The Darling family, characters on The Andy Griffith Show, were a real-life bluegrass band.
The passing of Glenn Frey from the Eagles has had a big impact on the music community. Many people who had never listened to an Eagles record are discovering the iconic band and learning about their influence on the music we listen to today.
Something that most people would find interesting, Eagles fans included, is that a very unexpected iconic television show played a part in getting the Eagles on their musical path.
The Eagles, along with other bands such as the Monkees, were a part of a country-rock movement that took root in the late ’60s and lasted throughout the ’70s. It started when rock bands started to incorporate traditionally country instruments, such as a banjo, in their bands.
One of these country instrumentalists was Doug Dillard. Dillard got his start in fame on the Andy Griffith Show as a part of the Darling Family. The Darling family were a hillbilly bluegrass family band that appeared in only a few episodes of the show, but they made a big splash with audiences. The Darling family consisted of Doug Dillard, his brother Rodney, and band mates Mitch Jayne and Dean Webb with Denver Pyle as their father Briscoe Darling, and Maggie Peterson as their sister Charlene.
The Dillard brothers, Jayne, and Webb were a real-life bluegrass band when not appearing on The Andy Griffith Show.
The real-life band moved to Califonia in the early ’60s and in 1968 Doug Dillard split with the band to pursue his own interests. Dillard played with the Byrds and then formed a duo dubbed Dillard and Clark.
Dillard and Clark is where the Eagles would come into play. Bernie Leadon, founding member of the Eagle, worked with them and picked up their bluegrass sound and brought it to the rock foundations of the Eagles. Songs such as “Desperado” would follow and give us the iconic sound the Eagles and Glenn Frey made famous.
Watch a video below of the Darling family on The Andy Griffith Show!