Truetone Lounge - Chris Scruggs - Nashville Music Royalty & Torchbearer 

Chris Scruggs is a National Treasure! Not only a walking encyclopedia of country music in general, but one of THE most versatile and accomplished musicians you will ever find!

Kenny Vaughn says Chris is the best guitar player in the band. Love their respect for each other!

Saw him with Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives three times and they are ridiculously amazing. Imagine a band so good that a guy who plays guitar and steel guitar like Chris Scruggs can plays bass with the band!

Chris Scruggs is rad and there isn’t enough of him on RU-vid. This one’s gonna be great!

WOW !!!!! What an encyclopedia. I detect a gentleman with a tremendous knowledge of country music, full of humility and respect. His knowledge of studio work and the practical use of some recording gear and session work is real. If I were still a young man with any ideas of "Neon Rainbows" I would surely want to know Chris Scruggs. Zac and Chris, I enjoyed this immensely and will watch it several times as I am sure I couldn't possibly have absorbed all this program has to offer in one sitting.

I believe it was John Hartford that said "your style is dictated by your limitations" Fantastic info filled interview !

What a total monster Chris is. Knocks me right out. I could listen to him talk country all day.

THIS GUY IS EXTRA EXTRAORDINARY!! Great interview, and check out his interviews with Otis Gibbs… amazing knowledge of seemingly everyone who played with everyone, and when. Loved this.

Man I seen him with Marty, Kenny, and Harry. Holy shit!! I’ve been to a thousand shows but these guys had THE BEST tone I’ve ever heard live. Kenny is a “guitar hero” in my book, and Chris is right beside him, and I’m a blues rock player. I think finding someone to fill their shoes will be an enormous task.

Such a musical treasure. Always dig seeing and hearing Chris with Marty.

And now we know why Marty Stuart frequently refers to Chris as "The Professor!" Great Interview - thank you!

Chris Scruggs, what an interesting, articulate person.

Monster player. I saw Chris Scruggs playing with Chuck Mead & The Honky Tonk Heroes on Music Row. Oh and BR5-49 @ Buck Owens Crystal Palace.

Just one Brain and sooooooo much knowledge. Wow Chris is amazing and seems so down to earth. Great job on this one Zac.

Best Truetone interview ever! Props to Zac for all the insightful gear questions. Chris Scruggs is a national treasure.

Chris is nothing short of music genius. Every time I hear him I realize my tele in my hands would best be used as a rowing oar. He is so good.

His ability to pickup an instrument and give you a beautifully rendered reading is uncanny. But candied.

Chris is the PERFECT guy to be running the Musician's Hall of Fame.

Excellent Interview with a Phenomenal musician!! I really appreciate Zach how you bring out the best content and expert advice and tips from musicians without stepping all over their interview! Excellent interviewer bring out the best in your interviews!!

Fascinating man Love to hear more from him More steel

I was going to skip around the interview but from the start i couldnt take my eyes off. Mr Scruggs is so very interesting to hear. Its like being in a library of music. Just awsome ..Thanks for the teaching.

Went to The White Horse in Austin a little less than a month ago, sat down at the bar looked over at the stage to see Chris setting up that steel. I could not believe my own eyes. What a night that was.

Chris is so great. I saw Marty with the Superlatives in Berlin last year and it was pure magic.

OMG i loved this. When can we have him back? Thank you so much for all the great Truetone lounge interviews.

One of most intelligent players you have ever had on your show, Chris is a gentleman and a scholar,one of the best interviews I've ever seen on youtube,thumbs up Zak. 😊👍

Chris Scruggs is AWESOME... I'm 53 and thinking about buying my 1st lap steel.... Glad I watched!!!

This is an interview that reaches a very high academic level. Chris Scruggs possesses a deep knowledge and understanding of the history of Nashville, the evolution of stringed instruments, style changes, players, artists--too much to list.

Thanks for such an amazing time!

Great guest. Rewatched entirely and so impressed by talent, ability to explain, and old-timey stories. Very cool interview, Zac!

What a fantastic human being and a great interview. Thank you.

Loved every second of this! Thanks Zac & Chris. 😎

Every time I listen to one of your interviews I feel like I haven't even been born yet! So much history and information! I really enjoy these interviews!

Dont get me wrong here, but if anyone could catapult the "Nerd" look into a national trend, this guy could do it. He's a freaking genius.

Great interview!

The more I watch these which are all great, thank you. The more I realize no one plays like Johnny Hiland. His command of the pocket and melodic lead is just off the charts.

Lots of great stuff in here! Thanks Zac!

