I have Plain Dirt Fashion and Partners, Brothers And Friends on LP. Now that these two classic Nitty Gritty Dirt Band records are available on one CD, I bought the CD version. This music is as great as it was in the mid-'80s, when NGDB originally recorded it.
"Long Hard Road", written by Rodney Crowell(the writer of NGDB's 1980 hit "An American Dream"), was the Dirt Band's first #1 country song, and it has always been one of my favorites. I especially like this line: "When the world was on our radio, hard work was on our minds/We lived our day to day in Plain Dirt Fashion." "Long Hard Road" by itself shows the Dirt Band's ability to pick a well-crafted song. The record's most fun moments, however, are provided by NGDB's Jimmy Ibbotson. Ibbotson's "High Horse", a driving, bouncy song, was a huge hit, as was his wisecracking celebration of the band's first 20 years, "Partners, Brothers And Friends". These two songs are also among my favorite NGDB songs. Still another excellent Ibbotson song is "Telluride", about life in the Colorado gold-mining town("Take the gold into Telluride"). Why "Telluride" didn't get radio airplay I'll never figure out. It's a great song--I think it's certainly up there with Ibbotson's "Ripplin' Waters"(from NGDB's album Dream) and NGDB's '70s classic hit "Mr. Bojangles". NGDB's rocking version of "Cadillac Ranch" is well done and in my opinion surpasses Bruce Springsteen's original. The reflective songs "Home Again In My Heart" and "Old Upright Piano", the romantic ballad "I Love Only You", the rodeo song "The Other Side Of The Hill", and Steve Goodman's humorous song "Video Tape"("If your life was on video tape/Wouldn't everything be alright") are also highlights.
In my opinion Plain Dirt Fashion and Partners, Brothers And Friends, when they came out, represented a welcome return by the Dirt Band to a more countrified sound. Ibbotson's return to the Dirt Band in '83, after a seven-year absence, helped the band bounce back from an ill-advised switch to a pop direction and reclaim their country roots. Not only is Ibbotson a great songwriter, but he's an excellent musician as well--note his mandolin picking on "Telluride", for example. To go on, Jeff Hanna's guitar playing is exceptional in a lot of places(for instance, on "Partners, Brothers And Friends" and "Cadillac Ranch"). There's also some solid piano work by Bob Carpenter(as usual), Jimmie Fadden does excellent harmonica playing, and John McEuen plays some unbelievable banjo and fiddle parts on several of the songs. If you don't already have Plain Dirt Fashion and Partners, Brothers And Friends on LP, they're now both available on one CD. By all means, get the CD version and listen to it. There is a lot of great music here.
It is unfortunate that the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is often overlooked when one considers that they, along with the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, The Dillard and Clark Expedition, Poco, Hearts and Flowers, and Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band, were in the forefront of the California Country Rock scene. Left behind in the wake of the Burritos, and even Poco, whom they were always as good as, if not better, the Dirt Band member credentials were always - and still are - impeccable. a barely out-of-his-teens Jeff Hanna befriended another teenager by the name of Jackson Browne, who with Hanna and Jimmie Fadden was a founding member of the Dirt Band. Hanna and another early Dirt Band player Chris Darrow worked alongside Linda Ronstadt in an brief hiatus. Hanna also played alongside Bernie Leadon in Ronstadt's band as well - if he had stayed longer, he might very well had become a founding father of the Eagles. As things turned out, it was Leadon who would later briefly replace John McEuen in the Dirt Band.
Jimmy Ibbotson was with Skip Battin (Byrds) in Evergreen Blueshoes, and had briefly auditioned for Poco, (beaten out by Randy Meisner)before signing on to the Dirt Band in time for "House at Pooh-Corner", "Some of Shelly's Blues", and "Mr. Bojangles".
Moving to Colorado in the wake of the Eagles, Poco, and Firefall the Dirt Band continued in its eclectic blend of Folk, Rock and Country for many, many years - even after Hanna moved to Nashville. Indeed on the album, "Partners, Brothers, and Friends", the second cd of this two-album set, Hanna sings those famous lines: "Is it Folk, or Rock, or Country?" Which while highlighting the versatility of the Nittys has also tended to make them sadly obscure at times.
The two albums, "Plain Dirt Fashion" and "Partners, Brothers, and Friends" were recorded at a very productive time in the Dirt Band's history - the early and mid 1980s, as they increasingly became more countrified rather than country rock. It was also a joyous time for the band, as it marked the return of Jimmie Ibbotson to its ranks, and just in time for their number one rendition of Rodney Crowell's "Long Hard Road".
Some of the best Country and Country Rock moments of the band are captured on both CDs - the Hanna-Carpenter-Parsons-Carpenter "It Must Be Love" (yes, Bob Carpenter's marriage to Gretchen Parsons brought another element of California Country Rock History to the band's glorified past; she was the widow of Gram) the song itself has that classic California Country Guitar sound courtesy of Hanna; "High Horse", "You Ought to Run with Me", a hard rocking cover of "The Boss's" "Cadillac Ranch" that is still an encore highlight of Dirt Band shows, "Modern Day Romance", "Other Side of the Hill", "Partners, Brothers, and Friends", "Redneck Riviera", represent the Country Rock sounds of the band, while Jimmy Ibbotson brings in the element of the Old West and some Bluegrass in "Telluride" and "Old Upright Piano". I'm not too sure about their cover of Meatloaf's "Two Out Of Three" though - it sounded too typical of Nashville pablum at the time. The two cds represent a fine moment in Dirt Band music, right before the long hiatus of John McEuen, the brief arrival of Leadon, and chugging along very well as a foursome (think "Live 2 5")
It remains to be seen how after recent successes, i.e., a third "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" album, an appearance on the Johnny Cash Tribute concert, and of course, Rascal Flats' recent number 1 success with Hanna's "The Broken Road" what the Dirt Band's future will be - Jimmy Ibbotson has once again departed the band, taking with him those lead and harmony vocals so reminiscent of Richie Furay's or Randy Meisner's (memo to Jeff and John - consider Randy Meisner - after all, think of how "Take It to the Limit" would score appreciatively with Dirt Band audiences, not to mention Meisner's own considerable songwriting skills). Whatever happens, you can be sure that the Dirt Band will carry on.
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[ASIN:B00017LVSC Plain Dirt Fashion/Partners Brothers and Friends]]
I already had the two vinyls on this CD, but I enjoyed them as I did when their first release, I really think that Partners Brothers and Friends is the best album of the NGDB in their successful musical life.
The other album Plain Dirt Fashion completes a great double CD.
