Concertgoers took a trip through the decades to the present during a Friday performance by John McEuen and the Circle Band.
McEuen and band mates Les Thompson and John Cable played in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and along with Danny Knicely, performed hits from the band’s earlier years, such as Mr. Bojangles and Dance Little Jean.
But from the start attendees got much more, such as McEuen’s warm-up banjo rounds of the Beverly Hillbillies theme, which he teased the audience for knowing so well and a history in photos and audio of the LA country-rock band’s history and numerous collaborations.
“It was just perfect,” said Debbie Grinton of Aiken. “I loved the combination of the narrative and the pictures that they had. I didn’t know what to expect because I’ve seen John McEuen before. It was just beyond expectations.”
MORE: City of Augusta hosts Martin Luther King Jr. parade
McEuen took the audience on a journey from the band’s early efforts to make the pop charts into its legendary 1972 Will the Circle Be Unbroken album, which featured collaborations with country and bluegrass stars Roy Acuff, “Mother” Maybelle Carter, Randy and Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Vassar Clements and others.
“It was absolutely amazing. I had no idea we were coming to such a history of some of the most famous pickers around,” said Bob Kaltenbach of Augusta.
“Some of the history of how these things came about was unreal. That girls’ school story was something else,” he said. “I loved the stories, but you’ve got to jump up for Mr. Bojangles, and it’s amazing to me that it took so long to get on the charts.”
McEuen told a story during the show of the band’s efforts to get Mr. Bojangles to the Billboard pop Top 10, where it rose to No. 9 in 1971.
MORE: Painted Piano from Jessye Norman School of the Arts unveiled at Georgia Cyber Center
After the song began to sink on the charts, the band’s performance at a Catholic girls’ school in Manhattan – where McEuen said an ABC radio producer’s daughter attended – sent it back up, he said. At the school, McEuen said a nun told him others who had played the school’s lunch hour included the Jackson Five, Paul Simon and John Lennon.
Several attendees said the music held appeal for younger generations, and the band played songs from McEuen’s 2016 album Made in Brooklyn.
Jim Davis of Augusta said he and his wife Lydia enjoyed the show tremendously. “I loved it. It was the best concert we’ve been to this year,” he said.
Their granddaughter has become a fan of Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which he listened to the 1970s.
“You know, I bought that album in the 1970s, and all my buddies were like, ‘what kind of album is that?’ and I listened to it all the time and my granddaughter loves it,” Davis said. “We listen to it like once a week.”
The show was the 115th performance in the Morris Museum of Art’s Budweiser True Blue Southern Soul and Song series, which concludes this year’s season with a performance next month by Marty Stewart.
Susan McCord is a staff writer with The Augusta Press. Reach her at susan@theaugustapress.com
