Mark Gardner and I got to meet with Earl back in '06. He was still hot on the banjo and was playing his great classics like Pike County Breakdown. It seemed like he was playing even faster than on the old recordings. We were like five year old kids fawning over our hero and telling him how he inspired us to take up the banjo. Mark observed that he probably heard that a lot. Earl said, "well I might have heard that a time or two." There aren't many who have changed the direction of an instrument or a kind of music so clearly as he did. Thank you Earl for the great music and inspiration.