Dirt On The Strings: The Instrumental Collection

Performer: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Producer: Sam Passamano, Jr. (Compilation)
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Adapter: John McEuen. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: John McEuen. Personnel: Jeff Hanna (guitar, electric guitar, cymbals, washboard); John McEuen (guitar, banjo, mandolin); Jimmy Ibbotson (guitar, percussion); Jonathan McEuen, Randy Scruggs, Tony Rice (guitar); Doug Journigon, Jerry Douglas , Norman Blake (dobro); Earl Scruggs (banjo); Jimmie Fadden (harp, electric harp, harmonica, drums); Les Thompson, Ronnie McCoury, Jerry Mills (mandolin); Al Garth (violin); Glen Duncan, Vassar Clements, Byron Berline (fiddle); Bob Carpenter (accordion, keyboards); Byron House (upright bass); Merle Brigante (drums, percussion); Jaime Hanna (percussion). Audio Remasterer: Steve Hoffman. Liner Note Author: John McEuen. Arrangers: John McEuen; Earl Scruggs. One Way's Dirt on the Strings features 12 instrumental highlights from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 30-plus years together. This is progressive bluegrass/country at its best, showcasing Jeff Hannah and John McEuen at their most forward-thinking and reverent. From the slow wind harp intro to Symphonion Dream's "Winterwhite" -- written in a hotel stairwell by the whole band during a collective bout of insomnia -- to the deep woods thunder of Vassar Clements' "Lonesome Fiddle Blues," Dirt is a compact reminder of the band's substantial impact on the genre. However, that very same brevity keeps the collection from reaching any kind of crescendo. At just over 30 minutes, it's an insult to the quality and quantity of songs put forth by this legendary -- and still going strong with all original members -- group of pickers and poets. ~ James Christopher Monger

Dirty Linen (pp.62-63) - "[The] guests are the likes of Vassar Clements, Earl Scruggs, Byron Berline, Norman Blake, Tony Rice and Jerry Douglas, the odds are the music is going to be pretty good, and it is."

Their earliest incarnation was as a large, fun-loving jug-band/trad folk group in mid-1960s California. Eventually the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band evolved into a tight, critically lauded country-rock ensemble, and had a Top Ten hit in 1970 with the poignant "Mr. Bojangles." The band was also legendary for assembling informal recording sessions with Nashville veterans such as Merle Travis and Roy Acuff, the results of which, 1972's MAY THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN, inspired two more volumes, a 30th anniversary reissue, and a box set. Through many lineup changes and a brief name change (the Dirt Band), their career has extended through the millennium and shows no signs of letting up.

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