Musician Spotlight: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band, originally found in California in 1966. The band’s lineup has since had several changes with the only constants being singer-guitarist Jeff Hanna and drummer Jimmie Fadden. They also collaborated with many influential musicians such as Earl Scruggs and Mother Maybelle Carter. Their most successful three-part album Will the Circle Be Unbroken including such collaborations won two Grammys for part two, was certified gold and was named Album of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was first formed as a six-man jug band. The group was famous for their southern Californian folk-rock style, pinstriped suits, and cowboy boots. The addition of John McEuen on banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and steel guitar led to the group being signed by Liberty Records. They then released their debut album in 1967. The following year the group’s singer-guitarist at the time Bruce Kunkel decided the band should “go electric”. There were some teething problems, however, and in the 70s they reverted to a traditional country and bluegrass sound.

One of the group’s best-known singles and probably their first hit was a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker’s Mr. Bojangles, which reached No. 9 and remained in the charts for thirty-six weeks. Throughout the 70s the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band continued to establish their reputation as a country band. This led to further collaborations and major success. In 1974 the band headlined at Ozark Music Festival, one of the largest music events in history. The group also released a live album Stars & Stripes Forever, which included a mix of their hit singles along with long story-telling spoken-word monologues.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band shortened its name for a while to The Dirt Band and its sound became more rock and pop-orientated. Other instruments were added including guitar, bass, saxophone, keyboard, and drums. After releasing a few commercial and comic tracks, the group changed back to the full original name and its country roots in 1982. The band since then released more successful singles including Fishin’ in the Dark, their biggest seller. Listen to this hit here:

During the 90s the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band began to tour the world, at the time a foursome of Jeff Hanna, Jimmie Fadden, Jimmy Ibotson, and Bob Carpenter. Jon McEuen later rejoined the group in 2001 and they later released a remastered version of their award-winning album Will the Circle Be Unbroken to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. Later their original music was said to have helped break the barriers between the rock and country genres, which also lead to the Americana genre.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, although it’s changed its lineup on numerous occasions, was a consistently influential and popular act. The band is described by many as instrumental to the progress of country and roots music. The success of the group was due to the collaboration of many talented musicians who were highly-skilled in playing a number of instruments. Read more on the band’s official website.