Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Bids Farewell At 60th Anniversary Show
Photo: Madison Thorn
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band concert at the Opry House became a moment in music history on Wednesday evening (May 13).
The group is in the home stretch of its final tour, which also marks the Dirt Band’s 60th anniversary. Moreover, the Opry House show was staged on the exact anniversary date. Group leader Jeff Hanna founded the act in Long Beach, CA in 1966, and May 13 was the date of its first concert.
The 2.5 hour show was expertly staged, mingling the band’s hits with Americana music classics and alternating acoustic folkie performances with full-on country-rock romps. It featured guests Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown, Kathleen Edwards and Suzy Bogguss. During the concert, each of the band’s members was in the spotlight at various times.
Photo: Madison Thorn
The evening’s music was utterly refreshing, since we experienced a real band, playing and singing without pre-recorded sounds, click tracks, synth effects, video walls or pitch adjusters. “No hard drives up here,” as lead guitarist Jamie Hanna quipped. “And that’s the way we like it.”
Such Dirt Band hits as “Mr. Bojangles,” “Long Hard Road,” “Fishin’ in the Dark,” “An American Dream,” “Workin’ Man (Nowhere to Go),” “Make a Little Magic” and “Stand a Little Rain” were offered. Sprinkled among them were sounds from the pens of such songwriting greats as Kenny Loggins, Rodney Crowell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Michael Martin Murphey, Jerry Jeff Walker and John Prine.
Father-son band members Jeff and Jamie both excelled on lead guitars. The show included featured standout moments for longtime keyboardist Bob Carpenter (“Stand a Little Rain”), drummer/harmonica player Jimmie Fadden (“Workin’ Man,” which he wrote), fiddler/mandolinist Ross Holmes (“Grandpa Was a Carpenter”) and bass player Jim Photoglo (“Fishin’ in the Dark,” which he co-wrote).
The entire group shone brightly on “You Ain’t Going Nowhere,” “Cosmic Cowboy,” “Girl From the North Country,” the bluegrass-gospel “Take Me in Your Lifeboat,” “Helpless,” “House on Pooh Corner” and the new “Nashville Skyline,” Jeff Hanna related that he cowrote and Carpenter sang “Bless the Broken Road,” but it was unsuccessful for the band. Ten years later, Rascal Flatts made it a major country hit.
Photo: Madison Thorn
Following an acoustic segment with band members and guests in various combinations, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band rocked splendidly on “Bayou Jubilee” and “Cadillac Ranch” as the show’s finale. The entire cast then assembled for the encore, a medley of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and “The Weight.”
But no song summed up the mood of the evening better than the lyrics of the group’s 1986 hit tune “Partners, Brothers, and Friends.” As Jeff sang, “It’s great to be a part of something that’s lasted so long.”
“It’s not lost on us how lucky we are to have been doing this with you guys all these years,” he told the crowd. “You are beautiful. Thank you so much.”
Approximately 2,500 attended. Many in the sweetly enthusiastic audience looked like they shared the band’s vintage. Ten dates remain on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s farewell concert tour, which concludes in Denver on June 18.
