Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Catfish John

Good Mid-Afternoon my RP Brothers and Sisters!

Earlier today, I thought the weather was going to be like Yesterday, perfect! Boy was I wrong! We have had storm after storm since mid-morning and now it is about 3:15PM on the East Coast and it is cloudy with storms around us... So much for sitting by the pool or going to the beach...

Anyway, I am sort of in a Country Music frame of mind this afternoon and for this Mid-Afternoon's Music Interlude, I chose a song by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band entitled "Catfish John"

Background:
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California, in 1966. The band’s membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band.

Constant members since the early times are singer-guitarist Jeff Hanna and drummer Jimmie Fadden. Multi-instrumentalist John McEuen was with the band from 1966 to 1986 and returned during 2001, staying 16 years, then departing again in November 2017. Keyboardist Bob Carpenter joined the band in 1977. The band is often cited as instrumental to the progression of contemporary country and roots music.

The band's successes include a cover version of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles". Albums include 1972's Will the Circle be Unbroken, featuring such traditional country artists as Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Roy Acuff, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, and Jimmy Martin. A follow-up album based on the same concept, Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two was released in 1989, was certified gold, won two Grammys, and was named Album of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was founded around 1966 in Long Beach, California, by singer-guitarist Jeff Hanna and singer-songwriter guitarist Bruce Kunkel who had performed as the New Coast Two and later the Illegitimate Jug Band. Trying, in the words of the band's website, to "figure out how not to have to work for a living," Hanna and Kunkel joined informal jam sessions at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Long Beach.[citation needed] There they met a few other musicians: guitarist/washtub bassist Ralph Barr, guitarist-clarinetist Les Thompson, harmonicist and jug player Jimmie Fadden, and guitarist-vocalist Jackson Browne. As Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the six men started as a jug band and adopted the burgeoning southern California folk rock musical style, playing in local clubs while wearing pinstripe suits and cowboy boots. Their first paying performance was at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California.

Current Background:
In September 2015, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band commemorated their 50th anniversary with a sold out show at the Ryman Theater. Taped for a PBS special which debuted in March 2016, the concert included guests John Prine, Sam Bush, Vince Gill, Jerry Jeff Walker, Alison Krauss, Rodney Crowell, Byron House, Jerry Douglas and Jackson Browne in addition to former member Ibbotson. On September 30, 2016, Circlin’ Back: Celebrating 50 Years, a live CD and DVD was released. In a 2016 review, the Los Angeles Times wrote that the original release "helped knock down barriers then separating the traditional country and rock music communities, setting the stage for the eventual emergence of what came to be known as Americana music." John McEuen announced his departure from the band in December 2017 at the conclusion of their 50th anniversary tour. John currently performs as a solo artist. In 2018, Jaime Hanna (Jeff Hanna's son) and Ross Holmes joined the band on tour, along with Jim Photoglo, who began touring with the band in 2016. Jim is the co-author of "Fishin' in the Dark."

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Nitty Gritty Dirt Band among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.