Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Date

Thursday, March 21, 2024
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Time

7:30 PM

For nearly six decades, the three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has entertained audiences with their top-shelf musicianship and timeless hits. Now the time has come for the band who has carried a torch for American country and roots music to say so long to the highways and byways they’ve crossed an unimaginable number of times throughout their career.

On March 21st, 2024, the Dirt Band will kick off the first leg of their last traditionally scheduled gigs, ALL THE GOOD TIMES: The Farewell Tour. This isn’t goodbye forever, but it will be the last fans see of multi-city runs and long bus rides. These special shows will celebrate the music created by the legendary, yet ever-evolving NGDB. Many veteran bands trade on nostalgia, on replication of past glories, and on recycled emotions from younger,
more carefree days.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band trades on a mix of reimagined classics and compelling newer works. The group formed in 1966 as a Long Beach, California jug band, scored its first charting single in 1967, and embarked on a self-propelled ride through folk, country, rock ‘n’ roll, pop, blue-grass, and the amalgam now known as “Americana.” The first major hit came in 1971 with the epic “Mr. Bojangles,” which, along with insistent support from banjo master Earl Scruggs, opened doors in Nashville. Behind those doors were Earl Scruggs, Roy Acuff, Doc Watson, Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin, and others who would collaborate on a multi-artist, multi-generational, three-disc 1972 masterpiece: Will the Circle Be Unbroken went triple Platinum, spawned two later volumes, and wound up in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Was this a cutting-edge combo or a group of revivalists? Was the goal rebellion or musical piety? Yes, to all these things. In the 1980s, the Dirt Band reeled off 15 straight Top 10 country hits, including chart-toppers “Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper’s Dream),” “Modern Day Romance,” and “Fishin’ in the Dark” (co-written by Jim Photoglo, who would join the band in the second decade of the new century). 1989 brought a second Circle
album, this one featuring singer-songwriter talents including John Prine, Rosanne Cash, and John Hiatt and garnering two Grammy awards for the band (it later won another, for a collaboration with Earl Scruggs and other fine folks). Circle II also won the Country Music Association’s Album of the Year prize. Circle III was released in 2003, featuring collaborations with Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, and more.

Throughout the group’s lifetime, personnel has changed, with each change resulting in positive steps forward, new ways of playing the old songs, and renewed enthusiasm for writing and recording fresh material. The latest Dirt Band lineup is expanded to six members for the first time since 1968. Today’s group consists of founding member Jeff Hanna, harp master Jimmie Fadden (who joined in 1966), and soulful-voiced Bob Carpenter, who
has more than 40 years of service in the ensemble. Those veterans are now joined by singer-songwriter-bass
man Jim Photoglo, fiddle and mandolin wizard Ross Holmes, and Hanna’s son, the preternaturally talented
singer and guitarist Jaime Hanna.

Blood harmony, thrilling instrumental flights, undeniable stage chemistry … these things are part of each Dirt Band show, just as they are part of Dirt Does Dylan, the first recording from the reconfigured, six-strong group released in 2022. Produced by Ray Kennedy and Jeff Hanna, it’s a remarkable ride through some of the most impactful songs of the past century, penned by Bob Dylan and taken for a blue highway spin by a great American band, with help from genius-level contemporary artists like Jason Isbell and The War and Treaty. A Dirt Band show is unlike any other. For legions of fans, it’s less about the memories than the moment, crisp as an Autumn apple and rich as a royal flush.

Note that VIP Tickets will be available.

Here are the package details.

VIP Package:

– Premium reserved ticket in the front row
– Invitation to a private post-show meet & greet with the members of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band*
– Exclusive signed 8×10 photo
– Commemorative VIP laminate

*Not all members may be present

VIP 1 Package:

– Premium reserved ticket in the first twelve (12) rows
– Invitation to a private post-show meet & greet with the members of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band*
– Exclusive signed 8×10 photo
– Commemorative VIP laminate
 *Not all members may be present

 

Opening act: Brit Taylor

With the critically acclaimed release of her sophomore album, Kentucky Blue, singer-songwriter Brit Taylor is striding positively into her future. The Kentucky native — with her captivating lyrics and arresting vocals — is stepping boldly ahead with one foot firmly grounded in her Appalachian roots and the other plowing through new ground. It is rewarding, but it hasn’t been easy.

Kentucky Blue, produced by Grammy winners Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson and released in 2023, is a happy, upbeat record that is feisty, funky and pure country and reflective of her life today. Its success — debuting No. 4 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums and climbing to No. 18 on Americana Music’s album chart — follows the success of Brit’s 2021 debut album Real Me and its complement, Real Me Deluxe, which chronicled her self-reflective journey from the depths of despair to honest self-awareness.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band