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. Even smaller groups and lesser known artists perform all over the country. Let’s look at one.
The Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band had its start in California in 1966. The band has gone through a lot of musicians. But two have been there since the beginning. It’s the guitarist Jeff Hanna and the drummer Jimmy Fadden. They wanted to make a band so they wouldn’t have to work.
At the start the Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band was a jug group. Jazz bands used jugs as a curiosity. In Memphis jug bands were more about the blues. They used washboards for percussion. One famous jug band often appeared in the TV series The Andy Griffith Show. In the show they played a backwoods family whose daughter often got Sheriff Griffith into problems. Andy would generally perform with them playing his guitar.
The first single for the Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band was Buy for Me the Rain. It was a top 40 hit. Jack Benny, of all people, joined the band to play it, and they once performed the song with the Doors. That’s a real difference in performing partners.
The Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band was a big time novelty act in 1968. They sang in the musical Paint Your Wagon. They even opened for Bill Cosby at Carnegie Hall. Dizzy Gillespie performed with them.
In the 1970s they went country. They earned two Grammy nominations. They had a tour in Japan. At the Ozark Music Festival they performed in front of 350,000 people.
In the late 70’s through to the early 2000’s they appeared only occasionally. They returned to Nashville to make more music. One of their albums earned album of the year.
You’ve probably heard some of the work of the Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band.
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