Who wrote dueling banjos?

flatt and scruggs i believe. i think the guys that did it for deliverance recorded it without giving flatt and scruggs the credit so there was a big legal deal over it.

i just went to research that and i think i may have just made that up or confused it with somethign else. haha.

Ding! Thanks for playing.

I think it is in the nebulous category.

aha! i will partially redeem myself:

Duelling Banjos, the theme tune from the film Deliverance, proved to be one of the unlikeliest hits of the '70s when it reached No 2 on the US pop charts in early 1973. The banjo and guitar which traded licks so memorably were played by session players Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell respectively, and these two gents taught the actors to mime the parts on film.

The so-called film soundtrack album which was released was, in fact, an old LP entitled "New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass" by Weissberg and Marshall Brickman. The guitarist on much of that album was future Byrd Clarence White. The hit single was the only tune on the album on which Steve Mandell played.

The earlier album had included a tune entitled "End Of The Dream", which was very similar indeed to "Dueling Banjos", which was presumed to be a traditional tune, and was credited as such. Things got even more difficult when Arthur Smith, who had had a 1945 million seller with the famous "Guitar Boogie", pointed out that he had in fact written and recorded an almost identical tune, which he called "Feuding Banjos", in 1955. Normally the authorship of a bluegrass banjo tune wouldn't create much fuss, but Dueling Banjos sold in excess of a million copies.

Smith eventually won a lawsuit over the issue, and the composer of ["Feuding Banjos"] and the composer of "Dueling Banjos" are now officially one and the same man. - [Arthur Smith]

Hey, thanks for playing, and seriously this time. I did not know that.

i was at least initially correct about "big legal deal." that gets some points right?

No, you get all the points.

Rednecks.

I grew up in Charlotte, NC where Arthur Smith lived and maintained a recording studio. In this very studio James Brown recorded Papa's Got a Brand New Bag. Trivia!

looks like you get some points as well.

Dueling banjos + James Brown = orgasm

it does?

Of course. Basic geometry.

Indeed, I can vouch for the Arthur Smith legacy of Dueling Banjos and more. As a former picker and having lived in Charlotte about 30 years ago, (I also made a few small time appearances on Tommy Fale's TV show, "Country Showcase" which was syndicated and broadcast out of Charlotte), I knew of the legendary Arthur Smith and many used to play his "Feud" years before James Dickey wrote his book. Just for info, the Arthur Smith show was on the radio and TV in Carolina for many decades preceding the 70's. When I was nearing 14 in the early/ mid 60's watching TV one night, Mr Smith introduced a "lovely young girl from East Tennessee" to the world - shapely too. She sang, as I recall, a song called Joleen. I fell in love or something akin to it and the rest is history for Dolly. Too bad no one remembers Arthur. BTW - he also played fiddle back in the post depression days and could play the blues as well as any of best but on any instrument.

Passerby, just wanted to note that, although Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith could indeed play fiddle, it was Fiddlin' Arthur Smith that was known for playing fiddle in the post Depression days.

Yes, Dolly Parton was lovely during the brief period in
her life when she looked like a human being (and not a
plastic barbie doll).