Dustbowl Revival video gets 2 million hits -- with Dick Van Dyke’s help

L.A. roots jazz-folk-gospel-country band the Dustbowl Revival has gotten more than a little help from a friend: 89-year-old actor-comedian Dick Van Dyke, whose sprightly performance in the video for the first single from the band’s new album has helped it generate more than 2 million views in less than a month.

The clip for “Never Had to Go” finds Van Dyke with his wife, Arlene Silver, in a kitchen and he’s trying to persuade her to dance, engaging in some impressively fleet-footed steps as the band performs outside the house.

Van Dyke reportedly became a fan after hearing the group perform at a wedding, and the former star of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Mary Poppins” turned up at the Ford Amphitheatre last summer when Dustbowl Revival opened for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans.

The group’s new album, “With a Lampshade On,” is due July 21 and was recorded live primarily during performances at the Troubadour in West Hollywood and San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall.

Dustbowl Revival is part of a vibrant scene in the Southland of musicians using sounds from the 1920s and 1930s for inspiration but bringing updated takes on that music that incorporates elements of post World War II rock and pop music as well. Calendar profiled that community in this 2012 article.

The ensemble will be touring starting Monday in New York and will be back in Southern California for a July 4 show at the Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena and an Aug. 2 date at the Skirball Cultural Center in L.A.

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