I just saw Marty and the Superlatives in Jacksonville at the Florida theater last week and they blew my mind… I love each and everyone of these great musicians and great guys! You can tell that they all care for each other very much and that they love what they do. You can also tell that they have all been doing it since they were kids and have been doing nothing else! their attitude towards country music is the approach that I really love as well… their playing is somewhat aggressive as if they have a rock and roll attitude

Great interview. What a way to grow up

Thank you so for bringing us Chris, I learned so much.

Fabulous interview, Mr Scruggs has a wonderful knowledge of country music history, an absolutely superb musician and raconteur.

Oh great! Chris mentions Walt at 1:16:08 Too Cool! Walter was one of the greatest guys ever. He sure taught me a lot standing beside him for 9 years. For many years I owned & played his original 1963 Fender Twin Reverb Prototype amp (built for him by Leo) Walter Carter sold it for me. I have a video of the amp on RU-vid if you wanna check it out. Type in my name Ross Southerland Fender Twin Reverb Prototype. Man I miss it! I’m gonna send this video to my old band mates. 🙏🏻 thanks again

Amazing interview; thank you Zac!!!

Zach!! What a great interview!! You're really good at it. Thank you. And thanks to Chris Scruggs. He's a fantastic player. I appreciate you both.

Just saw and truly enjoyed seeing Marty Stewart anr band this weekend during Bristol music festival, Rhythm and Roots, 9/10/2023. Chris is amazing, well the entire band is exceptional. What a great guy and musician!

What an amazing interview!

What great fun to be able to pick Chris Scruggs country music brain. Such an awesome musician.❤

Outstanding! A traditional country music archive! Keep the Bakersfield Sound alive.

Just been listening in depth to classic country and western. So I do hope the multi talented Chris Scruggs will do his version of 'The black veil'⁷. Hoodee from Sweden!

Chestnut Mare, Truck Stop Girl. Great show, lots of fun, stories, history thanks Zack

Wonderful. What a musician...

The Best Picker In Nashville .

I heard Kenny Vaughn say I believe I might be a little wrong on this but that Chris was the best drummer steel guitar player and guitar player and maybe bass player in Nashville he's an incredible musician and a great person it seems have never met him personally but will one day thanks for the interview great job you guys are great keep up the great work

I’ve watched this quite a few times by now - it’s a wealth of information and history! Thanks again you guys!

Jay McDowell was my first guitar teacher and a local rockabilly guitar slinging star, before he left our "small" town for Nashville & BR549; he's now the multimedia archivist for the Musician's Hall of Fame in Nashville. Chris is also amazing and this is yet another stellar interview!

So much talent!

This was fantastic. Thanks, Chris and Zac

Thanks! Great interview with a down to earth, tremendous Nashville musician what talent!!

Fantastic interview, start-to-finish. His great work on the steel, pulling behind the bar had me laughing in disbelief. Such a great talent. Thanks, Zac!

Great interview with Chris Scruggs, great player!

This is the first time I’ve seen your channel, and thought I would check out this interview with Chris, since I’m seeing Marty and the Superlatives in September. I saw the interview was almost 2 hours, and thought I would try a few minutes. An hour and 44 later, I’m looking at Kenny Vaughn and you , and who knows who I’ll watch and learn about next! Great interviews with great musicians! Thanks! Subscribed !!!

I saw Marty and the Superlatives exactly one month ago today at the Lincoln Square Theater in Decatur Illinois. And it was an evening of pure country music magic. And c'mon May for the new record by them.

Sit Chris down, start him up and out comes Nashville/country music history. How good is that!

Hey Zac. Great interview with Chris.

Fantastic interview!! Now that's a great musician, a true student constantly learning and honing his craft. Thank you Chris and Zac for one of the most entertaining and informative interview chats I've heard, a real pleasure.

I've heard a quote attributed to Kenny Vaughn where he says Chris is the best guitar player in the band. That's definitely believable, but also hard to fathom with Kenny and Marty there, as great as they both are.

Chris Scruggs talks about all the stuff I like to hear about

❤ extraordinary person and talent. great video

Another great one, Zac!

What a treasure and genuine nice guy!!

Priceless info! 🤙😉

More than one thumbs up

Here about 42 mins in. So about Marty, one as we all know who have worked with him, hes amazing and such a great person! I had the luxury of setting up stage for marty WHILE Chris played with him!!! Ill never forget asking the guitar tech about the Clarence White guitar, not even knowing who Clarence White was at the time! This mustve been about 2017 or 2018. It was in Lynchburg VA. But I remember setting up the Fender Silver Face amps. And then picking up the Clarence guitar and when I got told about it, as careful, and gently as I could, I sat it down. Didnt strum it, pick a string, get a feel of the neck, NOTHIN! I knew I wasnt nearly a good enough player yet. And i want to be good enough to play it and appreciate it one day! That was the show that made me start wanting a Tele. Now I have my own custom made by Mel McCullough (Indiana Luthier). I cant stop playing teles thanks to marty! Thanks chris for being extremely Kind during that time as well. We exchanged a very few words after the show when tear down happened. I barely remember it but I remember you being kind.

