TOM NETHERLAND SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER
Counterculture rockers seem as likely to mix with aging rural music makers as grandma grooving to Taylor Swift. Then again, maybe grandma digs Tay-Tay's groove.
Such was the terrain circa 1971. When hippy-looking Nitty Gritty Dirt Band ventured to record with country and bluegrass icons from Maybelle Carter to Roy Acuff, they aimed unrealistically high. But then the unlikely happened.
Fifty-four years later, hear Nitty Gritty Dirt Band co-founder John McEuen. Laden well with lifetimes of songs and stories, McEuen headlines January Jams at historic Barter Theatre in Abingdon on Saturday, Jan. 25. Southwest Virginia gem Ron Short opens the show.
"I had hopes," said John McEuen of the seminal recording of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's historic album, "Will the Circle be Unbroken." "It started out with me wanting to record 'Soldier's Joy' with Earl Scruggs."
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The time was August 1971. California longhairs The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were riding high with their record of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles." Far removed from acid rockers Black Sabbath and the like of the era, the Dirt Band's record nonetheless struck a chord. It became a top 10 pop record in late 1970.
Emboldened, McEuen sought Earl Scruggs. He professes to having no idea of what was to materialize.
"I caught up with Earl in a club in Colorado," McEuen said. "I asked him, 'Earl, would you play on our album?' He said he would love to. Then I saw Doc Watson at a club in Colorado. Then it was Earl who asked, 'Can we ask Mother Maybelle Carter to be on the album?'"
From there, that which became the Dirt Band's "Will the Circle be Unbroken" album took shape. Maybelle Carter signed on. So did country king Roy Acuff, bluegrass king Jimmy Martin, fiddler Vassar Clements, guitar pioneer Merle Travis and more.
Recorded quickly, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and its stellar company made landmark music history. Released in 1972, the three-LP "Will the Circle be Unbroken" album sold millions of copies and forged a cultural bond that remains firm today.
"We did 38 songs in five days," McEuen said. "It was an event. My brother took pictures of the sessions. I wrote a book about it ("Will the Circle be Unbroken: The Making of a Landmark Album, 50th Anniversary")."
Bluegrass pioneer Jimmy Martin recorded "Grand Ole Opry" song with McEuen and band for the album. When one drops a needle onto side one of the LP, it's the first song you will hear.
"We wanted Jimmy to do that song," McEuen said. "Jimmy said, 'I don't know. There's a lot of dead people in that song. But I'll do it.' Jimmy was amazing."
Generations later, even now McEuen marvels at the unlikelihood of pairing The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band -- who were considered to be a rock band, with a litany of country music pioneers. For better or worse, people had not forgotten the hippies-heavy 1960s. That the record was made at all remains one of music's most remarkable feats.
"It's so strange, listening to the record," McEuen said. "Talking with them between songs, we knew that these people were real people."
Bear firmly in mind that the rockers looked at the country folks much as the country folks looked at the rockers -- as relative oddities.
"Coming from the rock 'n' roll side, you know, we did shows with The Doors when we were in high school," McEuen said. "And the Jefferson Airplane."
And yet "Will the Circle be Unbroken" worked. Two sides of America's widely separated cultural coin bridged a gulf to find common ground.
"It worked," McEuen said. "Jimmy Martin, Roy Acuff, Maybelle Carter -- they were great to us. It was a big deal."
Tom Netherland is a freelance writer. He may be reached at [email protected].
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