Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Lester Flatt has made an invaluable contribution to American art as both a songwriter and a performer, leaving an indelible legacy in bluegrass music.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 583) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Lester Flatt has made an invaluable contribution to American art as both a songwriter and a performer, leaving an indelible legacy in bluegrass music, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H. Res. 583 into the Record.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I rise today to support House Resolution 583, which recognizes Lester Flatt's invaluable contributions to American art as both a songwriter and a performer. One of nine children, Lester Flatt was born on June 9, 1914, and raised in Sparta, Tennessee. As a singer and a guitarist, Lester Flatt is widely considered one of the founding fathers of bluegrass music.

He learned to sing and to play the guitar in local churches. As a member of the legendary Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, Flatt not only popularized bluegrass music, he transformed the music genre from regional to national. Bluegrass music itself, Madam Speaker, originated in the early 1600s as an American art form of immigrants as they came to America. Irish, Scottish, English and African American cultures have played a major part in developing bluegrass music.

The music started in rural areas and in small towns describing life in the hills or on the farms. Eventually this sound became popularized and Lester Flatt emerged from Tennessee as our Nation's premiere bluegrass artist.

With Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys in the mid-1940s, Lester helped bring national acclaim to bluegrass music with the Original Bluegrass Band. Later in Flatt's career he teamed up with Earl Scruggs to create the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1948. This group went on to achieve longstanding success and prestige unprecedented in the bluegrass music world. Parting with Earl in 1969, Lester continued successfully with his own ``Nashville Grass'' until shortly before his death in 1979.

Though he reached tremendous heights across the Nation, Flatt preferred to perform in small towns. He, along with two others, became inaugural members of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.

Madam Speaker, I want to once again congratulate Lester Flatt on his artistic accomplishments and honor his extraordinary life. I thank Congressman Lincoln Davis from Tennessee for bringing this resolution forward today.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to recognize the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis), the sponsor of this legislation, for as much time as he may consume.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 583, which recognizes Lester Flatt's invaluable contributions to American art as both a songwriter and a performer, and I yield back the remainder of my time.

Madam Speaker, I fully support recognizing legendary bluegrass singer and songwriter Lester Flatt for his many contributions to American music.

Music is a tradition that most of us in West Virginia have enjoyed our entire lives. Lester Flatt is a great example of the amazing collection of musical talent in Appalachia. This resolution supports the history and traditions of our region and brings awareness to the talents of Bluegrass Musicians.

Lester Flatt was an acclaimed guitarist, lead singer and a leader in making Blue Grass music what it is today. Most famous for his long career with Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs and the Blue Grass Boys; Lester Flatt and his legendary sounds and strong rhythm and guitar playing helped to create the unique and memorable sound of modern Bluegrass.

A southern West Virginia Bluegrass legend Everett Lilly, originally from Clear Creek near Beckley, had the opportunity to tour with Lester Flatt in the early 1950s, and participated in classic duet recordings with Lester Flatt.

In southern West Virginia we celebrate not only famous Bluegrass Musicians like Lester Flatt and Everett Lilly, but all of our talented musicians through efforts led by the West Virginia Humanities Council and the Music Hall of Fame exhibit at Tamarack. The permanent exhibit at Tamarack in Beckley, WV houses memorabilia and recorded works of Mountain State musicians of the last 50 years and is accompanied by a concert series and a variety of educational programs.

Another exciting initiative is The WV Music Hall of Fame's Traveling Museum which is a collaborated effort between the Humanities Council and the WV Department of Education. The exhibits showcase the variety of music that has come from the Mountain State, from opera and jazz to gospel, traditional, country, bluegrass, blues and rock 'n' roll. While visiting the Traveling Museum, you can view an interactive county by county map of West Virginia's musical history, listen to a variety of music and even make your own CD.

I fully encouraged this partnership and commend The Hall of Fame on a remarkable job in its first few years.

Music was the missing link to West Virginia's premiere arts venue, Tamarack. The Hall of Fame and Tamarack are natural partners. I encourage my fellow West Virginians to support our State and our regions' great musicians and organizations--all working to keep our arts and humanities heritage alive and well in our communities, schools, and lives.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding time, and I will make some very brief comments.

