Ron Block was a 13-year-old in Gardena, California, in the 1970s when a Flatt and Scruggs television broadcast rewired his brain. This episode follows how his father's store, Hogan's House of Music, gave him room to master Scruggs-style banjo and guitar, how he ground through the 1980s with Weary Hearts and the Lynn Morris Band, and how he joined Alison Krauss and Union Station in October 1991.

We cover the Grammy for Every Time You Say Goodbye, 14 Grammys in all, the O Brother, Where Art Thou? phenomenon, session and production work for Dolly Parton, Clint Black, Brad Paisley and Bill Frisell, his Dove Award-winning song A Living Prayer, solo albums from Faraway Land to Walking Song, and the 2015 instrumental record named for his dad's shop.

• Why Scruggs-style banjo is so physically demanding
• How Block distilled his playi ...