John McEuen

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is state-fair royalty thanks to its 1972 album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which paired the longhaired California hippies with veterans of the country music establishment. Multi-instrumentalist John McEuen rode the Nitty Gritty train for two decades before branching out into a solo career and later reuniting with the group in 2001. These days, he embraces his role as a statesman of American folk music, hosting the Acoustic Traveler Show on XM Radio and touring solo to perform Nitty Gritty standards like "Mr. Bojangles" and to showcase his mastery of guitar, banjo, fiddle and mandolin.