Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Have you heard of The Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band? Country music, along with folk songs, remain very popular. They go way back. Many famous country and folk bands made records, and toured the country. Many lesser known groups still do quite well. This article focuses on one of the best.
The Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band began in 1966 in Long Beach, California. The band has gone through a lot of musicians. There are still two who have been there from the start. These are the singer guitarist Jeff Hanna and drummer Jimmy Fadden. Their goal was to not have to work.
The Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band began as a jug band. Jugs were added by jazz bands as a novelty. Memphis jug bands were blues bands. A washboard was used for percussion. TV’s Andy Griffith Show often featured a jug band. Sheriff Taylor had a few run ins with this family. Andy would generally perform with them playing his guitar.
Buy for Me the Rain was the first single released by the Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band. It was a top 40 hit. They performed it with the Doors and even with Jack Benny. Talk about diverse.
The Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band was a big time novelty act in 1968. They performed a song in the 1969 musical western Paint Your Wagon. They even opened for Bill Cosby at Carnegie Hall. They joined a jam session with the great Dizzy Gillespie.
They switched to country and bluegrass in the 70’s. They earned two Grammy nominations. They performed in Japan. They headlined in front of 350,000 people at the Ozark Music Festival.
The Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band kind of disappeared, but popped up now and then. They appeared on SNL and recorded some albums in Nashville. At this time they won two Grammy awards.
Even if you haven’t heard their work, and you probably have, The Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band is part of country music and America.
http://dirtcrazy.com/