Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, also known as the Dirt Band, is an American band founded in Long Beach, California, in 1966. Since 2018, the band has consisted of Jeff Hanna and his son Jaime Hanna, both guitarists and vocalists, along with Jimmie Fadden, Bob Carpenter, Ross Holmes, and Jim Photoglo.
Jeff Hanna and Fadden founded Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1966 with a lineup initially consisting of Bruce Kunkel, Ralph Barr, Les Thompson, and Jackson Browne, who quit early on and was replaced by longtime member John McEuen. The band had its first hit single in 1967 with "Buy for Me the Rain" on Liberty Records. Their earliest work featured jug band and traditional folk elements. In 1970, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band had their biggest pop hit with a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles". Their sound took on elements of soft rock in the latter half of the 1970s and early 1980s, including the hit singles "An American Dream" and "Make a Little Magic".
Starting in the early 1980s, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band began a shift toward country music, led off by the singles "Shot Full of Love" and "Dance Little Jean". By this point, the band consisted of Jeff Hanna, McEuen, Fadden, Carpenter, and Jimmy Ibbotson. This lineup recorded several country albums for Warner Records throughout the 1980s and charted multiple singles on Billboard Hot Country Songs. Of these, "Long Hard Road ", "Modern Day Romance", and "Fishin' in the Dark" all went to number one, with the last becoming their signature song. After leaving Warner in the late 1980s, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band recorded for several other labels, including Universal, MCA Nashville, Rising Tide, and DreamWorks Records. They have collaborated with a number of artists, including Doc Watson, Linda Ronstadt, John Denver, and Steve Martin. In addition, Jeff Hanna co-wrote the song "Bless the Broken Road", the most successful version of which was recorded by Rascal Flatts.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is also known for three collaborative albums: Will the Circle Be Unbroken in 1972, Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two in 1989, and Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III in 2002. All three featured a large number of guests from folk, rock, country, and bluegrass. They have also won three Grammy Awards. Critics have found influences of country, pop, rock, bluegrass, and folk music in their sound.
History
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was founded in Long Beach, California, in 1966. Founding guitarist Jeff Hanna was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, but his family had moved to Long Beach four years prior. While in high school, he befriended guitarist Bruce Kunkel, and the two played in a local duo called the New Coast Two. As they wanted to form a larger group, the two began playing impromptu jam sessions at a Santa Monica music store called McCabe's Guitar Shop. Through these performances, they recruited four other musicians. These were Jimmie Fadden, who at the time played washtub bass, harmonica, and guitar, along with Ralph Barr, Les Thompson, and Jackson Browne. All six members also served as vocalists. Browne quit the group after only a few months, and was replaced by John McEuen, who contributed on guitar, mandolin, banjo, and washtub bass. They briefly called themselves the Illegitimate Jug Band, due to their playing jug band music without actually having a member who played the jug. Soon afterward, they selected Nitty Gritty Dirt Band as a name, inspired by their observation that many bands at the time had names that they considered long and unusual, such as Strawberry Alarm Clock.19671971: Early years
John's older brother William E. McEuen served as the band's manager, helping to book them as opening acts for artists such as Joan Baez. He also helped the band sign a contract with Liberty Records, which released their self-titled debut album in 1967. "Buy for Me the Rain" was released as a single from this project, and it reached number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. Another album for Liberty, Ricochet, followed later in 1967. After this album, Kunkel quit over creative differences in the band's sound, and was replaced by multi-instrumentalist Chris Darrow, formerly a member of Kaleidoscope. Of their style at the time, Mary Campbell of the Associated Press noted their use of acoustic instruments and rudimentary traditional folk instruments such as washtub bass, kazoo, and comb and paper. She also noted that their clothing and song choices, such as a cover of "Teddy Bears' Picnic", reflected the music and mindset of the 1920s.Their third album, 1968's Rare Junk, was their first to feature electric guitar, electric bass, and drums. Although Browne had left by this point, they covered his "These Days" on it. Johnny Sandlin contributed on drums and Paul Hornsby on piano. Both were members of the band Hour Glass at the time also managed by Bill McEuen. Bob Talbert of The State praised the album for the variety of instruments used, noting that said variety allowed influences of jazz and country music on top of the group's existing jug band sound. A year later, Liberty released a live album titled Alive, recorded at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. That same year, the band contributed the song "Hand Me Down That Can o' Beans" to the soundtrack of the movie Paint Your Wagon, starring Lee Marvin. The band briefly broke up in late 1968. During this hiatus, Hanna and Darrow joined Linda Ronstadt's country rock tour band called the Corvettes, who recorded one session with Michael Nesmith of the Monkees as producer.