In the early 1960s,
the Dillards were one of the first bluegrass acts to try to move the music out of the traditional confines of its Southern roots and into something closer to the mainstream, and
Live!!! Almost!!!, recorded at an L.A. nightclub in 1964, plays like a clever and quite successful attempt to introduce bluegrass to the upscale folk audience who had embraced acts like
the Kingston Trio,
the Limelighters or
the Smothers Brothers. The latter comparison is especially apt given the significant amount of playing time devoted to bassist
Mitch Jayne's witty between-song banter, which doubtless helped
the Dillards go over in nightclubs not frequented by bluegrass loyalists. As funny as
Jayne is, what makes this album worth hearing today is the superb picking from
Doug Dillard on the banjo,
Rodney Dillard on the guitar and
Dean Webb on the mandolin; these three musicians display a tremendous respect for the roots of this music as well as a melodic sense that leaves them space to explore new ground, and even bluegrass perennials like "Black-Eyed Susie," "Old Blue," and "Pretty Polly" get a fresh and exciting treatment here. And while these guys could play with dazzling speed, there's a sense of the value of each note in these performances, and
Jim Dickson's stereo recording gives an admirable sense of the space and shape of this music on-stage. At this point,
the Dillards were a few years away from their trail-blazing fusion of bluegrass and electric rock, and the "progressive" part of their progressive bluegrass stance was more felt than heard, but their talent and creative ambition were already clearly audible on
Live!!! Almost!!!, and this album remains a joy to hear more than forty years on.