• Fancy Boy Offers New Take on Classic Mandolin Innovation

    Fancy Boy

    Nashville, Tenn. — Tristan Scroggins has announced the pending release of Fancy Boy, an EP that highlights a style of crosspicking he began developing after overwhelming positive response to videos he had posted on social media.

    Based on the style created by Jesse McReynolds, Scroggins incorporates advanced left-hand techniques to bring more melody notes into his arrangements in a style reminiscent of Bill Keith's melodic banjo innovations. This style has cheekily been referred to by his peers as "Scroggs Style."

    Engineered by Brandon Bostic, the project features Scroggins' arrangements of five tunes accompanied in various configurations by an award-winning cast of Nashville locals: the directors of Nashville Acoustic Camps Megan Lynch (fiddle) and Adam Chowning (guitar), as well as Tyler Andal (clawhammer banjo/fiddle).

    A physical book of mandolin tablature transcriptions of the tunes is also available through his Bandcamp web site.

    After years of touring with his father's band, Jeff Scroggins and Colorado, he now makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee where he has become a part of the burgeoning bluegrass and acoustic scene and can be found performing, researching and writing about music.

    Some recent performance credits include appearances with Molly Tuttle, Dailey & Vincent on the Grand Ole Opry and Missy Raines to name a few.

    Track Listing

    • Cluck Old Hen
    • Chinquapin Hunting
    • Big Mon
    • Cumberland Gap
    • Home Sweet Home

    Additional Information

    Comments 7 Comments
    1. Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
      Mandolin Cafe -
      In addition to this new release we're proud to announce Tristan will be the subject of a feature interview this coming Tuesday about all things related to this project and more.
    1. Posterboy's Avatar
      Posterboy -
      I jumped straight on this, I've loved the clips Tristan has put out on his social media
    1. darylcrisp's Avatar
      darylcrisp -
      i really like this young mans sound and style. PegheadNation has him in a couple videos and was the first place i saw and heard his playing.


      https://pegheadnation.com/commentary...days-scotland/
    1. bigskygirl's Avatar
      bigskygirl -
      I saw Tristan at Wintergrass several years ago and really loved his playing and turns out he’s a super nice guy to boot! He and Greg Blake jammed in the lobby with everyone and it was great fun.

      Have been following his new videos and was inspired to work out Clinch Mountain Backstep...not as fast or notey as his version but I managed to get the outline of the tune in the style he’s playing it in.

      Looking forward to the interview.
    1. Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
      Mandolin Cafe -
      Some of his videos are kind of mind blowing. Hard to pare down to just a few for the interview which was a lot of fun to put together.
    1. bigskygirl's Avatar
      bigskygirl -
      Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
      Some of his videos are kind of mind blowing. Hard to pare down to just a few for the interview which was a lot of fun to put together.
      I’ll bet, they are all great. I like the “floaty-like” sound of the arrangements, to me it’s a different sound altogether than either McReynolds or just regular crosspicking.
    1. AaronVW's Avatar
      AaronVW -
      Cool to see this on the front page. Tristan is a great player. I met him a couple times up at Planet Bluegrass in Colorado. The Stelling mandolin he is holding in the photo is signed by luthier John Hamlett - a frequent contributor here on the Cafe. Looking forward to the interview!