Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Bringing Its Legendary Music To Chattanooga One Final Time

The countless venues played, airports traveled and hotels visited have become like white noise for Bob Carpenter for more than four decades as a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Life on the road performing has a way of creating a series of faded memories that all morph into a conglomeration of nondescript snapshots.

There are exceptions, though, those momentary vignettes that emerge from the background with clarity. One of those for the 78-year-old Carpenter is a vivid recollection of a particular visit to Chattanooga.

“I remember staying in the train at the Chattanooga Choo Choo back in the ‘80s,” Carpenter said. “We thought it would be fun to spend the night in the train, so that’s where we had our rooms for the night. It was one of those things you do once in life and you go, ‘That was cool’. Once you’ve done it, you don't have to go back. Like, you only see Mount Rushmore once, right?”

While Carpenter and his fellow band members will opt for more conventional accommodations this time around, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will be making a return visit to the Scenic City this Sunday, March 2^nd, as part of their “All The Good Times: The Farewell Tour” at 7:30 p.m. inside The Walker Theatre. Limited tickets to see the legendary band remain and can be purchased at Nitty Gritty Dirt Band tickets.

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 “Mr. Bojangles,” “Fishin' In The Dark,” “An American Dream”, and many more. After many years, 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. “All The Good Times” perfectly describes their journey.

In describing this final chapter of their amazing odyssey, the band said, “Playing our music for Dirt Band fans all over the world has been an incredible experience for us. The most important part of that has been the connection to our audience - that beautiful communal give and take is like nothing else. That's the very spirit we'll be celebrating as we head into our farewell tour.”

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band still features founding members Jeff Hanna on lead vocals and guitar and Jimmie Fadden lending his talents on drums, harmonica and vocals. Carpenter - keyboardist, accordionist and soulful vocalist - has been with the band since the 1970s when he started writing for and playing on the group’s recordings before becoming a full-time band member in 1980. Other members include Jim Photoglo (bass, vocals), Jamie Hanna (guitar, vocals) and Ross Holmes (fiddle, mandolin, vocals).

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 forged a self-propelled ride through folk, country, rock ‘n’ roll, pop, blue-grass, and the amalgam now known as “Americana.”

As the band embarks on this last campaign sharing their beloved music with their legion of loyal followers, Carpenter refuses to consider this tour a sentimental journey.

“We're just playing music for people,” Carpenter said from his California home. “I mean, there's no tears on stage or anything. We learned during the pandemic years that you can't take anything for granted. That March we're out in the middle of a tour, and we wouldn't play again for another 14 months. You never know what is really going to be your last show, so we don’t dwell on that at all. It isn't like we're not going to ever play music together. We're just not going to be out on the road busting our butts for 100 days every year. We can't do it anymore, and don't want to do it anymore.”

After earning their first Top 10 hit in 1970 with their recording of “Mr. Bojangles”, the band released an epic three-disc masterpiece in 1972 that featured a collaboration of legendary artists called Will the Circle Be Unbroken. The triple-platinum work spawned two later volumes, including the second edition in 1989 that garnered a pair of Grammy Awards for the band and won the Country Music Association’s Album of the Year.

The group’s popularity surged during the 1980s when they generated 15 Top 10 hits on the Country Music charts. Three of those songs – “Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper’s Dream)”, “Modern Day Romance”, and “Fishin’ in the Dark” – all peaked at No. 1.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has never been satisfied with the status quo, constantly reinventing itself and exploring fresh ways to produce new material for their fans without compromising their dynamic stage chemistry. Their latest release in 2022, Dirt Does Dylan, was a bold take on the impactful works of iconic singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and his contributions to American music.

When explaining the keys to the band’s longevity, Carpenter points to the desire of each member’s willingness to constantly evolve as a musician.

“When you have a bunch of people in the band that play a lot of different instruments, they have a lot of different influences that they've contributed to what they do,” Carpenter said. “Everybody's got ideas, and I think we're all pretty pliable as far as trying new things. I just think you have to have an open mind. If you listen to music through all the decades, music evolves and you have to evolve with it. We've been lucky in the fact that, because we all sing and we play a bunch of different instruments, we can usually adapt to whatever kind of music that we decide we want to try and make it work.”

Carpenter does not take for granted the opportunity the band has been given to chase their dream and pursue their passion for such an extended period.

“There are few things that have been instrumental to our success,” Carpenter said. “First, staying healthy to be able to do your job. Second, know when you need to take a break. Number three, we've had amazing luck as far as radio stations playing our stuff through the decades. We've always had something on the radio it seems.

“But I think the biggest thing that's kept us alive is touring, and that is due to the fans coming out to hear us play. If people wouldn't have come out and bought tickets to our shows to see us play, we would have been finished a long time ago. We’ve been able to maintain a special connection with our fans for many years.”

As far as what fans can expect to hear from the band’s vast repertoire, Carpenter indicated that all of the different eras of music will be represented in Sunday’s performance.

“We'll cover everything from the band's first single which came out in late 60s,” Carpenter said. “From the early 70s, we’ve got the ‘Bojangles’ stuff. We’ve got our country hits from the ‘80s like ‘Fishin’ in the Dark’ and ‘Workin’ Man’. We're doing songs from all three Will the Circle Be Unbroken albums. We'll be doing some deep cuts like ‘Ripplin’ Waters’, and we’ll do stuff from our last album, Dirt Does Dylan. We're trying to touch on all the different kinds of music, so there will be something for everybody.”

Regardless of the setlist, one thing remains unquestioned – the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will use their final appearance in Chattanooga as an opportunity to show their gratitude to their generations of listeners.

“We realize it's more about our fans than it is about us,” Carpenter said. “The important thing here is the fans. That's what we're doing - we're playing music for them. Of course, we enjoy being on stage and playing music for us, too. But you have to realize what is the most important thing.”

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has carved out a large swath of music for 58 years that transcends different eras and cultures. Their incomparable vocal blends and artistic wizardry carries with it a sense of timelessness, creating a soundtrack for the lives of their listeners. They provide connection points through their music to a time when life seemed to be simpler and less complicated.

With their final stop in Chattanooga, it offers one final chance for “Dirt Fans” to embrace their sounds and salute their lasting contributions, where their music created a space to just hang out and enjoy life.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com