...great story about how the Dillards got the Andy Griffith gig, as told by one of the Dillards himself:

It seems as though they had only been in Los Angeles a few weeks, playing local gigs and generally starving to death when one of them found out about the Griffith audition and figured, "why not?"

Griffith listened to them play for about 30 seconds, then stood up and said, "That's it, I've heard enough."

The Dillards figured they had been rejected again (they originally came out to California to land a record deal, and eventually wound up on Electra, which was better known for signing groups like The Doors, not The Dillards).

Griffith said, "You guys are perfect. You all look as dumb as rocks." The rest, as they say, is history.

In hindsight there was some resentment at the show playing up to some typical Southern stereotypes. The "boys" were so dumb they couldn't even say "Howdy."

But the other side of that coin is, when you can play that good, you can let your music do your talking for you.

The Dillards made up for their lack of social graces by opening up a great big can of whup-ass every time they tore into a song like "Dooley." The underlying theme was, they were able to redeem themselves through music.