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Thread: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

  1. #1

    Default RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    We lost a giant in the mandolin world.
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  3. #2
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Very sad news indeed. Back when i was teaching myself to play banjo,Bluegrass LPs were pretty rare over here. I did however manage to find the 2 first ''Dillards'' LPs,so Dean Webb was the second mandolin player i ever heard after Bobby Osbourne.

    A great musician - strangely enough,i dug out the 'A Night In The Ozarks' movie yesterday intending to watch it. Realising that now,only Rodney Dillard is still with us,watching it will be a very poignant reminder of a terrific band,
    R.I.P Dean Webb
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Sad news -- hearing it makes me feel old. Saw him live once in the early 1990's with the Dillards at a Missouri theme park near Branson. An important member of an iconic bluegrass band. They probably brought bluegrass to more people outside the south than any other group?
    Bernie
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  7. #4

    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    From a Facebook friend. My post will follow.

    Tom Isenhour:


    Sad to hear of the passing of another Bluegrass mandolin legend. Dean
    Webb, formerly of the Dillards (aka The Darling Family) from Salem, MO
    died yesterday at age 81. Born 3/28/1937 he will forever be known as the
    innovative mandolin player for the Dillards. He had a style that nobody
    could copy. I tried my best and couldn't come close. A well known
    mandolin picker in the 50's around MO, he teamed up with Rodney and Doug
    Dillard to start a little bluegrass band in 1959. In 1962, Mitch Jayne
    joined up on bass and the Dillards were on the road (or the truck as
    they say) to fame and fortune by moving to California. Andy Griffith saw
    them perform live in a small LA club and wanted them to be on his show
    for one episode about a family of NC mountain hillbillies that played
    music. The popular one off in 1963 led to 5 more episodes by 1966. In
    1967 the Dillards would be known as the forerunners of a country/folk
    rock style of bluegrass as the boys plugged in their bluegrass
    instruments and adding drums. Dean stayed with the band (Doug Dillard
    left first, then Mitch) until the mid 80's. A few reunion tours in the
    90's helped keep their name alive in the bluegrass circles. Rodney
    Dillard still tours today performing the Dillard's songs. Mitch died in
    2010 and Doug a few years later. Dean and I became friends during the
    reunion tours and we loved talking mandolins. He is survived by his wife
    Sandy.

















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  9. #5
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Rest in peace, great human being to boot. Bill Graham did this lovely feature on Dean back in 2012, one of the images from that article is by Bill Graham and getting shared around the internet.

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  11. #6

    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Thanks, Admin!

    Here are my 1971 and 1973 memories...

    Warrenton 1971


    Attachment 169086

    Attachment 169087
    Dean, Mitch, Billy Ray, Rodney

    Attachment 169088
    Rodney, Mitch, Donna, Dean

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Dillards-Culpeper-1971-05-Dean2c.jpg 
Views:	179 
Size:	127.9 KB 
ID:	169089

    The Dillards (1973) "St. Peter's Gonna Put Me Up" (My story on WAMU 2007)
    http://frobbi.org/audio/boh.html

    The full 1973 set: http://frobbi.org/audio/Warrenton1973-Dillards.mp3

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    Registered User T.D.Nydn's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    These guys were legends on Andy Griffith..

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    Registered User Roger Adams's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    The Dillard's was the first Bluegrass band that I collected every album they ever cut. Love Doug on the Banjo and still play some of his classic pieces. Dean was the man on the mandolin, and I love to listen to his work. RIP Dean....
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    Orrig Onion HonketyHank's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    This may be heresy, but here goes. In the '60's I didn't much care for Bill Monroe's music. But the first time I heard Dean Webb on the Dillards Live! lp, awoke me to the mandolin. All it took was the first few seconds of this cut:

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    Registered User almeriastrings's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    He was amazing.... much underrated by some, but incredibly fluid and inventive. Also hugely influential on the bluegrass scene in those early days. I still remember buying the LP's and being blown away by the musicianship of Doug and Dean...I also think Mitch was possibly the funniest front man ever. Clever and articulate. A great outfit all-round!
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  19. #11
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Hank - That LP ''Live - Almost '',is an absolute classic - ''Slicker'n deer guts on a doorknob'' entered my vocabulary instantly !!
    I wasn't playing mandolin back then,but i learned most of Doug Dillard's intrumentals & styled my own picking very much on his. All in all,i learned a lot from their 2 recordings, & i still have the original LP releases + the CD's now.

