music contributor Kevin Smith.


The annual Earl Scruggs Music Festival took place on Labor Day Weekend September 4-6, 2026 in Mill Spring, North Carolina. Held at the Tryon International Equestrian Center, it’s rapidly becoming a must-do festival for bluegrass fans. Just last year, the festival was named Event of The Year at the annual IBMA Music Awards. This year’s opening day started things off impressively with two evening headliner acts, both Grammy winners, honoring the great Earl Scruggs legacy, and in the process delivering stunning performances.

The Earls of Leicester, a bluegrass super-group featuring dobro legend Jerry Douglas and other fantastic players put on a show that absolutely packed a punch. They were followed by the renowned master of the banjo, Béla Fleck, who delivered a performance that was absolute fire to an enthusiastic crowd hungry for some mind-blowing picking.

To be sure, it was an impressively-sized crowd who braved higher than normal daytime temperatures in the mid-nineties with record humidity to be there. Ultimately though, water was in ample supply, free for attendees, and numerous shade and AC options were available. By the time The Earls of Leicester hit the stage, the worst of the overhead sun was beginning to move out, and fans could rightly focus on the scorching hot bluegrass being delivered.

From its inception, the folks behind the Earl Scruggs Music Festival have made it their aim to honor the world’s most acclaimed banjo innovator each year by featuring acts that bring the spirit and energy of Scruggs playing to the forefront, with a goal to hopefully inspire the next generation. And so on this day and evening the banjo was on full display.

The Earls of Leicester (pronounced Lester, as in Lester Flatt) are a full-on award-winning bluegrass supergroup that features the great Jerry Douglas on Dobro as well as Shawn Camp on guitar and lead vocals. You wouldn’t be wrong to surmise that they are in fact a tribute band to the legendary Flatt and Scruggs group who absolutely dominated the genre in the ’50s and ’60s with a catalog of music that to this day serves as a template to illustrate exactly what traditional bluegrass should sound like.

Jerry Douglas, Shawn Camp and the boys put on a show of grand proportions, and it was clear by the voluminous crowd reaction that these super-pickers were doing it right, putting on a head-spinning display of virtuosity and musical harmony that would indeed make Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs grin with approval.

It was just so heartening and joy-inducing hearing Flatt and Scruggs standards like “Down The Road,” “Big Black Train,” and “Salty Dog Blues” being performed with so much spunk and enthusiasm. And as Camp, Douglas and the others harmonized the familiar catch refrains and choruses, hearing the audience singing along giddily made it truly special.

So many of these songs are not only standards in bluegrass, but have also been covered by many in country music over the years. Take for example “Dim Lights Thick Smoke and (Loud, Loud Music)”—a song that Douglas introduced by mentioning that Rose Lee Maphis had written and performed it with her famous husband Joe Maphis, and she,being friends with Lester and Earl, got an opportunity to showcase the song and the famed duo ultimately chose to record it. More greats like “Long Journey Home,”—a song associated also with Doc Watson and recently recorded by Billy Strings—drew a sing-along from many in the audience.

The Earls of Leicester have used a rotating cast of different banjo players in their live performances and on this night the great Russ Carson from Ricky Skaggs band Kentucky Thunder took on the enviable task of playing Earl Scruggs, which he did to great applause and many cheers. A true favorite was watching Carson replicate the Scruggs classic “Flint Hill Special” where the tuning pegs are turned up and down while playing, as a banjo effect, something Scruggs also pioneered.

Fiddle player Johnny Warren who played this night quite impressively, holds some true DNA to the Flatt and Scruggs original band as his father Paul Warren served as fiddle player to Lester and Earl for many years. The combination of his lightning-fast fiddle runs paired next to Jerry Douglas’ ripping fast dobro licks gave the set ample instrumental firepower.

Yet, Shawn Camp is not to be overlooked, as he played some gorgeous flat-picking runs on his acoustic dreadnaught guitar. Shawn Camp’s vocals are another thing entirely, and seeing his giant grin and hearing him interpret Lester Flatt’s spirited vocals with so much enthusiasm and passion was downright infectious, and the audience was loving every moment of him.

As this marvelous set was winding to a close, the band played a pair of highly influential songs that perhaps exemplify the greatness and influence of Flatt and Scruggs more than any. The Beverly Hillbillies theme song was performed and became a massive crowd sing-along on this glorious night with the sun setting. The closing number was another everyone knew well, “Rolling In My Sweet Baby’s Arms.” It was a fitting conclusion to a terrific set celebrating the artistry and greatness of the Flatt and Scruggs sound. Yet, the night was only getting started as the next act would also pay tribute to Earl Scruggs but in another way entirely.

Enter banjo master Béla Fleck.

