Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

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For other uses, see Nitty (disambiguation).

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen iterations over the years, including a period between Dirt, Silver & Gold (1976) and Let's Go (1983) when the band performed and recorded as The Dirt Band.

Prior to major success, the band made a cameo appearance in the 1969 film Paint Your Wagon, leading a lively bluegrass-like song titled, "Hand Me Down That Can of Beans".

The band's best-known song was a 1970 cover of Jerry Jeff Walker's folk song "Mr Bojangles". Their greatest critical acclaim has been for a 1972 album of country and folk standards, recorded in Nashville in collaboration with more traditional country artists, entitled Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

Will the Circle be Unbroken? was a collaboration album recorded with traditional country artists such as Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Roy Acuff, Merle Watson, Jimmy Martin, Junior Huskey, Norman Blake and Pete Oswald Kirby (known to Grand Ole Opry fans as Bashful Brother Oswald). Vassar Clements, a relative unknown, was tapped for fiddle duties, the exposure leading him to greater notoriety and success. The album featured classic bluegrass and old time country standards written by A.P. Carter, Doc Watson and others. The title was adapted from the Carter Family song "Can the Circle Be Unbroken," reflecting how the band was trying to tie together two generations of musicians: the long-haired boys from California were making an effort to reach out to the older veterans of American music and unite them in a divided America. Two other editions were released, one in the '80s and another after September 11, 2001.

In July 1974 The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was one of the headline acts at The Ozark Music Festival, at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri. Some estimates have put the crowd count at 350,000 people, which would make this one of the largest music events in history.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's peak in popularity — at least on country radio — came during the mid- to late-1980s, when they charted a string of successful songs. Amongst them were three No. 1 singles: "Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper's Dream)" (1984), "Modern Day Romance" (1985) and "Fishin' in the Dark" (1987). Other successful songs were "Dance Little Jean" (1983); "I Love Only You" (1984); "High Horse" (1985); "Home Again in My Heart," "Partners, Brothers and Friends" and "Stand a Little Rain" (1986); "Fire in the Sky," "Baby's Got a Hold on Me" and "Oh What a Love" (1987); "Working Man (Nowhere to Go)" and "I've Been Lookin'" (1988); and "Down That Road Tonight" and "When it's Gone" (1989). In 1980, the band (during the period when they were known simply as The Dirt Band) had two singles on Billboard's top 40: "An American Dream" (with Linda Ronstadt) and "Make a Little Magic" (with Nicolette Larson), and crossed over into the country charts as well.

They briefly entered the pop culture again in April of 1992, when they were the unwitting subject of one of George H. W. Bush's malapropisms, referring to the group as the "Nitty Ditty Nitty Gritty Great Bird" at a country music awards ceremony in Nashville:

"I said to them there's another one that the Nitty Ditty Nitty Gritty Great Bird and it says if you want to see a rainbow you've got to stand a little rain."^[1]

This unusual phrasing was repeatedly used as an example of Bush's garbled syntax (notably, in the book Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway), which in turn led to increased visibility for the band.

In 2005 the band donated use of the song Soldier's Joy for the CD TOO MANY YEARS to benefit Clear Path International's work with landmine survivors. Also in 2005, the band was recognized by the International Entertainment Buyers Association for 40 years of contributions to the music industry.