    Ivan
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  21. #12
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Very influential band, and musician. I'd compare them to Flatt & Scruggs and Eric Weissberg as influences in getting bluegrass before the "general public," with their recurrent appearances on The Andy Griffith Show. Like F&S on Beverly Hillbillies and Bonnie & Clyde, and Weissberg's Deliverance soundtrack appearance, the Dillards gave non-country and non-folky audiences a taste of the music.

    Sorry to see so many members of the "second generation" (not referring to that band specifically) leaving us. Almost all of the 1950's bluegrassers gone now, and more and more of the '60's. Inevitable, but sad.
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  23. #13

    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Allen, I share your feeling on the continuing loss of so many from the era.

    In the same week we lost s friend of mine, Tootie Williams, bass player for the Stone Mountain Boys, and occasionally with Bill Monroe.

    My story and tribute: http://frobbi.org/slides/tootie/

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  25. #14
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    “Broke the mould”!
    I’ve had some of Dean’s “swats” running through my head for near to a month now, was worried if a scratched it, it’d never heal!
    One more of the greats gone. Dang he had as much hair way yonder longer than me!
    And a smile, “like a possum eatin’ bumblebees!”
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Talking of The Dillards in general,i also bought their first 2 LPs of ''new stuff'' as well - 'Wheatstraw Suite' & 'Copperfields'. I found them very enjoyable to listen to - not trad. Bluegrass for sure,but nice songs / tunes very nicely played. I heard the Hymn - ''I'll Fly Away'' for the first time a the opening track on 'Wheatstraw Suite'. I tried my hardest to pick banjo a fast as Herb Pederen on ''Don't You Cry'',but never quite made it !. - https://youtu.be/li1P9XE5abo
    Ivan

    PS - I tried to attach the clip,but it came up with the error message - ''Video not available''.
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  27. #16
    Registered User f5loar's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    The Dillards were so different that first generation bands like Monroe/F&S/Stanleys, etc. Plus that had that way to work a stage and make watching them entertaining. I always thought the LIVE ALMOST album was the best. I learned it was not live completely as they did the live show and then came back to recut the songs without an audience to get a better recording. Dean was the one who told me that on the Andy shows they had to prerecord the songs in a studio to get the right sound on the set. While Dean seemed to changed mandolin about ever episode , in the studio he only used his '56 Gibson F5. It was his favorite all thought the Dilllards years.

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  29. #17
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    As usual F-5 Loar is correct, Dean was using an oval hole F-4 on most of the Andy Griffith shows but the sound was from an FF hole model, I had asked that question from Rodney quite a few years ago...

    Willie

  30. #18
    Registered User T.D.Nydn's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Quote Originally Posted by Willie Poole View Post
    As usual F-5 Loar is correct, Dean was using an oval hole F-4 on most of the Andy Griffith shows but the sound was from an FF hole model, I had asked that question from Rodney quite a few years ago...

    Willie
    On one of the shows he actually was playing a,3 pointer...

  31. #19
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Saw the Dillards open for John Hartford, many moons ago, at the long-lamented Performance Center in Cambridge, Mass. They were just getting into their "experimental" phase, including the fuzz-tone banjo. What a hoot!

  32. #20

    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Fuzz? "Redbone Hound" intro comes to mind right away.
    Is my memory correct?

  33. #21
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Quote Originally Posted by robbif View Post
    Fuzz? "Redbone Hound" intro comes to mind right away.
    Is my memory correct?
    By Jove, I think it is!

  34. #22
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    I guess he’ll never see his home again.
    I really love that tune! Deans mandolin work is just so smooth!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  35. #23

    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    This seems to be the sofar limited obituary...

    https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/na...filiateid=2883

  36. #24
    Registered User Dan Adams's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Quote Originally Posted by robbif View Post
    This seems to be the sofar limited obituary...

    https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/na...filiateid=2883
    Before the Market St. area in Denver went through an social economic surge, I saw the Dillards at the Oxford Hotel 35 years ago. Dean’s playing was effortless. He had the F4 that night and did not hesitate to hand it over to me to play during intermission. The Dillards and Dean Webb were one of my first influences in wanting to play ‘bluegrass’ mandolin.
    Last edited by Dan Adams; Jul-05-2018 at 6:38pm. Reason: Misspelled word
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  38. #25
    Mike Fox mandolinfox's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Dean Webb of the Dillards

    Andy Taylor: "The boys sure are talkative today"
    Briscoe Darling: "Oh yeah, they's real worked up about this"

    RIP Dean, and thank you for showing us 60's kids what a mandolin sounds like.
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