Dec. 19: John McEuen of of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, "Mr. Bojangles," is 65 today.

John McEuen, born in Long Beach, California, was one of the earliest members of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He plays banjo, guitar, steel guitar, mandolin, fiddle, piano. He played with the band from 1966 to 1986, and returned in 2001.

Besides his career with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John has performed and recorded prolifically as a solo artist and in various group settings, as well as producing music CDs, film scores, and videos.

John is the only Californian musician to perform solo on the Grand Ole Opry, plus play it several times with his band, and then be featured as a guest with several of the Opry member acts. He has recorded with the Nashville's Country music creators, and had records in the pop and country charts.

He instigated what Rolling Stone called in 1972, "the" most important record to come out of Nashville, and what the 2004 ZAGAT survey called the most important record in country music, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken."

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As a solo entertainer, John McEuen plays to the boomer traditional/bluegrass and folk audience, as well as the older country audience. Still, 20 percent are under the age of 30.

In 2010, John won a Grammy for his production of Steve Martin - "The Crow new songs for the 5-string banjo," which enjoyed a continuous run on the Billboard charts at #1 for 7 months. He Played on seven cuts, did nearly all the musical arrangements comprised of all original music written by Martin.

This was followed by appearances with Martin on the finale of American Idol, the Ellen DeGeneres show and the Grand Ole Opry in the same week, the week it was released on Rounder Records.

McEuen has made over 40 albums (six solo) that have earned four platinum and four gold recognition awards, Grammy nominations, CMA and ACM awards, Western Heritage Award, Emmy nomination, and IBMA record of the year award. In addition, John has performed on another 25 albums as guest artist. He has produced over 200 concerts, his first one in 1965 with Bob Dylan.

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