As we look across America, we look at our rivers, our streams, our oceans and our lakes, the scenic mountains of Tennessee, the scenic mountains, obviously the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians. Our artists that will paint portraits and paintings on canvas, our literature, through great authors of our time, our character, as a Nation, our heritage, our family traditions, our family values, and, yes, our music are part of this great American heritage.

Our music, music of those like Flatt and Scruggs that, when I was a child growing up, listening to a radio operated by a battery on a Saturday night was one of the special times when the family got together. But certainly for this particular occasion, for that hour- long session, the ``Grand Ole Opry,'' we would hear such performers as Bashful Oswald and Stringbean and, yes, Flatt and Scruggs, that became an entity in the mid-forties.

Lester Flatt was born in Sparta, Tennessee, in a district that I now represent in White County. And from that, he basically learned his art in church by singing with the choir. He learned his art by self- teaching and by instructions from others in the community of how to play different instruments. And

he became someone that those of us who loved mountain music, who loved the mountain music, loved to hear him. The songs that he sang, the songs that he composed--most he sang himself, and some were sung by others. But he gave us, all of us who live in America and all of those of us who love bluegrass music on a Saturday night, or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and gospel music on Sunday night that's bluegrass style, kind of have a great deal of respect and reverence for Lester Flatt.

It is my honor as a Member of Congress and it is my honor as the Congressman who represents the area where he was born and later moved to North Carolina and Kentucky to perform to audiences that were blessed with his voice, which was unique and his music, which was unique and the three-finger roll that was brought by the banjo to make that music even better. So it's my honor today to recognize this giant who was one of the first three that became a member of the Hall of Fame in 1991, and it's fitting that he did. So it's fitting that we here today honor this giant of bluegrass music.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of House Resolution 583, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Lester Flatt has made an invaluable contribution to the American art as both a songwriter and a performer, and has left an indelible legacy on bluegrass music.

Born in Overton County, Tennessee, in 1914, by age seven he had learned to play the guitar and sang in his church choir. He began entertaining locally and began to pursue a music career when rheumatoid arthritis forced him to quit his job in a local silk mill. As has been stated, he started in 1945 with the Blue Grass Boys, then later with the Foggy Mountain Boys and then finally with the Nashville Grass.

He passed away, but his voice and unique bluegrass style will always be remembered. Lester Flatt and the Bluegrass Boys are credited with the introduction of bluegrass music to this Nation. Bluegrass music is a unique form of American roots music and is considered a sub-genre of the country music scene.

Bluegrass was especially popular in the rural areas of this country, and it's often referred to as the Kentucky bluegrass after Bill Monroe, who was from Kentucky and a member of the Bluegrass Boys. Bluegrass music is a uniquely American art form and Lester Flatt helped to introduce this music to the Nation. Lester Flatt left an indelible legacy in bluegrass music and in the American art, and I ask my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

After hearing the eloquence of the gentleman from Tennessee, I'm embarrassed to admit that the only thing I think of, when I hear Lester Flatt's name, I have to think of ``The Beverly Hillbillies.''

But with that, I'd like to yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble).

We have no more speakers, so I urge my colleagues to vote favorably on this particular resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding. I appreciate that. And you're on the money: ``The Beverly Hillbillies,'' indeed, were a very significant role that they played: Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys brought to you by Martha White. Those introductory words were disseminated, Madam Speaker, across the airwaves throughout Tennessee, southeastern United States and beyond, introducing what, in my opinion, was the world's premiere bluegrass aggregation during that era, specifically the fifties and the sixties.

I realize that the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee can claim, and rightly so, that Lester Flatt was his constituent, but I would be remiss if I didn't remind him again that Earl Scruggs, the world's premiere 5-string banjoist is a native Carolinian, although not a resident in the district I represent.

In addition to Lester and Earl, Paul, Josh and Jake completed the starting five. But when Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys performed, whether on radio, television or in live concert, Americana was on parade because bluegrass music, after all, is America's music. These men, all superb musicians, were celebrities in their own right, but they did not conduct themselves as celebrities. They were not unlike our next-door neighbor or the guy down the street.

Finally, I think it's fitting and appropriate that this House of Representatives recognizes today that Lester Flatt has made an invaluable contribution to American art as both a songwriter and a performer, leaving an indelible legacy in bluegrass music.