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Old 07-24-2017, 12:32 PM
bigreddog bigreddog is offline
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Default PBS and the Nitty Gritty

As a kid growing up in the late 70s and early 80s PBS was at least a decent place to see some pretty good music. You know, the regulars on Austin City Limits like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and such. I even caught a couple of incredible debuts for ACL in the form of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson.

What happened? ACL is just a shell of it's former self and when something "new" comes along we get something like this:

THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND: 50 YEARS AND CIRCLIN’ BACK

Folks, I basically started learning guitar by wearing out the grooves in the three album set of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". It was incredible hearing all the old masters mixing it up with all those "hippies"--especially the banjo work of John McEuen and Earl Scruggs.

Move forward to this recent show Nitty Gritty circlin' back. I just found it to be painful to watch. Am I just getting old and grumpy, or was this really as bad as it seemed? No offense to some of the artists but the ones like Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas seemed to be extra bored as if they couldn't wait for it to end so that they could get their check and try to forget about it.

I would love to hear some input from others.
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Old 07-24-2017, 03:18 PM
dirkronk dirkronk is offline
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Guess I'll hunt that program down, but I can't say I'm anxious to do so if the energy is really that lackluster. I've owned Will the Circle Be Unbroken on vinyl since it came out: still have two personal copies and have bought many to give as gifts over the years. Back when I was active in the hi-fi biz, that 3-LP wonder was in frequent rotation as a demo album, and for good reason. Superb performances and superbly natural (though studio ambient) sonics.

The follow-up albums released much later? Pretty lame, actually...nowhere near the level of performance excitement OR sonic splendor. So somehow I'm not too surprised to hear that the ACL program wasn't smokin'. Too bad.

Dirk
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Old 07-27-2017, 06:37 PM
Mr Bill Mr Bill is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bigreddog View Post

THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND: 50 YEARS AND CIRCLIN’ BACK

Folks, I basically started learning guitar by wearing out the grooves in the three album set of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". It was incredible hearing all the old masters mixing it up with all those "hippies"--especially the banjo work of John McEuen and Earl Scruggs.

Move forward to this recent show Nitty Gritty circlin' back. I just found it to be painful to watch. Am I just getting old and grumpy, or was this really as bad as it seemed? No offense to some of the artists but the ones like Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas seemed to be extra bored as if they couldn't wait for it to end so that they could get their check and try to forget about it.

I would love to hear some input from others.
Let's face it, the guys in the Dirt Band are all 70 or so. The energy level is going to be a bit less than when they were in their 20s. I enjoyed the 50 year special. Jerry Douglass' dobro was mixed way too loud though.

I think you're right about the 'old & grumpy' part.
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