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Musical Americana
| Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has constantly juggled with genres |
As high school students, in 1965, Jeff Hanna and Bruce Kunkel started a group called Illegitimate Jug Band. The pair met Jackson Browne and in college the three formed the core of the original version of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band along with Jimmie Faddethe 1968 film, “Paint Your Wagon”.
In 1969, the group temporarily disbanded. Joined by Jimmy Ibbotson (and minus Barr and Darrow), Nitty Gritty Dirt Band regrouped and recorded its breakthrough album, Uncle Charlie, which featured the Top 10 cover of Jerry Jeff Walker’s ‘Mr. Bojangles’. The group’s next important project was a historic meeting with a bevy of old-time country and bluegrass artists, including Roy Acuff, Earl Scruggs, Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, and Vassar Clements to record Will hich featured Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Ricky Skaggs, Chet Atkins, Levon Helm, John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Roger McGumn, Earl Scruggs, Rosanne Cash, and others.
A popular live act, band members trade myriad string and other instruments about during their concerts. Dirt Band, in 1977, became the first U.S. rock group to tour the Soviet Union. The following year, the group arranged and later performed Steve Mam style="i"/> (1987), all hit the number 1 spot.
One of the few country-rock bands that moved from old-time country to rock, rather than vice versa, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has delved into all sorts of musical Americana. Through the years, the group’s material has gone from a hybrid jug band/string band, through bluegrass and hoedowns, to country swing and country rock.
A. GEORGE ANTONY
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