Thomas Goldsmith, musical historian, musician and former writer and editor at The Tennessean, will discuss his new book, “Earl Scruggs and Foggy Mountain Breakdown: The Making of an American Classic,’’ Friday, Oct. 11, noon-1 p.m. at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Museum historian Jay Orr will moderate the discussion, which also features banjo player John Hedgecoth, who worked with Scruggs’ mentor Bill Monroe in the 1970s.

In the book, Goldsmith explores the song that catapulted the banjo from backup instrument to featured solo status with Scruggs’ signature three-finger picking style. The book features interviews with Scruggs, wife and manager Louise, Bela Fleck and fellow musicians Curly Seckler, Mac Wiseman and Jerry Douglas. It also examines Scruggs’ musical evolution and relationship to legend Bill Monroe, who first hired Scruggs to play with The Blue Grass Boys.

Goldsmith is the winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Print Media Person of the Year award, the editor of the Bluegrass Reader, and has written for newspapers in Tennessee and North Carolina for decades. He is also a musician who makes frequent appearances at music venues in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina.

The discussion will be held in the museum’s Taylor Swift Education Center. There is limited seating and the event is included with museum admission. It’s free to museum members.