Classic Clips: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band “Mr. Bojangles” – 1970

Over a lengthy career, only now drawing to a close, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band are assured of one thing, that their groundbreaking 1972 triple album, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, is their eternal claim to fame. The album featured the band playing with a host of revered traditional Nashville artists, many of them in their twilight years, and it’s seen as instrumental in introducing a new and younger audience to classic country and bluegrass music.

It wasn’t unusual for hip musicians to record in Nashville. Dylan recorded Blonde On Blonde there and of course, Nashville Skyline, but there was a divide between them and the old guard, in particular, the gatekeeper of tradition, The Grand Ole Opry. In 1968 The Byrds, at that point heavily into country music with their album Sweetheart Of The Rodeo played The Opry. It didn’t go well, especially when Gram Parsons deviated from the agreed set list, the band were booed off the stage and banned from future appearances.

Enter then The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Formed in Long Beach California in 1966, the band played folk and jug band music initially and a young Jackson Browne was briefly a member. By 1970, after a series of line up changes, including a short break up, founding member Jeff Hanna had been joined by Jimmie Fadden, Les Thompson, John McEuen and Jimmy Ibbotson and their 1970 album Uncle Charlie And His Dog Teddy found them moving on from their folky roots to a more country rock sound, influenced they said at the time by The Band’s debut album. Their cover of Jerry Jeff Walker’s Mr. Bojangles, lifted from the album, actually became a top ten hit in the States.

John McEuen, the band’s banjo and mandolin player, had been hugely influenced by Earl Scruggs and had always harboured a wish to record with the Opry legend. According to McEuen, on a chance encounter with Scruggs he discovered that he was familiar with their Uncle Charlie album so he asked him if he would consider recording with the band and Scruggs said yes. Scruggs’ agreement was a doorway into asking other Nashville luminaries to participate, and, despite some initial misgivings about this long-haired bunch of freaks, they began to build up an impressive roster of participants. Apparently Roy Acuff was the most problematic but was eventually won over. If you have an original copy of the album you can read an article reprinted in one of the inserts from The Nashville Tennessean which includes these quotes… “Long bearded Les Thompson told long-haired, mustached, Jeff Hanna he had better get a haircut before you see Roy Acuff” and, from Acuff, “Well, you’re supposed to know a man by the character of his face… but if you’ve got your face all covered up with something, well”.

This coming together of God-fearing establishment characters and long-haired hippies inspired a search for footage of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band back then, and this came up. It’s a 1970 performance of the band playing Mr. Bojangles in a TV studio and although I suspect that it’s been enhanced via some AI intervention (and it’s certainly not a live recording), it’s a fascinating time capsule, especially the garb worn by the band. No wonder Nashville thought they were “weird.”