There are more than a few out there who would agree that the greatest banjo player currently alive and playing is none other than Béla Fleck. And while some might dispute that, what is undeniable is that Fleck has taken banjo playing to heights no one before him may have even dreamed. Simply calling him a banjo master does not do justice to his legacy. From his start in New Grass Revival with fellow progressive players Sam Bush, Pat Flynn and others, Fleck made his mark using the Earl Scruggs roll as a template and expanding from there.

New Grass Revival to this day is cited as the singular most influential bluegrass band in progressive circles. But that band was only a launching pad for the ambitious Fleck. With his band The Flecktones, he has taken banjo picking to perhaps its outer and sonic limits, at times venturing deep into jazz and fusion music, world music, and even classical music for anyone who would dare to listen. With countless Grammy awards and numerous IBMA awards, Fleck is the most decorated banjo player in history and sits firmly in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. And despite all of his musical wandering and exploration, at heart Béla Fleck remains a massive fan of Earl Scruggs and bluegrass music in general.

This year Fleck is set to release a new album on October 16 titled Live Heart: My Bluegrass Heart At the Ryman. This upcoming live album and the associated tour aim to capture the magic of his Grammy-winning 2021 album My Bluegrass Heart. That album, which received high praise from Saving Country Music, featured appearances from Bryan Sutton, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Michael Cleveland, and a dizzying array of elite pickers To this day it remains a high point in Fleck’s career.

As Béla Fleck was introduced, the massive crowd gathered as far as the eye could see around the Flint Hill stage, including the large grandstand and the nearly filled to capacity general seating area, roared with approval as Fleck and a jaw-dropping assemblage of pickers filed onstage. Grammy winning fiddler Michael Cleveland drew a lot of cheers as he walked on and took his place in the line-up. Yes, this night was going to be special, and Fleck brought a hand-picked group of carefully curated players, young and old to the stage to deliver a true experience to this extremely excited crowd of Bluegrass super-fans.

However, you could hear a pin drop as the band began the subtle, slow intro to Fleck’s own song “Strider,” which started with Fleck himself simultaneously tuning and de-tuning strings to great effect as he worked a bit of Earl Scruggs mojo out of the glorious instrument before the song fully roared to life on all cylinders. It was a thing of beauty, melodic and virtuosic at the same time.

More glorious original songs followed including “When Joy Kills Sorrow” and “Major Honker” which only added to the mesmerizing spell the audience had fallen into as Fleck played dizzyingly intricate and rippling runs on his custom Deering banjo, trading solos with the other players onstage.

One notable feature of Fleck’s playing is his use of what some call the “melodic style,” which utilizes the technique of playing scales by alternating lower strings and open strings in between ascending notes. The overall effect is mind-blowing, and Fleck has made his name on it. To the casual listener, it’s a wonderment and a thing of beauty to hear, and when its followed by one of the greatest fiddlers of our time, Michael Cleveland, playing intricate counterpoints to Fleck’s runs, you are left speechless.

Speaking of Michael Cleveland, he was stunning in a word, in every way, playing runs and solos effortlessly like water flowing from a fast mountain stream. The synergy between him and Fleck was palpable, and the other band members were equally impressive. Two young players on the stage this night must be mentioned. Fiddler Maddie Denton who has generated enormous buzz playing in rising band East Nash Grass, played alongside Michael Cleveland, bringing superb twin-fiddle harmony to the proceedings. Her enthusiastic and virtuosic playing are a breath of fresh air and an inspiration to an entire new generation of players.

Also making a tremendous splash alongside Fleck this night was another prominent member of East Nash Grass, mandolin powerhouse Harry Clark who absolutely held his own onstage playing fast and furious and yet intricate mandolin runs that had many cheering in approval.

At some point you knew it had to happen during this set for the ages, and indeed it did, the worlds greatest dobro player, Jerry Douglas, was called to the stage to join Fleck for a rendition of “ Who’s That Knocking At My Door.” The song was one the two men remembered well from a past band they had both played in years ago, The Dreadful Snakes, and it was a thrill to see and hear two of the most influential players the genre has ever witnessed, once again together sharing the stage. It was a moment!

Throughout the balance of the set, more mind-blowing songs were featured including “Vertigo,” which was an absolute stunner in every way with all musicians playing lights out as if their very lives depended on it. But perhaps of greatest importance to this event were tributes to Jimmy Martin, Flatt and Scruggs and Earl himself. Significantly, Fleck started playing banjo as a young man from Boston, profoundly inspired by Earl Scruggs’ legendary and dynamic playing, and now he is serving as an elder statesman of the instrument, inspiring entire generations and sharing the amazing power of the banjo to anyone willing to listen. There can be no greater compliment to Earl Scruggs than that.

The performance on this night was a triumph, and Béla Fleck was there to make it all happen.

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