{"id":2366,"date":"2026-10-31T14:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T07:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chuyenhay360.com.vn\/?p=2366"},"modified":"2026-10-31T14:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T07:35:09","slug":"who-played-the-banjo-on-the-beverly-hillbillies-theme-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chuyenhay360.com.vn\/?p=2366","title":{"rendered":"Who played the banjo on \u2018The Beverly Hillbillies\u2019 theme song?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of the most celebrated sitcoms <\/a>of the past decade, Schitt\u2019s Creek<\/em>, was sometimes referred to, conceptually, as a \u201cmodern-day Green Acres<\/em>\u201d or a \u201creverse Beverly Hillbillies<\/em>\u201d, but there\u2019s probably a reason that marketing didn\u2019t make the show a hit in its early seasons.<\/p>\n

Gen Z kids, with the entirety of entertainment history now at their fingertips, haven\u2019t poured too much of their focus into lowbrow 1960s sitcoms. Once upon a time, however, in that fabled era when there were only three television networks in America, just about everybody could tell you about the adventures of the fictional Clampett family, unsophisticated Ozark mountain folk who struck oil, made a fortune, and moved into a mansion in LA\u2019s swankiest neighbourhood. The fish-out-of-water jokes write themselves (starting with the show\u2019s punny title), and they kept doing so for nearly an entire decade.<\/p>\n

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How \u2018R U Mine\u2019 helped Arctic Monkeys crack America<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

At the height of The Beverly Hillbillies<\/em>\u2019 popularity over its first few seasons, between 1962 and 1965, it was the most-watched television programme in America, bar none. The show\u2019s average Nielsen rating over the 1963-64 TV season alone was 39.1, which means that a little less than half of all US households were tuning in every week. For comparison, the 2026 Super Bowl, usually the most-watched single-event programme on American television every year<\/a>, scored essentially the same rating, at 39.7, while a typical weekly network comedy is now lucky to score a 3.0 or a 4.0. The Clampetts were doing Super Bowl numbers on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n

Combine that with syndicated broadcasts of reruns, plus expansion into international TV markets, and the enormity of The Beverly Hillbillies<\/em>\u2019 influence really sets in. This was the pure monoculture, and no TV show of the 21st century, be it Game of Thrones<\/em> or Stranger Things<\/em> or Yellowstone<\/em>, has come anywhere close to reaching the same percentage of the population.<\/p>\n

Did The Beverly Hillbillies<\/em> use its position of influence to explore critically important topics of the \u201960s, like the civil rights movement or the Vietnam War? Eh, no, not really. It did help boost the profile of bluegrass music in an unexpectedly positive way, however, as the show\u2019s opening theme song, \u2018The Ballad of Jed Clampett\u2019, became a number one country hit and inspired a lot of people who didn\u2019t normally listen to country music<\/a> to seek out more traditional banjo and fiddle tunes.<\/p>\n

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Credit: Public Domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It certainly didn\u2019t hurt that the producer of the show, Paul Henning, had recruited a couple of bluegrass legends to perform its theme song. With Lester Flatt on guitar and Earl Scruggs on banjo \u2013 AKA the Foggy Mountain Boys \u2013 they laid down the track with Jerry Scoggins on vocals, telling the tale of the Clampetts\u2019 switch from rags to riches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell the first thing you know, Jed\u2019s a millionaire \/ Kinfolk said Jed move away from there \/ Said California is the place you oughta be \/ So they loaded up the truck, and they moved to Beverly (Hills, that is. Swimmin\u2019 pools, movie stars).\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the show became a hit, Flatt and Scruggs put out a vinyl single of the tune, with Flatt on vocals, and that\u2019s the one that raced up the charts.<\/p>\n

Within the bluegrass community, Flatt and Scruggs were already celebrated musicians dating back to the 1940s. When Henning saw them perform in LA and offered them the TV gig, they weren\u2019t completely sure about it at first. Fortunately, Louise Scruggs, Earl\u2019s wife and manager, saw a Clampett-esque opportunity for an overnight cash haul, and the deal was signed. The fact that the show raised the profile of bluegrass as a whole <\/a>was just a welcome bonus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one thing that spread country music and five-string banjo all over the world,\u201d Louise told Landmark News<\/em> in 2001. \u201cIt was a big boost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even long after the show went off the air in 1971, Earl Scruggs admitted that he still watched the occasional rerun himself, including a few where he and Flatt made on-screen cameos. \u201cThey\u2019re still funny to me,\u201d he said in 2001. \u201cThey were so well-written. They were tremendous people to work with, really professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Scruggs\u2019s banjo is the famous one from The Beverly Hillbillies<\/em>, the vast majority of banjo music<\/a> heard on the show across its nine-year run, aside from the opening theme, was actually played by an LA session man named Don Parmley.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarl [Scruggs] got all the credit,\u201d Parmley told the Roanoke Times<\/em> in 1985, \u201cand I made all the money.\u201d Parmley was joking about the second part. By the time the show ended, he was still working as a bus driver by day and a bluegrass player by night.<\/p>\n