Jeff Hanna and John McEuen are not related but are rather bandmates.
The two co-founded the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a country music band that had success in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was founded in 1966 in Long Beach, California, United States, by singer-guitarist Jeff Hanna and singer-songwriter-guitarist Bruce Kunkel, along with four like-minded musicians, guitarist-washtub bassist Ralph Barr, guitarist-clarinetist Les Thompson, harmonicist and jug player Jimmie Fadden, and guitarist-vocalist Jackson Browne.
Following the departure of Browne to pursue his solo career as a singer-songwriter, he was replaced by folk musician John McEuen. Keyboardist Bob Carpenter joined the band in 1977.
The band’s successes include a version of Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles”. Albums include 1972’s Will the Circle be Unbroken, featuring such traditional country artists as Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Roy Acuff, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, and Jimmy Martin. A follow-up album based on the same concept, Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two was released in 1989, was certified gold, won two Grammys, and was named Album of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.
After twenty years with the Dirt Band, McEuen departed to pursue a solo career in 1986. Between 1991 and 1997, he released four albums for Vanguard Records. He composed music for movies and television and he appeared as a guest on albums with several artists including five albums with Michael Martin Murphey. McEuen then returned to the Dirt Band in 2001. He departed the band once again in late 2017.
Jeff Hanna and John McEuens’ sons, Jaime Hanna and Jonathan McEuen, both vocalists and guitarists formed the Hanna–McEuen band in 2001.