The Reading Musical Foundation will be bringing a special Americana experience to the people of Berks County through GUITAR-A-RAMA 2023, a FREE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP/JAM AND CONCERT, with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder John McEuen, Dave Kline and the Mountain Folk Band, Big Valley Bluegrass and guitarist Bryan Betts.
The event will be held Sunday, Sept. 17 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Reading, beginning with the workshop/masterclass at 1 p.m., followed by a performance by Betts in Cheers Bistro at 2, a concert at 3, and a bluegrass jam session hosted by Big Valley Bluegrass at 5. RMF students and anyone else studying bluegrass-related string instruments are invited to attend the workshop, and then join McEuen and the band for the concert finale.
McEuen—who plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro and fiddle—has been a driving force in the revival of bluegrass and country music since the 1960s. When he and the Dirt Band began collaborating with traditional country icons like the late Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Roy Acuff, Jimmy Martin, Merle Travis and others, the result was the landmark, three-LP album, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” released in 1972. Most of the classic songs were recorded in one take and included some casual dialogue among the musicians; the sessions were also recorded on film. It went platinum, and has since been placed in the Library of Congress and the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The Dirt Band went on to record two more volumes, in 1989 and 2002, of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” with some of the original artists as well as others including Johnny Cash, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm, John Prine, Bela Fleck, Chet Atkins, Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss and many others. Volume II won three Grammys in 1990.
“We had no idea it (the original album) was going to wind up in the Library of Congress and the Grammy Hall of Fame,” said McEuen in a recent interview through Zoom. He had put on a colorful “Route 66” shirt for the occasion, and he kept his guitar on his lap, using it to punctuate some of his statements and to create a gentle soundtrack to the conversation. “It continues to sell; in the Amazon charts it’s still in the Top 30, ever since the Ken Burns Country Music documentary (in 2019),” which included footage of the album’s recording sessions and commentary by McEuen in episode 9.
McEuen said that about 10 years ago, his brother, William E. “Bill” McEuen, who produced the original “Circle” album, gave him a treasure trove of photos taken during the recording sessions. One of the ways he got through the Covid years was to work on a book, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken: The Making of a Landmark Album,” using those photos and his own memories of that special time. The book was published in 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the album.
When he comes to Reading for the Guitar-A-Rama, McEuen will bring a video he put together using a selection of those photos; this will be projected on a screen behind him and the band during their concert.
“I’m really excited about participating in this,” he said. “During the workshop, I’ll be talking about things you can do (as a musician) to make money. So often people just talk about how to play a lick. It will be about different applications I use when I play. I had six children, and the Dirt Band wasn’t always playing, so I booked shows. You have to look for anything. Being a musician is not a profitable pursuit, so I started booking shows. It’s good to keep your horizons open.”
One of the highlights of McEuen’s career as a booking agent was putting together the historic Phish Millennium Concert at the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation in the Florida Everglades in 1999. The three-day event (Dec. 30 and 31, and Jan. 1, 2000) grossed about $12 million, “the second-largest amount in history for one act,” he said.
McEuen said he also plans to help “simplify the mystery of picking the guitar” during the workshop. As he talked, he began demonstrating “double thumbing,” a simple technique for creating patterns that are endlessly useful for accompaniment in various keys.
When McEuen began his journey as a musician at 17, in 1960s Los Angeles, he picked up a guitar and learned some Jimmy Reed electric blues from his older brother. Then, a few months later, he saw The Dillards, a popular L.A.-based family bluegrass band, on “The Andy Griffith Show” (as the fictional Darlings), and was instantly hooked on the banjo.
“Rodney Dillard (the dobro and guitar player) is still one of my best friends,” he said. While L.A. was not exactly a hot bed of bluegrass, McEuen was able to pick up banjo by watching the Dillards when they performed in town, as well as banjo player Herb Pedersen, who performed at Frontier Land in Disneyland. When, in the car on the way to college, he heard The Byrds playing “Mr. Tambourine Man” he said, “I wanted to be on the radio.” The bluegrass connection deepened when he learned that Byrds bassist Chris Hillman had played mandolin in the San Diego bluegrass band The Scotsville Squirrel Barkers.
