The Dillards - Pickin' And Fiddlin' (1965)

The Dillards were an American bluegrass group who in the mid-60s moved away from traditional music, becoming pioneers in the country-rock and 'progressive bluegrass' genres.

By 1965 The Dillards had begun to start experiment outside the traditional bluegrass framework - they befriended The Byrds and toured with them, and also peformed with a drummer (incidentally the drummer was Dewey Martin, soon to be a founding member of Buffalo Springfield). They were not playing bluegrass festivals, but the rock & roll circuit instead.
However, before they decided to make radical changes to their recorded music, they actually thought it would be best to prove to the bluegrass elite that they could still play in the traditional style. Their third album was all instrumental, and featured a prominent guest musician - fiddler Byron Berline, 19 years old at the time. The album was appropriately titled Pickin’ And Fiddlin’, as Berline’s presence was to the fore throughout. After this final traditional album, they left Elektra Records and re-signed with Capitol to explore their plans for stylistic change.

Live... Almost!!! (1964) <|> Wheatstraw Suite (1968)
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