Saw the Superlatives a couple months ago - Chris was awesome!

Great stuff, thanks guys!!

Really enjoyed this! Thanks boys.

How good are the fabulous superlatives when Chris plays BASS? Omfg, the talent

Awesome interview!!

Excellent interview!

What a talent and pedigree!

Another bullseye, Zac! Keep it up brother!!!

Loved the interview, and I was surprised that he never mentioned his dad (Gary Scruggs) or his paternal grandfather (Earl Scruggs) in the interview.

Dang, how this one got by me is a mystery! Glad I decided to check out the channel.

Don't really know a lot of the names being mentioned, but damn great interview. Keep it up truetone, and Zak never disappoints. Good stuff 👏 👍🏼

I really enjoyed that one…brilliant.

dynamite player Saw him at Hammondsport NY .....Great player loved the show!...what a talent!!...✌️

Speaking of Clarence White, his best B-Bender playing was his last stuff. That being his playing on fellow Byrds bassist Skip Battin's solo album, "Skip". Often referred to as 'the Byrds last album', *Skip Battin 'Skip'* is a classic. Skip grew up right here in Gallipolis, Ohio. Although I'm from Columbus, I live here now. Check out ' Last show at the Filmore East The Byrds', Battin solos with drummer Gene Parsons ( who incidentally built the first B-Bender for Clarence, and built a business from the idea born from Clarence having Gene bend the b string behind the nut while he played in the studio and realizing Gene had a machinist background could build something to do the job).

Saw Chris and the boys in Germantown (Memphis) last year and going to see them in Senatobia Ms. in March. I absolutely love this band. I've been playing bass for years and know music. Their balance was perfect and I don't think I saw them tune unless it was a sitar or 12 string maybe.

Amazing Knowledge!

Great Chris!

Chris should do a lap steel method.

Re Marty's Tele previously owned by Clarence White - Marty had someone rewind the bridge pickup, which was either broken or he didn't understand its "quirks". As explained to me by Clarence White (and how many of us have used them for decades) - the original wound by Red Rhodes (which later became the Velvet Hammer VHTBX) had a low-output primary coil and very hot boost coil (switched on and off using 2 tabs of an old phase switch). In the studio and on club jobs he'd run his amp(s) just below the top of headroom with his guitar controls rolled off a bit - then he could turn up to get more clean volume for solos or hit the "boost" switch, kicking things into saturation. It takes a while to learn how to use the setup but is incredibly useful, with a range from sweet and bell-like to sledgehammer strong!

Riveting interview from start to finish. No wonder he's in the Musicians' Hall of Fame! His super-talented mother, Gail Davies, clearly did a grand job of raising him

Hmm...that signature note in Ernest Tubb's phrasing, that "sixth" note...was he getting that from non-pedal steel players?

Awesome musician.. I seen that Rick fall... Didn't know it was damaged

Please get greg Koch on. I love your work. Thank you for it all.

There's a guy I follow on another social media thing named Freeman Arthur that's really good, IMO. I think he might be around Nashville? I found him through a vid of him teaching his wife to play. It was quite funny 🤣

Lol. I bought a set of 10-46 D'addario with a wound 3rd to see how they were. First time I tried a full step bend on that wound 3rd, I found out real fast that it wasn't gonna happen with my normal bend using muscle memory 🤣 I was like "oh! Wait a minute! That didn't work 🤣"

my favorite: 0:46

Awesome player, I ran lights and then moved to audio in the late 80's early 90's and mixed monitors on that show for the rest of it's existence until Live Nation decided to kill the radio show every Saturday night which lead to the death of it. They had to drop to one show eventually from what was normally two packed shows most Saturday nights and eventually the show was killed and then they sold the theatre and only kept the radio stations which are still there. I got see see and work with many great performers and Marty and the band were there often with a few bands before he created the Superlatives. They were up here a year or so ago. the theatre has been reopened for a good while now but the Jamboree does not own the theatre anymore so they only do a couple of shows a year there. He has Mart up here about a year ago, I did not know that is how Clarence White died and my God he was so young. He was only 29. What a lost talent.

What happened to the Sunday night shows at the club Chris did with the Stone Fox Five. Did Covid kill the place?