And what was McEuen doing at Disneyland? It happened that he and his high-school buddy, Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin) were working their dream job, selling and performing magic tricks at the magic shops at Fantasyland and on Main Street. They both came under the spell of banjo music at the same time, and as McEuen picked up techniques, he would pass them on to Martin, who has become a banjo performing and recording artist. McEuen later produced and played on Martin’s solo album, “The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo,” which won the 2010 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.
At 19, he met the young, still unknown singer/guitarist Jose Feliciano, and they started playing for tips in coffee houses around L.A. On Feliciano’s advice, McEuen added more instruments: mandolin, dobro and fiddle. “It was a magical time,” he said. “I was 19 or 20 years old, and playing with this incredible voice and guitar-playing. He was still a teen.”
By 1967, he had replaced Jackson Browne in the newly formed Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, joining singer/guitarist Jeff Hanna, guitarist/drummer Jimmie Fadden and, later keyboardist Bob Carpenter and multi-instrumentalist Chris Darrow. Bill McEuen became their manager, and got them a record contract with Liberty Records.
Their breakthrough album, “Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy,” came in 1970. It contained a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles,” which reached number nine on the singles chart. Since then, the band has continued to the present, with McEuen a member for periods of time, finally leaving in 2017 to pursue his own projects.
Throughout his career, McEuen has been involved in 46 albums (performing and/or producing), including seven solo albums. He has hosted his own “Acoustic Traveller Show,” now in its 12th year on Sirius/XM. In 2016 he created the album “Made in Brooklyn,” along with guest artists David Amram, David Bromberg, Jay Ungar, Martin and others. He has written 14 film scores, including one that was nominated for an Emmy. And, in 2018, his autobiography, “The Life I’ve Picked,” was published.
When Covid struck, he didn’t miss a beat, filling the time with 22 Facebook Live performances, the radio show and other projects. He is putting the finishing touches on a new album, “The News Band,” to be released later this year. It contains 10 stories he has collected over the years, which he tells over his own musical accompaniment. As the interview neared its close, McEuen started gently strumming and reciting Walter Brennan’s monologue, “Old Rivers.”
As he reminisced about some of the musical friends he has treasured—including Leon Russell, Hillman, Koko Taylor, Arlo Guthrie, and so many more—McEuen concluded, “I’m very lucky.”
Dave Kline, who is producing the Guitar-A-Rama for RMF, remembers working with McEuen about 25 years ago, when he and his Mountain Folk Band opened for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
“A few years ago I interviewed John for my weekly Mountain Folk radio and web show,” Kline said. “I ended up writing a series of five Mountain Folklore newspaper articles and producing five one-hour Mountain Folk shows featuring John, his music and our interview segments.
“Later that year my efforts as a journalist and show producer/host won top honors at the annual Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters Excellence in Media Awards Banquet.”
McEuen was elated at the news, and when Kline invited him to headline the Guitar-A-Rama in September, he agreed without hesitation, Kline said.
“This will be a very unique event because of the format and the fact that we intend to bring musicians from the workshop to give them what will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform in a real-life, major concert with a true superstar of folk, bluegrass and country pop music,” Kline said.
The event will also honor the City of Reading’s 275th anniversary by having the Guitar-A-Rama in the city’s heart.
Tickets for the event are free, but reservations are necessary, since seating is limited to 800 people. To reserve tickets for the workshop/masterclass/jam, visit https://dave-kline-productions.ticketleap.com/.
For tickets to the concert, visit https://dave-kline-productions.ticketleap.com/reading-musical-foundations-guitar-a-rama-2023-featuring-john-m/.
There will be vendors on hand throughout the day. Vendors who would like to set up a booth can contact the presenter by email at [email protected], or call 610-376-3395.