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band reunited in June 1969, although Darrow and Barr declined to rejoin. Both were replaced by Jimmy Ibbotson, who played bass guitar, drums, piano, and accordion. After reuniting, the band issued its fourth Liberty album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy that same year. Colin Larkin, in the Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music, wrote that this album marked a shift in their sound from "jokey elements" to a more country rock sound. It featured a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles". Their version of the song was their first major hit, reaching number nine on the Hot 100. Also charting from the album were covers of Kenny Loggins's "House at Pooh Corner" and Nesmith's "Some of Shelly's Blues". Richie Unterberger of AllMusic wrote of this album, "The group moved into a more accessible rock-oriented fusion of country, bluegrass, pop, and rock & roll, relying primarily on smartly chosen covers...Few bands had incorporated instruments more commonly associated with country and bluegrass, particularly mandolin and banjo, as comfortably into a rock setting prior to this release, and their well-crafted harmonies help put the songs over for those not-steeped-in backwoods sounds."
19721977: United Artists Records and ''Will the Circle Be Unbroken''
Liberty Records merged with United Artists Records in 1972. Their first project for this label was 1972's All the Good Times. The album had further cover songs on it, including Hank Williams's "Jambalaya " and Doug Kershaw's "Diggy Liggy Lo", as well as another Jackson Browne cover, "Jamaica Say You Will". The former of these was issued as a single, but peaked in the lower end of the Hot 100. Hartford Courant writer Henry McNulty found the cover songs superior to the original cuts on the album, but criticized the inclusion of fake applause between tracks.Also in 1972, the band traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, to record the album Will the Circle Be Unbroken. This was a collaborative three-disc album featuring a number of country and bluegrass artists, such as Roy Acuff, Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, and Doc Watson. Writing for The Los Angeles Times, Robert Hillburn thought that the band showed appreciation for the music of the collaborators, and that the album would appeal to music fans who did not like the then-contemporary Nashville sound. The album also accounted for Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's first entries on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts: a cover of Hank Williams's "I Saw the Light" and the original "Grand Ole Opry Song", respectively featuring guest vocals from Roy Acuff and Jimmy Martin. Following the commercial success of Will the Circle Be Unbroken, they began touring across the United States and internationally. McEuen also began recording as a solo artist at this point, despite staying a member of the band. Larkin noted that critical reception of Will the Circle Be Unbroken "played an important role in breaking down mistrust between the country's establishment and the emerging 'long hair' practitioners." Similarly, Watson later attributed the album's success to renewed interest in his music, particularly among fans of rock music who did not typically listen to folk and bluegrass. The "I Saw the Light" cover accounted for their first Grammy Award nomination, in the category of Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; a year later, the album itself was nominated in the same category. In 1997, the project became their first album to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Their next album for United Artists was 1974's Stars and Stripes Forever. By this point, Thompson had left, as well, leaving the band as a quartet. A cover of Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans" charted from this project. The album, composed of both live and studio recordings, also featured interview segments by fiddle player Vassar Clements. Bruce Eder wrote that these elements made the album "more than its money's worth" and capable of showing their mix of country and rock influences. A year later, they released Symphonion Dream, led off by a cover of the Everly Brothers's "All I Have to Do Is Dream". The album featured guest contributions from Linda Ronstadt, Leon Russell, and actor Gary Busey. Eder found influences of psychedelic rock and bluegrass in the instrumentation, highlighting the instrumentals, as well as in the other cover songs on the album such as Hank Williams's "Hey, Good Lookin". Ibbotson left the band after this album, after which point John Cable and Jackie Clark joined. These two alternated as bassists and guitarists. Soon after they joined, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band toured in the Soviet Union. The United States Department of State oversaw the tour, which lasted for 28 days. This was followed by their first greatest-hits package, Dirt, Silver and Gold, also in 1976.