Jimmy Ibbotson '69 & DePauw Encounter Combined to Bring Mr. Bojangles to Hit Status

December 24, 2017

The story behind the 1970 hit song "Mr. Bojangles" and how it came to be recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band connects to DePauw University, according to an article in the Tennessean.

Singer and guitarist Jeff Hanna recalls that he was driving home one evening during recording sessions for the album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy. "I’m flipping through the dial and I hear this song that just blew my mind, it was so beautiful, and poignant. Pulled the car over to the side of the road so I could hear better, and cranked it up, of course FM radio late night, no back announcing. I had no idea who it was. I just knew that I was tearing up hearing this tune about this old guy and a dog, you know, and this beautiful story. So I come into rehearsal the next day, 'Guys, I heard this tune it’s like, it’s a perfect fit for what we’re doing! I know how to do it! You know, we’ll use a mandolin, we’ll use the accordion, and it’ll work, it’ll be great, and uh, but I don’t know the name of the song.' And I’m describing the tune and Jimmy Ibbotson jumps up and says, 'I know the song! I know the song!' We run outside to the parking lot, he pops the trunk on his (car). Under the spare tire in his trunk, in a rusty pool of water, is a 45. Jerry Jeff Walker, 'Mr. Bojangles.'"

Ibbotson, a 1969 graduate of DePauw University, apparently acquired the single while on campus. Hanna tells the newspaper, "He went to school at DePauw, and he was driving to Los Angeles to become a star, to make his mark in the music business, you know. And this woman gave him the record, 'And this is going to mean something to you someday.' That was her line."

The song, which features vocals by Hanna and Ibbotson, rose to #7 on the Billboard pop chart and has since been covered by a number of other artists, including Whitney Houston, Garth Brooks and Robbie Williams.

Read more at the newspaper's website.

A longtime member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jim Ibbotson has also released albums as a solo artist, as a member of the Wild Jimbos, and with John McEuen. Ibbotson's voice echoes across his alma mater's campus each fall, as he is the lead singer on The Ballad of the Monon Bell, which was recorded in 1985 and is a staple of the football rivalry between DePauw and Wabash College.

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