At the opening of his 80th birthday concert, John McEuen took the stage at Madison’s Harken Hall alone, turning toward the screen where he received video greetings from friends that rank among the biggest names in bluegrass, including Steve Martin, who attended high school with him in Garden Grove, California.
He opened on banjo, inviting the audience who joined him to celebrate the milestone birthday to sing along on “The Ballad of Jed Clampett.” He then brought out his guest players—Becky Buller on fiddle, Mike Bub on bass, and Justin David on guitar. With photographs playing on the screen from the early days of his time in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the monumental sessions when they recorded Will the Circle Be Unbroken? McEuen and his fellow musicians played a range of traditional tunes, some of the best loved songs of NBDB, including “Mr. Bojangles,” and songs of their contemporaries—Bernie Leadon, Linda Ronstadt and more.
Also joining McEuen, who switched between a number instruments himself, were Brandon Lee Adams and Murial Anderson on a harp guitar, and his son Nathan as well.
Maintaining a balance of serious stories and humor from his music career, McEuen wove a narrative of his own path to music and then shared stories from Roy Acuff, Jimmy Martin, Earl Scruggs, Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, and other bluegrass icons who joined the young musicians on the recording project that marked a milestone in bluegrass music, open bringing a new generation of fans to the genre.
After his wife delivered a birthday cake to the stage, she joined him for a duet on John Prine and Iris Dement’s “In Spite of Ourselves,” before closing with the only logical grand finale: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”