All the Good Times is the sixth album from The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, released in January 1972.
- "Sixteen Tracks" (Jeff Hanna, Jim Ibbotson) - 5:22
- "Fish Song" (Jimmie Fadden) - 4:28
- "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" (Hank Williams) - 3:20
- "Down in Texas" (Eddie Hinton) - 2:20
- "Creepin' Round Your Back Door" (Jimmie Fadden) - 2:52
- "Daisy" (Jim Ibbotson) - 2:50
- "Slim Carter" (Kenny O'Dell) - 3:02
- "Hoping to Say" (David Hanna) - 3:20
- "Baltimore" (Jim Ibbotson) - 3:44
- "Jamaica Say You Will" (Jackson Browne) - 3:29
- "Do You Feel It Too" (Richie Furay) - 3:15
- "Civil War Trilogy" (Walter McEuen) - 1:53
- "Diggy Liggy Lo" (J.D. Miller) - 2:20
Jeff Hanna – arranger, guitar, vocals
Jimmie Fadden – arranger, drums, guitar, harmonica, vocals
John McEuen – arranger, guitar, steel guitar, vocals
Jim Ibbotson - drums, guitar, keyboards, vocals
Les Thompson – arranger, bass, guitar, vocals
Additional Musicians
Randy Scruggs - acoustic guitar
Norman Blake - dobro
Ellis Padgett - acoustic bass
Producer - William E. McEuen
United Artists released a mini-album with the same name. It consisted of two 7 inch 33 1/3 RPM records. The first record contains five songs from the original album, "Baltimore", "Sixteen Tracks", "Slim Carter", "Fish Song", and "Jamaica, Say You Will". The second record contains a country jam and interview.
The country jam side is a "spontaneous acoustic recording" of three songs: "All The Good Times", "When Will I Be Loved", and "Mobile Line". It is all on one track that is 8:09 long.
The interview side was recorded in January 1972. It is one track 12:20 long. On it the Dirt Band discusses "Uncle Charlie VS. All The Good Times", "Acoustic Instruments", "Traditional Music", "Colorado Consciousness", and "Live Recording".
The interview is light hearted, with lots of joking and carrying on.
Uncle Charley VS. All The Good Times - Charlie is misspelled as Charley on the record label. It is jokingly referred to as Uncle Charles & his dog Theodore and described as a concept album, where All The Good Times is not. Jimmie Ibbotson points out that more songs were written by the band on the new album. Jeff points out that it has a couple of Cajun songs, Jambalaya and Diggy Liggy Lo. Jeff says Down In Texas is similar to Prodigal's Return. Jimmy Ibbotson describes Baltimore as an outcry from someone living in the sterility of an urban area, hoping to be rescued from it. Jimmie Fadden describes his Fish Song as a dream song about people pulling you in different directions, but if you make the best of it everything will work out in the end. Sixteen tracks was written in the hall outside the control room just prior to cutting it. They ran through it once and then recorded it. They just wanted to record a rockabilly song for fun. It was actually recorded 8 tracks, but sixteen sounded better in the lyrics.
Acoustic Instruments and Traditional Music - They are like The Band in that they are multi-instrumentalists and are not limited to one musical style. Jeff, Jimmy, and Jimmy it play drums in a similar simple style. They play around seventeen different instruments, including tuba on this album. Banjo wasn't normally used in pop music because was used in commercials at the time. Fiddles are considered corny or old fashioned, because it was featured in music your parents danced to, like Bob Wills.
Colorado Consciousness - Jimmy Ibbotson says that living in Colorado improves his song writing. In Colorado you can see further and clearer and that translated to his lyrics making them clearer and more consistent. Baltimore was written in Colorado. You can sing better because there is not smog. You can perform at benefits for community schools and other organizations you know and trust. Jeff Hanna says you also tend to write songs about Colorado.
Live Recording - They would be interest in making a live record but have run into mechanical problems in the past. Live recordings are difficult because the performance and audience need to both climax together. Music is like sex. If you can do it and both get it right it is the greatest thing in the world. Songs grow and change over the years of live performing. Yukon Railroad mentioned by Jeff as good example.
