Many years ago (maybe 1973 or 4) my good friend Royce and I were in Poplar’s Music Store in Grand Forks, ND killing time before going to a concert later that evening. Poplar’s was one of those great old music stores, like they probably don’t have anymore. They carried everything from sheet music to albums (those 12″ vinyl things, plus a few on open-reel tape) to band instruments to gold-flecked Les Paul guitars. I spent countless hours in that store during my “formative” years, drooling over the Les Paul guitars, but usually only buying an album or two. I can still recall first seeing albums there by bands like The Wailers, Seawind, and Michael Omartian. I remember buying “Who’s Next” there for $3.99 on sale. It’s weird how certain memories come back.
On this particular day, Royce and I were browsing the albums while some apparent near-idiot was trying desperately to tune a 5-string banjo. I mean, he was really trying, for like 15-20 minutes. If you know anything about banjos, you know they’re loud; you just can’t tune a banjo softly, and it’s not usually a pleasing sound. After a while, it was getting really irritating as he tuned, and tuned, and tuned. I remember saying something to Royce about how he should just give up, saying almost loud enough for the wannabe picker to hear. We were standing with our backs to him when all of a sudden he started picking like crazy, something like “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”
We turned around in shock, just watching his fingers flying all over that thing. Then, we saw the stitching on the back of his denim jacket: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Yes, it was John McEuen of the NGDB, also killing a bit of time before the concert. I should have asked for his autograph, but I didn’t. It was just enough to be there for this little impromptu concert.
The concert itself, of course, was great. It was, I think, in the Armory (where I also saw the Grass Roots), which meant standing only. It was okay, we would have been standing anyway. NGDB put on one of the tightest concerts I’ve seen. This was during their original “hit” lineup, after Uncle Charlie and Will the Circle Be Unbroken but before they did the cover of Battle of New Orleans (which I didn’t even know they had done, frankly). And, McEuen never took a break. After a considerable first set, the rest of the band disappeared behind the stage (apparently to smoke a few) and McEuen played on, to be joined again by the rest of the Band after 15 minutes or so. I don’t recall what ticket prices were (perhaps as much as $5!), but this was a concert well worth the price. I don’t recall any specific songs they played, but I was left with the overall impression that while the rest of the band were decent musicians, John McEuen was in a class by himself.
The NGDB went through a number of lineup changes, with McEuen leaving for a while, and then returning. They went Nashville, and I never really remained a fan… I did like the Circle albums, and of course, Uncle Charlie, which featured songs by Michael Nesmith (of the Monkees), Kenny Loggins (House at Pooh Corner) and Jerry Jeff Walker (Mr. Bojangles). While I love bluegrass and folk, I have never really been able to deal with the whole Nashville vibe. The NGDB’s strength, I think, was not so much in the band themselves (apart from McEuen), but in their choice of music. Like Three Dog Night, they were a good cover band.
Fun Facts
Not many know that John McEuen used to work in a Disneyland Magic Shop with Steve Martin, and they started playing banjo at about the same time. Martin’s manager was Jimmy McEuen, John’s brother, who also manged the NGDB. Martin has appeared at times with the NGDB, and they were the backing band The Toot Uncommons on Martin’s hit, King Tut.
