NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND Speed Of Life (2009 UK 13-track CD album - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the iconic and profoundly influential group often cited as the catalysts for of an entire movement in country and roots music, have finished work on their first studio album in five years. Produced by award-winning veteran George Massenburg [James Taylor, Dixie Chicks, Billy Joel] and singer-songwriter Jon Randall Stewart, 'Speed of Life' finds the band at their laid back, ramshackle best, eschewing the large collaboration approach here for a set of songs anchored by the remarkably deft musicianship, and diverse songwriting and vocal styles of the core band of Jeff Hanna, Jimmie Fadden, Bob Carpenter, and John McEuen).