Multi-instrumentalist John McEuen, best known as a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, is a key figure in the history of American folk music. Born in Oakland, California, McEuen grew up outside of Los Angeles. He began playing the banjo at age 17, after hearing live bluegrass at a club near his home.

That night changed McEuen’s life. He introduced his high school friend, comedian Steve Martin, to the banjo and both fell in love with the instrument together. While working in Disneyland’s magic shops, the two teenagers would arrange their breaks to catch whatever bluegrass band was scheduled to play in the park’s Western-themed Frontierland.

Not long after, during a trip to Nashville with their father, John and his brother had tried to get tickets to see Earl Scruggs perform at the Grand Ole Opry. The show was sold out, so they snuck around back of the Ryman Auditorium to an open window. Just then, they heard Scruggs perform “The Wildwood Flower” with Lester Flatt and Mother Maybelle Carter.

And I almost passed out. They did “Wildwood Flower” and they followed with some quick banjo instrumental and the place just went nuts. It was a magic moment. And I just said, “Someday, I hope to meet that guy.”

In 1966, McEuen joined Jeff Hanna and a handful of like-minded musicians in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, playing a hybrid of bluegrass, folk-rock, and jug band music. Their cover of a Jerry Jeff Walker song, “Mr. Bojangles,” became a surprise hit, rising to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Not long after, McEuen asked Earl Scruggs if he would join the Dirt Band on an album. Scruggs said, “Yes” – as did Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Jimmy Martin, Vassar Clements, Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, and other country stars. For six days in the summer of 1971, the musicians sat in a circle facing one another, recording country and bluegrass standards in East Nashville’s Woodland Studios. From it came the triple-disc set, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” – one of the most iconic albums in country music history.

John McEuen won a GRAMMY Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2009, performing on his old friend Steve Martin’s The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, and received the 2016 Independent Music Award for Best Americana Album for his own solo project, Made in Brooklyn. He was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2017.

Born: December 19, 1945, Oakland, California