Earl Scruggs, 84, got an almost reverential reception Saturday night from a big audience in the Mustang tent.

Almost, but not quite. The Mustang is the Stagecoach festival's most intimate stage, decorated with bales of hay, wagon wheels and horns off of steers. Some spectators in front tried to toss their cowboy hats onto the tips of the horns.

Audience members inched as close to the stage as they could and sat on the ground during the hour-long set, as if at Scruggs' feet. With the band led by two sons, he sat out some of the numbers but pulled off some nimble banjo solos.

The set ended with a classy rendition of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," from the sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies," and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," made popular in "Bonnie and Clyde."

Fielding Buck
fbuck@pe.com

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