A few months ago, my buddy Ken gave me some food for thought: Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham has stated in a few interviews that bluegrass banjo hero Earl Scruggs was a big influence on his playing.
That thought has stuck in the back of my mind for a while. The more that I thought about it, the more it made sense. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album has always been one of my favorites. Buckingham’s playing style is finger picking instead of using a pick, which he has done since he started playing in folk bands in the 1960s. When he and Stevie Nicks joined the band in 1974, the melding of folk-rock with the British blues style rhythm section was magic. The first album with this lineup was the self-titled disc from 1975.
On that album, listen to “Say You Love Me.” Yes, Buckingham throws banjo onto the track, which gives it a great country music feel. Then check out “Rhiannon.” He plucks the strings similar to what banjo great Don Reno was doing on some of Reno & Smiley cuts.
Then we go to Rumours. “Gold Dust Woman” not only has Buckingham picking banjo style, but he even includes some dobro. His bluegrass-tinges playing can also be heard on “You Make Loving Fun” and “Don’t Stop.” Check out his more folky picking with “The Chain.”
While Tusk from 1979 was a bit more experimental, Mirage from 1982 had Buckingham implementing his picking style into a few tracks, namely “Hold Me” and “Gypsy.” One cannot see the similarities of his guitar playing with instances that Scruggs picked up a six-string on some of the Flatt & Scruggs recordings.
As for Mr. Scruggs, the Earl Scruggs Revue did cover Fleetwood Mac’s song “Landslide” as a country-rock number. The band did a number of live shows with Fleetwood Mac in the early 1970s (before Buckingham and Nicks were members). On his 1983 Top of the World album, Scruggs recorded a composition titled “Lindsey.” He claimed that it was not about Buckingham but instead about his granddaughter. Fast forward to today, Lindsey Scruggs is now a singer-songwriter and performs a number of Fleetwood Mac songs in her live performances, as well as recording a version of “Gypsy.”
Chew on it and comment.
