The Earls of Leicester is an American bluegrass group, assembled by Jerry Douglas in 2013 to present the music of

Lester Flatt Lester Raymond Flatt (June 19, 1914 – May 11, 1979) was an American bluegrass (music), bluegrass guitarist and mandolinist, best known for his collaboration with banjo picker Earl Scruggs in the duo Flatt and Scruggs. Flatt's career spanned ...

Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-finge ...

and their band the

Foggy Mountain Boys Flatt and Scruggs were an American bluegrass duo. Singer and guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo player Earl Scruggs, both of whom had been members of Bill Monroe's band, the Bluegrass Boys, from 1945 to 1948, formed the duo in 1948. Flatt and Scr ...

to a contemporary audience. Their eponymous debut album earned a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Bluegrass Album in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. The band's name is a play on words: The English city

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

is pronounced "Lester", the same as Flatt's first name, and Scruggs' first name is "Earl".

Members

Current

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prol ...

- Dobro * Shawn Camp - lead vocals and guitar * Charlie Cushman - banjo and guitars * Johnny Warren - vocals and fiddle * Daniel Kimbro - vocals and bass * Jeff White - mandolin and vocals

Former

* Tim O'Brien - mandolin, vocals *

Barry Bales Barry Turner Bales (born August 23, 1969) is an American musician best known as the long time bass player and harmony vocalist for Alison Krauss, Alison Krauss and Union Station. He has been in the band since 1990. The 2012 Grammy was awarded as ...

- bass, vocals

Discography

Awards

The Earls and their engineer/mixer, Bil Vorndick, received a Grammy Award in 2014 for Best Bluegrass Album for their album ''The Earls of Leicester''. The band was awarded Album of the year, Gospel recorded performance of the year, instrumental group of the year, and entertainer of the year by the

International Bluegrass Music Association The International Bluegrass Music Association, or IBMA, is a trade association to promote bluegrass music. Formed in 1985, IBMA established its first headquarters in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1988 they announced plans to create the International ...

in 2015. They were again awarded IBMA Entertainer of the year in 2016 and 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Earls of Leicester 2013 establishments in Tennessee American bluegrass music groups American supergroups Grammy Award winners Musical groups established in 2013 Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee Rounder Records artists