We keep saying goodbye to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and they keep getting better.
We were at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville when the band kicked off its farewell tour last year and were back again this week for what logically would have been the closing of the loop, their final show at this storied theater. Not likely, though. They’re still having too much fun.
We first saw the Dirt Band in Columbia, Missouri in 1973 and every show since then has had the same core elements: endless energy, a respect for what has come before and a determination not be defined by a single genre. Their “Partners Brothers and Friends” , recorded in 1985 to celebrate their “more than 20 years of touring” posed the question as “Is it folk or rock or country?, but of course those choices only scratched the surface of a versatile and ambitious band.
Back to back nights at the Ryman showcased all the hits – “Mr. Bojangles,” “Fishing in the Dark” and “Workin’ Man” among them – plus fan favorites like “Cosmic Cowboy” and “Ripplin’ Waters, ” and classic songs written by Bob Dylan and Rodney Crowell. The 2024 line-up of band founders Jeff Hanna and Jimmie Fadden, longtime member Bob Carpenter, “Fishin’ in the Dark” writer Jim Photoglo, Jaime Hanna and Ross Holmes still plays with passion and joy.
These were special shows, and guest stars on both evenings brought that home. EmmyLou Harris, Larkin Poe and the occasional trio of Gretchen Peters .Matraca Berg and Suzy Bogguss took the stage on Oct. 7, while the next night a who’s who of bluegrass saluted the band’s legendary Will the Circle Be Unbroken projects. In 2024, how do you capture the essence of the legendary 1972 album that brought these then-young musicians together with the likes of Mother Maybelle Carter, Ray Acuff, Earl Scruggs and Jimmy Martin?
On Friday night, they did it with brilliant musicianship during collaborations with Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown and Molly Tuttle. Truly magical.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has every right to step away from the grind, laving us with six decades of consistently compelling albums and performances. They’ve promised not to disappear, though, and that is a greater gift than they know.