Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – 50 Years of Dirt

I must apologize for not having a set list of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Bands recent performance at the San Diego Fair. I did ask, but the band doesn’t use a set list. Why would they, this is their 50^th year and you would think they would have memorized the list by now. LOL. With Jeff Hanna (Guitars, Vocals), Jimmie Fadden (Drums, Harmonica, Vocals), Bob Carpenter (Keyboards, Bass, Vocals), John McEuen (Banjo, Fiddle, Guitar, Mandolin, Lap Steel), Jim Photoglo (Acoustic guitar, Bass, Background Vocals). All I know is that the band showed their mastery of their instruments and it was a marvelous thing. The audience thoroughly got into the music and was singing and dancing along as if the Pied Piper was controlling their every move. It’s great when you see a band bring that much joy to their listeners. They played some of their greatest hits, “Dance Little Jean”, which they said was their first real hit then they introduced the song by saying that they have played at a lot of weddings and that between the five of them, they have thirteen weddings themselves. “Four of us are happily married”, Hanna said, and Jimmie, is between divorces. “If something is worth doing, it is worth overdoing”, Hanna said. The band also played their early hit “Buy For Me the Rain”, which is a beautiful song. They told some funny stories about touring with Willie Nelson and they played “Working Man” which let us hear Fadden play the harmonica. Fadden is a great harmonica player which he gets to demonstrate later in the night during a solo spot right after a little “Beverly Hillbillies” on the banjo. They played the very familiar Mr. Bojangles which had the crowd singing along and the band continued telling stories in-between songs with some very funny bits. You can tell these guys are seasoned professionals.

One of my favorite moments was when they played the Beatles “Get Back” bluegrass style. John McEuen had some fun moments playing banjo on this one. They performed “God Bless the Broken Road” and Hanna said that it was one of his favorite songs that he wrote, and that Rascal Flatts sang it and it became a huge hit for them and that it also won a Grammy. They also played “Bayou Jubilee” and “Jambalaya”. For an encore, they came back and did “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, and my favorite from my childhood “The Weight”. This was one of the most entertaining bands I have seen in a long time. If you get the chance to see them, don’t pass up the opportunity.

Thank you Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for the memories!