Artist:The Dirt Band f/Linda Ronstadt
Song:An American Dream
Album:Fishin' in the Dark: The Best of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The year was 1978 and the decision was made to rebrand The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to The Dirt Band. After four albums, they returned to calling themselves The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. An American Dream was their biggest hit of The Dirt Band period. The change coincided with John McEuen deciding to take a reduced role in the band so he could concentrate on managing comedian Steve Martin's career. That left Jeff Hanna in charge and he wanted a more pop oriented band. So he changed the name to The Dirt Band. Other changes included the departure of Jimmy Ibbotson and the addition of guitarist John Cable, bassist Jackie Clark and pianist Bob Carpenter. The biggest hit to come from this period was the 1980 single An American Dream which reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Linda Ronstadt was the featured singer. Rodney Crowell wrote the song and he recorded it on his 1978 album Ain't Living Long Like This. The Dirt Band also charted with the 1981 single Make a Little Magic featuring Nicolette Larson. After four albums, as of the 1983 album Let's Go, they returned to calling themselves The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. This may have been record company motivated. The band's label United Artists was sold to EMI and The Dirt Band was placed on EMI's country label Liberty. Maybe EMI preferred the old name and I think McEuen did too. The band still performs An American Dream and it appears on this comp. Here's The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Rodney Crowell performing An American Dream on a 1990 episode of the TNN show American Music Shoppe.
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