Doug Dillard, whose explosive banjo style made him a force in bluegrass and country music for 50 years, died Wednesday, May 16 in a Nashville hospital at age 75, after a lengthy illness.
Mr. Dillard entered the American public’s living rooms in the 1960s, as a member of The Dillards, the band that appeared on The Andy Griffith Show as “The Darlins.” He became a leader in the genre-straddling country-rock movement, an inspiration to John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Steve Martin and John Hartford, and a key contributor to recordings by the Monkees, the Beach Boys, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Glen Campbell and many more.
“Douglas was greatly influential,” said musician Sam Bush, a friend and collaborator. “He turned a lot of people onto the banjo that hadn’t heard it, and his compositions like ‘Banjo In The Hollow’ and ‘Sinkin’ Creek’ are some of the most stunning banjo tunes ever written.”
Douglas Flint Dillard was born in Salem, Missouri. He began playing guitar at age 5. As a teen, he was driving and listening to the car radio when he first heard the sound of Earl Scruggs’ rapid banjo, played in a rollicking, three-fingered style. He became so excited by the sound that he drove into a ditch.
At 16, he wrote Scruggs a letter asking if he was too young to learn the banjo (Scruggs wrote back and told him he was plenty old enough to play), and he persuaded his parents to drive him from Missouri to Scruggs’ home in Madison. There, he rang the doorbell, met Scruggs in person and convinced Scruggs to install special tuners on his banjo.
With new tuners and an enthusiasm bolstered by a brush with his hero, Mr. Dillard returned to Missouri and formed The Ozark Mountain Boys, a group that also included younger brother Rodney. Two years later, he joined Joel Noel and The Dixie Ramblers, a St. Louis-based band that featured young John Hartford. And in 1962, Mr. Dillard founded The Dillards, with brothers Rodney and Dean and bass player Mitch Jayne, and the quartet moved to Los Angeles. There, they were discovered by an Elektra Records executive, signed to the label and cast as semi-regulars on The Andy Griffith Show.
Via Griffith’s program, “The Darlings” brought traditional acoustic music into homes across America. Outside of the show, The Dillards were interested in pushing boundaries and in experimenting with music that bridged folk, bluegrass, country and rock.
Doug Dillard left the group in 1967 to pursue his eclectic musical vision. He and Gene Clark soon formed Dillard & Clark, and their late 1968 album, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark, was part of the first blush of a west coast country-rock scene that boasted notables including the Eagles and Gram Parsons. Mr. Dillard’s 1969 solo debut, The Banjo Album, employed exotic instrumentation in presenting new versions of classic bluegrass tunes.
“Douglas was taking Earl Scruggs’ method and making his own style out of it, fusing different kinds of sounds,” Bush said. “You’d hear electric harpsichord with his banjo. And every song on The Banjo Album was absolutely terrific.”
The 1970s found Dillard integrating himself into the Nashville scene, performing as a cast member on the Music Country USA television show and recording on solo projects and in the Dillard-Hartford-Dillard combo with John Hartford and brother Rodney. His Doug Dillard Band received a Grammy nomination in 1988, and Mr. Dillard did extensive session work, playing banjo on hundreds of albums.
John McEuen, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member who said he began playing banjo after hearing Mr. Dillard, produced a documentary called A Night In The Ozarks (released on DVD in 2006) that found the original Dillards performing together and talking about their careers. And in 2009, The Dillards were inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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