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 '' , that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music . The name `` bluegrass '' stuck and eventually became the eponym for this entire genre of county music . Flatt and Scruggs brought bluegrass music into mainstream popularity in the early 1960s with their country hit , `` The Ballad of Jed Clampett '' . This song was the theme music for the successful network television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies and was the first bluegrass recording to reach number one on the Billboard charts . He became a member of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and was given a star on the Hollywood walk of fame .
Earl Scruggs was involved in bluegrass music.