--- title: Google Doodle Honors Banjo Player Earl Scruggs description: Earl Scruggs, who pioneered a musical style known as the “Scruggs style,” which became integral to Bluegrass music, died in 2012. canonical: https://time.com/5500154/google-doodle-earl-scruggs/ author: Billy Perrigo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-11T13:24:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:51:56.175Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Google Doodle Honors Banjo-Picking Bluegrass Legend Earl Scruggs og:description: He died in 2012 og:url: https://time.com/5500154/google-doodle-earl-scruggs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0512439570e5fd5a/69894315ab6d77665d6b497d/celebrating-earl-scruggs-5680695065182208-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: celebrating-earl-scruggs-5680695065182208-2xa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Honors Banjo-Picking Bluegrass Legend Earl Scruggs twitter:description: He died in 2012 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0512439570e5fd5a/69894315ab6d77665d6b497d/celebrating-earl-scruggs-5680695065182208-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Honors Banjo-Picking Bluegrass Legend Earl Scruggs > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Billy Perrigo](https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Jan 11, 2019 1:24 PM UTC  JAN 11: The Google Doodle honoring banjo-player Earl Scruggs JAN 11: The Google Doodle honoring banjo-player Earl ScruggsGoogle  by [Billy Perrigo](https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Jan 11, 2019 1:24 PM UTC Google honored banjo-picking bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs with its [Google Doodle](http://time.com/5496617/doodle-for-google-winner/) on Friday. Scruggs, who pioneered a musical style known as the “Scruggs style” which became integral to bluegrass, died in 2012 at age 88\. The [animated Doodle](https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-earl-scruggs) shows off Scruggs’ fingerpicking playing style. Google’s Doodle was timed to celebrate the anniversary of the 2014 opening of the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, N.C. The Scruggs Center is dedicated to celebrating Scuggs’ life and helping to educate people about the North Carolina musical traditions that gave rise to Scruggs’ talent. Scruggs’ son, Gary, told Google: “Even though my father, Earl Scruggs, passed away before the Earl Scruggs Center opened, he was involved in its planning stages. It was important for him that the Earl Scruggs Center would serve as more than a museum displaying interesting artifacts and memorabilia, but as an educational facility as well.” “I very much admired the fact that my Dad was not only a world-class musician, but was also willing and eager to teach his musical skills to anyone asking his advice.” Scruggs was born in North Carolina in 1924, where he grew up playing the banjo. His musical career would span some six decades, winning him four Grammy awards and a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5500154/google-doodle-earl-scruggs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5500154/google-doodle-earl-scruggs/"},"headline":"Google Doodle Honors Banjo-Picking Bluegrass Legend Earl Scruggs","datePublished":"2019-01-11T13:24:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:51:56.175Z","description":"Earl Scruggs, who pioneered a musical style known as the “Scruggs style,” which became integral to Bluegrass music, died in 2012.","url":"https://time.com/5500154/google-doodle-earl-scruggs/","keywords":["Music","Tech","Google","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0512439570e5fd5a/69894315ab6d77665d6b497d/celebrating-earl-scruggs-5680695065182208-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Billy Perrigo","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0512439570e5fd5a/69894315ab6d77665d6b497d/celebrating-earl-scruggs-5680695065182208-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"celebrating-earl-scruggs-5680695065182208-2xa","caption":"JAN 11: The Google Doodle honoring banjo-player Earl Scruggs","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/music/","name":"Music"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5500154/google-doodle-earl-scruggs/","name":"Google Doodle Honors Banjo-Picking Bluegrass Legend Earl Scruggs"}}]}] ```