Dean Webb
Musician · b. 1937 · Independence, Missouri
Best known for
Mandolin
Dean Webb was a Missouri-born mandolinist who co-founded The Dillards in 1962 and played the Darling Boys on "The Andy Griffith Show" — co-author of the bluegrass standard "The Old Home Place" and an IBMA Hall of Fame inductee with the band.
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- Born Roy Dean Webb on March 28, 1937 in Independence, Missouri.
- Co-founded The Dillards in 1962 with Doug Dillard, Rodney Dillard, and Mitch Jayne; the band soon relocated to California and signed with Elektra Records.
- Inspired to take up bluegrass after hearing Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" as a teenager; played a Gibson A-50 mandolin.
- Appeared with The Dillards as the Darling Boys on six episodes of The Andy Griffith Show beginning 1963.
- Co-wrote the bluegrass standard "The Old Home Place" with Mitch Jayne.
- Contributed harmony vocals to an early demo of The Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man."
- Cited as a mandolin influence on Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.
- Inducted with The Dillards into the IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2009; died June 30, 2018, at age 81.