Bradenton’s John McEuen looks back on 50 years in music

John McEuen didn’t have any ideas for the title of his new solo album. But he wasn’t worried about it. His buddy, Steve Martin, whom he’d known since high school, was going to play banjo on the record. He figured Martin would come up with something.

The recording session was in an old church in Brooklyn.

“You’re making this record in Brooklyn,’” Martin said. “Why don’t you just call it ‘Made in Brooklyn’?”

“That’s it,” McEuen said. “Perfect.”

McEuen performs concerts all over the world. He figures he performs about 130 concerts a year, either solo or with his band, playing mostly banjo and fiddle.

For his concert on Friday, he’ll have the home-field advantage. McEuen has lived in Bradenton for the past couple of years, and on Friday he’ll be playing a solo show at Fogartyville in Sarasota. It’ll be a multi-media show, sort of a career retrospective, with McEuen singing and playing, and showing videos and telling stories about his music career, including his decades with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

The band is celebrating an astounding 50 years together. McEuen has been with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band from its very early days in Long Beach, Calif. He replaced a kid named Jackson Browne who was in NGDB for just a few months.

McEuen said he never thought he’d be playing with the band when he got this old.

“I never thought I’d get this old, period,” he said.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band had the first hit recording of Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles.” It was also the first band to record any songs by Kenny Loggins, even before Loggins himself did. But they’re perhaps best known for their 1972 triple LP “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” on which the band played with many of the most important figures in traditional country music at the time, including Roy Acuff, "Mother" Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs and Merle Travis. Watson had named his son Merle, after Travis, but Watson and Travis had never met. Their first meeting was in the studio, and their first conversation is included on “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

It was unusual for country artists and rock artists to play together in those days, and the album is often credited for pioneering the genre of country-rock.

Besides the new solo album, his 11th, McEuen’s big musical project in recent months has been a PBS special released earlier this year. “Circlin’ Back,” which was recorded at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, features the band performing with Browne, Walker, John Prine. Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell and others who have influenced and been influenced by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The DVD is one of those things that a PBS station gives as a gift during pledge drives if you donate money.

There’s no real secret to the band’s longevity, McEuen said, other than good fortune.

“You’re so lucky when things go right,” he said. “After every show I kind of think, ‘Well, we got away with it one more time.’”

You could almost consider the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band a local act at this point. McEuen lives here in Bradenton, and drummer Jimmie Fadden lives in Sarasota. So half of the band lives in the area.

McFadden’s love for this area encouraged McEuen and his wife to relocate here in spring of 2014. They’re not likely to move again, McEuen said.

“What’s not to like?” he said about Bradenton. “It’s been a great move, in terms of good feelings and lots of other ways.”

Details: 8 p.m. Nov. 18, Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota. $23 advance, $28 day of show. 941-545-5635, sarasotapeacenter.org.

This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 5:39 PM with the headline "Bradenton’s John McEuen looks back on 50 years in music."