The sound of Flatt & Scruggs was never the same after he left and in the later years were without a fine tenor singer to balance out the fact that Lester was having to sing in liwer keys from smoking all those cigarettes. To a true Bluegrass fan, the line is drawn at the point where Curly left the band and the great vocal blend was no longer, which also pretty much coincided with Columbai Records' production staff to foist off material on the Foggy Mountain Boys that wasn't right for the band.