Master banjo picker gets his star on Walk of Fame

It seems fitting that "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" banjo player Earl Scruggs got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on a rainy, foggy morning.

Scruggs, the banjo master whose three-fingered approach to playing is credited by many with giving bluegrass music its distinctive sound, was honored Thursday with a ceremony in front of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.

His is the 2,215th star on the Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk, placing him among recent honorees such as "Everybody Loves Raymond" actress Doris Roberts, director Steven Spielberg and "The Hours" star Nicole Kidman.

Scruggs, 79, grew up on a farm in North Carolina and worked as a textile worker in the early 1940s before he began performing professionally.

With Lester Flatt, Scruggs created two well-known pieces of bluegrass music — the theme song for "The Beverly Hillbillies" TV show and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," which was recorded in 1949.

The latter song has won two Grammys — once after being featured in the 1967 film "Bonnie and Clyde" and again in 2001 for a version off his album "Earl Scruggs and Friends."

Scruggs started playing the banjo at 4, in the traditional picking style, using two fingers on the instrument's five strings. At 10, he locked himself in a room and perfected his three-fingered method after an argument with older brother Horace. "It came to me like a dream," he recalled.