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Eric Parsons/The Associated PressIn this June 10, 2005 file photo, Earl Scruggs, performs at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. Scruggs’ son Gary said his father passed away Wednesday morning at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital of natural causes. He was 88.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - It is impossible to overstate the importance of Earl Scruggs to American music. A pioneering banjo player who helped create modern country music, his sound is instantly recognizable and as intrinsically wrapped in the tapestry of the genre as Johnny Cash's baritone or Hank Williams' heartbreak.

By By CHRIS TALBOTT March 29, 2012