Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist John McEuen is an engaging conversationalist who might veer into a detailed explanation about the technical limitations of grooves in vinyl records and then rhapsodize about his beloved teenage job doing magic tricks at Disneyland alongside a young Steve Martin, who started his job at the theme park’s magic shop the same day.
McEuen will be delivering his own brand of musical and comedic magic at the Big Mouth Bluegrass Festival, coming up Aug. 17 and 18 at Pelham’s extraordinary underground venue The Caverns. A founding member of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and a passionate practitioner of traditional genres, McEuen also stands as an exemplar of roots music’s vast capacity to stretch beyond traditional norms. McEuen talked about this and more in a recent interview conducted for the Pulse.
Murfreesboro Pulse: It’s hard to imagine today’s thriving roots music scene without the traditional bluegrass instruments you put on the radar of mainstream popular culture as early as 1967.
John McEuen: I was very proud of that. You know, on our first hit, “Buy for Me the Rain,” I used my five-string banjo, with a mute on it, and it was kind of the dominant instrument. And then when “Mr. Bojangles” came along, I played the mandolin on it because I thought it sounded better.
You have a new album of recitations set to music, The Newsman, which signals a first in your nearly 60-year career. Why spoken word?
I actually got a review in the San Diego paper once that said, “Whoever told this guy he could sing was wrong,” and that was 30 years ago. But the spoken word was just appealing to me because it’s harder than the song in some ways, because you don’t have the background vocals—you know, the ooh-la-las and all that going on. You have to have a good story.
Speaking of good stories, your recently released children’s book, The Mountain Whipporwill, is based on a tale you’ve long performed about a local lad who wins a fiddle contest against expected odds. Might that have been the basis for the Charlie Daniels Band hit “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”?
It was the basis for it. I played “The Mountain Whippoorwill,” an early version that I had recorded, for Charlie Daniels one time when he was in Aspen. This is the 1970s, and when it was over, he didn’t say anything. I said, “Charlie, you awake?” He goes, “Yeah. I’m awake. That’s the damn finest thing I’ve ever heard.” And six months later, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” came out.
With the many and varied projects you’ve done, does it feel like a homecoming to play at a bluegrass festival?
It’s more like total fear (chuckles) because they’re all so good—they’re pure bluegrass. Oh my God, [fiddle player] Michael Cleveland’s on that show, and he is really, really good. And the bluegrass people know it, but I always figure half the people that go to a show don’t really want to be there. They go with the half that do want to be there. You know, “Oh, honey, will you go to this bluegrass show with me? If you will, I’ll take you to see . . . you know, Neil Diamond or somebody.
What would your advice be to someone who hasn’t been properly exposed to bluegrass?
If you haven’t experienced bluegrass music before, come hear what’s going on at the cave. It’s a wonderful representation of several different styles of people playing music that they love in a way that you can tell they love playing it. And that’s a nice thing.
You were influenced by bluegrass acts whose performances incorporated comedy. How does that influence show up in your own performances?
I try to be entertaining (laughter). You know, with the things you say, the things you do. “Ladies and gentlemen, here’s Rover, the world’s smartest mathematical dog. Rover, what’s two plus two?”
“Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof.”
“Come on, boy, one more!” and stuff like that. People sit and think, they get out their phone and say “two plus two is . . .wait a minute!“
I just try and take them on this silly journey I’ve been on. And there’s plenty of funny things that have happened on the road. And they’ll hear about some of them.
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John McEuen & The Circle Band joins Blue Highway, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass and others Aug. 17 and 18 at the Big Mouth Bluegrass Festival, held at the Caverns in Grundy County, Tennessee. For festival tickets and schedule and more information on the caverns, visit thecaverns.com.
