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.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2Fqlywcuw-1TU%3Ffeature%3Doembed&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dqlywcuw-1TU&image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2Fqlywcuw-1TU%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="640"> </div> </div> </figure></iframe></div></div></figure> <figure id="c9ba"> <div> <div> <img class="ratio" src="http://placehold.it/16x9"> <iframe class="" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FWKJrzFUU8GE%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWKJrzFUU8GE&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FWKJrzFUU8GE%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="854"> </div> </div> </figure></iframe></div></div></figure><figure id="d720"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*BYqyULzHZt0ybmIKa9if2Q.jpeg"><figcaption><b>The Dillards — Dean Webb on top, Mitch Jayne at far right, Doug Dillard in the passenger seat, and younger brother Rodney Dillard behind the steering wheel — pose in a dilapidated truck on the Melody Ranch property of original singing cowboy Gene Autry in 1967. Photography by Henry Diltz / Corbis via Getty Images</b></figcaption></figure><figure id="a1e9"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*sbIEa_Td7B0KljRGmZylug.jpeg"><figcaption><b><i>Steve McQueen may be muddy, but he’s doing just fine — in character as Boon Hogganbeck from “The Reivers,” distributed to theaters on Christmas Day 1969. Photography by Mel Traxel / Paramount Pictures / Pinterest</i></b></figcaption></figure><div id="9476" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/further-into-rock-territory-rediscovering-the-dillards-blazing-roots-and-branches-1972-album-e9acf86f8039"> <div> <div> <h2>Further into rock territory: Rediscovering the Dillards’ blazing ‘Roots and Branches’ 1972 album [PART THREE OF THE RODNEY DILLARD INTERVIEW]</h2> <div><h3>Surviving Dillards Rodney Dillard and Dean Webb recall the bluegrass band’s ballsy bid for mainstream rock success with…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*972zEwSbYiDehlejdXDwfw.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="8c62" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/rodney-dillards-miraculous-christian-transformation-64d74108a1a4"> <div> <div> <h2>Rodney Dillard’s miraculous Christian transformation [PART FOUR OF THE INTERVIEW]</h2> <div><h3>Part of Elektra Records’ eclectic 1960s roster that also claimed Jim Morrison and the Doors, Dillard details his…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*ZUo8sLvRCHovGMUeq65eJg.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="4039" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/full-circle-with-the-founding-frontman-of-trendsetting-country-rockers-the-dillards-e8cd95e8b14e"> <div> <div> <h2>Full circle with the founding frontman of tre

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When the Dillards bumped into Steve McQueen on a Hollywood street

As the front man for progressive bluegrass outfit the Dillards, Rodney Dillard was signed to the Doors’ Elektra Records label when he briefly stumbled upon Steve McQueen on a Hollywood street during the swingin’ ’60s. Still hunky when fully covered in mud from the Magnolia State, the undisputed King of Cool is seen near Carrollton, Mississippi, in the aftermath of trying to push a specially built 18 horsepower touring car resembling a 1904 Winton Flyer out of a mud bog in director Mark Rydell’s rollicking “The Reivers,” unleashed on December 25, 1969, by Cinema Center Films, the theatrical film production company of the CBS television network from 1967 to 1972. Photography by Mel Traxel / Paramount Pictures

The Dillards are to bluegrass what Steve McQueen was to film cinema — supreme innovators during a decade when everything was a changin’.

Originating from Salem, Missouri, the first and still classic lineup of the band found Rodney Dillard on guitar and lead vocals, pipe smoking emcee Mitch Jayne on stand-up bass, Dean Webb on mandolin and harmony vocals, and elder brother Doug Dillard on lightning speed banjo.

Breaking into the mainstream when they guest starred on six fan favorite episodes of The Andy Griffith Show between 1963 and 1966 as a peculiar, non-speaking, but musically agile mountain clan called the Darling Family, the Dillards were simultaneously signed to Elektra Records by label owner Jac Holzman and Byrds producer-manager Jim Dickson. As the ’60s progressed, they infiltrated the L.A. folk rock scene, accumulating club appearances all over the Sunset Strip like the famed Troubadour. Plugging in and hiring Buffalo Springfield’s future drummer Dewey Martin, the Dillards opened for the Byrds on a major USA tour and may have been the first bluegrass act to cover Bob Dylan [“Walkin’ Down the Line”] and the Beatles [“I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “Yesterday”].

A master raconteur capable of discovering humor in mundane situations, Dillard is a one of a kind guy just like McQueen. In the second installment of a five-part, comprehensive interview series, I kinda randomly wondered whether Dillard had ever crossed paths with the King of Cool — for years I penned a “Jeremy’s Steve McQueen Files” column for the defunct Examiner.com. The acoustic guitarist divulged, “Funny that you should ask that. I was driving down a Hollywood street sometime in the ’60s, going out toward the ocean in an old van. Oil was just pouring out of it. And this guy pulled up beside me in a car and yelled, ‘You’re throwing oil out of your truck!’ It was Steve McQueen. I replied, ‘Yeah, I know!’ and I kept on going” [laughs]. In the midst of dropping such critically acclaimed movies as The Cincinatti Kid, The Sand Pebbles, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Bullitt, McQueen obviously had no qualms about reaching out to a total stranger in automotive distress.

The Dillards — Dean Webb on top, Mitch Jayne at far right, Doug Dillard in the passenger seat, and younger brother Rodney Dillard behind the steering wheel — pose in a dilapidated truck on the Melody Ranch property of original singing cowboy Gene Autry in 1967. Photography by Henry Diltz / Corbis via Getty Images
Steve McQueen may be muddy, but he’s doing just fine — in character as Boon Hogganbeck from “The Reivers,” distributed to theaters on Christmas Day 1969. Photography by Mel Traxel / Paramount Pictures / Pinterest

© Jeremy Roberts, 2012, 2017. All rights reserved. To touch base, email [email protected] and mention which story led you my way. I appreciate it sincerely.

Music
Steve Mcqueen
Movies
The Dillards
Classic Films
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