Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Just had to write something about this group's 50th anniversary tour, and it led me to rediscover their early albums-- which are amazingly good and innovative, and pre-date most of the albums recognized as country-rock landmarks. Plus, they recorded the first version of Michael Nesmith's greatest song, "Some of Shelley's Blues."

Also realized they should get mentioned more on this forum because they're a '60s band whose original lineup is all still alive, and they're now touring with three-quarters of the best known lineup. The newest member Bob Carpenter joined in 1977!

 

This band - for the longest time I thought they were local to my area (central Ohio), and not California. I'm pretty sure that any time there was a local festival like the Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival, the Circleville Pumpkin Show, Marion Popcorn Festival, Obetz Zuccini Fest, or a county fair etc., they would be playing it during the mid to late 1980s.

 

Is Ibbotson still gone?
You wouldn't believe me but in the late 70's the NGDB was pretty popular in Italy among the country rock lovers. I saw Uncle Charlie and Symphonion Dream in many houses. I love them, anyway.

 

Yes, though he apparently rejoined on the recent PBS special.

 

Love The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band since 1970 or so and I believe that I own almost all of their output on LP and a lot of it on CD. "Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy" should be in EVERY forum members collection, as it has something musically for nearly everyone to please.

My rarest collectible of theirs that i own is probably the 78 rpm of "Mr. Bojangles" on LIBERTY, which I have in my Seeburg M100A Jukebox.

http://www.cool78s.com/images/faq/Nitty_Gritty_Dirt_Band_Liberty_56197.jpg

 

been a fan since they first hit the scene...Will The Circle Be Unbroken is an incredible album!

 

wonderful, extremely underrated band, dismissed by most rock lovers as pure country, which they are not at all.

 

Their song "Buy For Me the Rain" was one of the first songs I was really crazy about in 1967 (and I never hear it on radio anymore). It really brings back the Summer of Love vibe when I hear it. I also remember "Some of Shelly's Blues" being a small hit in 1971. I need to hear more of their early LPs, they really had an excellent California country rock sound.

Anybody else remember this clip from "Rowan and Martin"?

 

I was at one of my usual hunting grounds and a regular told me that he had just bough a fine copy of Stars & Stripes Forever and really enjoyed it. Earlier in my scanning for records to buy that day I saw a nice copy of Will the Circle be Unbroken for a mere $5 and told him that if he wanted the most important record in their output, that would be the one in my humble opinion. I mean that was a stroke of brilliance bringing together many of the foundation builders of the music they where popularizing for us young un's. Well, he passed , so someone else got themselves a great five dollar deal for a true American masterwork. First saw them in the mid 70's and they where not only very enjoyable musically but pretty witty and at times outright hilarious in that Opry style...

 

some of their CD's have become very hard to find.

especially 'let's go".

 

sure agree with you there. That is one of my favorite albums period, regardless of genre.

 

My favorite of their early tunes is their version of Jackson Browne's "These Days":

 

I discovered this groovy tune on the L.A. Nuggets box set, Where the Action Is!



Ricochet is still on my wishlist.

 

I wore out the original album set when I first got it...some really great stuff! best version of Black Mountain Rag!

 

I was tempted to buy the fairly expensive reissue that came out a couple of years ago, But thought why, when the originals are fairly easy to find, reasonably priced and sound good. But now that it was brought up I wonder.....

 

There was a period where several of their 80s titles were selling for large sums. At meet and greets after the concerts, fans would often express their frustration to the band, who told them it was up to the labels to reissue that material. Recently, there have been several two-fer reissues on BGO.

BGO Records »

 

Besides the obvious ones, two of my other favorites. The anniversary special on PBS was very good. A lot of great guests.

 

It was nice seeing Ibby reunite with NGDB for the PBS special. The only other time Ibby has reunited with them was when NGDB played the Colorado Music Hall of Fame award ceremony with Poco back in 2015. As of 2016, NGDB have brought back bassist/vocalist Jim Photoglo to handle bass duties. Prior to this, Bob was having to play bass parts on the keyboard. Photoglo is a respected songwriter who also co-wrote the hit 'Fishin' In The Dark.'

It's both angering and frustrating that NGDB tours without Ibby, especially since he sang lead on so many of the hits. However, I do have some good news. In April 2016, John McEuen and Jimmy Ibbotson are back playing duo shows together. They used to do these back during the early 2000s, before Ibby stopped touring with NGDB.

Here is a Facebook post regarding a recent show from John McEuen on April 16th:

"Wow.. the shows with Jim, Jimmy - aka Ibby - went absolutely great. Before the show we talked about life, aches and pains of our current stage (it has been said at this time in life anything you have two of? one of them hurts), kids... and then went out for a 2 hour show for a wonderful sold out Rialto Theater house. His voice stronger than ever, good laughs came all through this show,with Ibby in top form.. I hope we make it home from the big storm!"

 

Which digital version of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" should i get? There's the 40th anniversary edition, the 30th annversary edition, there is some editions released in the 90's, etc. Any tips? And why so many threads aren't open for further replies anymore? This makes things really hard around here. You end up postings your stuff in a unrelated thread, since all the other ones are closed!

 

The 1980s CD issue is the best there is for CD, otherwise go vinyl.

 

I have a good collection of their albums and agree wholeheartedly.

 

For great sounding compilations, go for the BGO CD issue or original UA vinyl of Dirt, Silver and Gold for stuff representing the first decade, the Curb "Greatest Hits" CD or the EMI America "The Best of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band" CD for the hits from the late 1970s-early 1980s era as "The Dirt Band," plus "Twenty Years of Dirt" and "More Great Dirt" on Warner Bros., either CD or LP for the mid-late 1980s country chart hits on Warner Bros. There is some overlap between the recommended comps, but still, Dirt, Silver and Gold remains one of the most comprehensive compilations ever released. The BGO Dirt, Silver and Gold has the most natural sounding remaster of "Some of Shelley's Blues" I have ever heard. The 24 bit remaster of Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy is very bright sounding compared to the LP but not brickwalled and the original vinyl sounds great. The band themselves like these exact compilations over any other comp.

BTW, the band themselves do not care for any of their first few albums and consider their first great album to be Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy. For the earliest material, they prefer the Dirt, Silver and Gold compilation over any of the albums pre-Uncle Charlie.

The band loves their live albums and their "Acoustic" album from 1994 as well.

 

I did compare 3 different CD releases of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's cover of Some of Shelley's Blues in my collection. The BGO Dirt, Silver and Gold 2 CD set (the band themselves prefer this compilation over any of their pre-Uncle Charlie albums and I agree), the Curb Greatest Hits comp (which overall does have excellent sound and is the budget comp of their UA/Liberty hits that the band and I both recommend) and the 2003 24 bit remaster of Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy (the band themselves think that this is their first great album overall, and I agree) and since this kind of music is supposed to be very warm sounding as opposed to bright, I have found the BGO Dirt, Silver and Gold remastering of that track to be the best sounding digital master of those I have.

 

Saw an early comp (cd) at the thrift the other day Brad, I should of grabbed it, I'll head back tomorrow to see if it's still there

 

If the early hits comp CD is still there, pick it up, especially if it is the Curb, the EMI America Best of mastered in the 1980s or Dirt, Silver and Gold. Twenty Years of Dirt has a few of their earlier hits but is essential for the first batch of hits for Warner Bros. The Curb comp is common in the $5 at Walmart as well.