You can add another band to the growing list of acts who are out on their Farewell Tours, as country/pop/folk rockers The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band are about to embark on theirs. Although it’s definitely on their terms.

“We just didn’t want to stop playing one day or disappear. We experienced that in 2020 when we got called off the road after three shows because of the pandemic,” Dirt Bander Bob Carpenter says over the phone on the eve of embarking on said tour.

“We’re not going to be playing until we’re 92. We have to go out on stage and do shows we’re proud of. Not stumble out there like a guy who’s been traded by five different baseball teams and can’t play anymore.”

Continuing the baseball metaphor, he says “some guys don’t know when to stop” and will continue to show up at spring training long after their best days are behind them and just rot in the dugout. And that’s not what the group wanted to do.

“We’ll do a trip around the U.S. and let people know we appreciate them coming out and supporting us over all the years. And if they want to see us one more time live, now is the time.” In addition to their hits and covers, Carpenter promises fans will hear some deeper cuts that haven’t had live airings in a long time.

The current lineup of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band includes original members Jeff Hanna (lead vocals/guitar) and Jimmie Fadden (drums). Carpenter (keyboards/accordion) has played informally with the group since 1975 and joined full-time in 1980. They’re rounded out by Jim Photoglo (bass), Ross Holmes (fiddle/mandolin), and Jeff’s son Jaime Hanna (guitar). All also contribute to vocals.
The band formed in 1966 and the next year put out their self-titled debut album. But it took a few more years to have their first major success in a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles,” which hit No. 9 on the singles chart in 1971.

From the ‘70s through the early ‘90s they scored both on the pop charts (“An American Dream” with Linda Ronstadt, “Make a Little Magic” with Nicolette Larson) and even more on the country charts (“Modern Day Romance,” “Fishin’ in the Dark,” “I’ve Been Lookin’,” “Baby’s Got a Hold on Me,” “High Horse,” “I Love Only You,” “Home Again in My Heart,” “Workin’ Man (Nowhere to Go).”

This was also around the time they changed their moniker to just The Dirt Band before getting back to the Nitty Gritty.

They’ve also put out a trio of releases under the title banner of Will the Circle Be Unbroken. The first and best known, a double album released in 1972, found the band collaborating on classics of the genre with A-list country music pioneers including Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs and Merle Travis.

“We also playing some bluegrass songs and rock and roll on this tour. We’re just trying to put a little bit of everything in there,” Carpenter says.

The band’s last studio record was 2022’s covers project Dirt Does Dylan which featured their spin on 10 tracks originally written and/or performed by the Bard of Hibbing. It sounded so natural that some had to wonder what took the NGDB so long to approach it.

“I did ‘I Shall Be Released’ way back before I joined the group with my own band, so it was fun for me to play that again. And I loved playing according with Ross’ fiddle on ‘Girl from the North Country,” Carpenter offers.

“It was enjoyable, but so disjointed! Some of the tracks were cut right before the pandemic, and we didn’t get back in the studio for another year and a half! It was definitely a jigsaw puzzle approach.”
Today with streaming, listeners on Spotify have instant access to nearly 40 studio, live, and compilation albums by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band spanning some 55 years. Carpenter says he welcomes the chance to have all their music out there and easily accessible, even if it means they make “nothing” on royalties.

“It’s like any other technology—there is good and there is bad. And no one is buying records anymore. But I do think it’s great—it broadens the palette.” he says.
He also notes that 15-20 years ago, there were a couple thousand new release albums out there each year, and that number has only jumped dramatically due to the ease of home recording and proliferation of music distribution services.

Carpenter says that he sat on the Grammy board about a decade ago and that everyone in the room “knew this was coming,” but still couldn’t seem to get ahead of it or steer its direction. And he sees how the dynamic has flipped from bands having their main source of income from record sales that a tour would stimulate, to embarking on tours and selling tickets and merch as the primary breadwinning stream.
As a group that has always dipped its musical toes into many different genres, the Nitty Gritty Dirty Band has certainly seen more acceptance of a sonic gumbo sound. And that the music of “country” performers like Eric Church, Zac Brown, Jamey Johnson and Chris Stapleton are a lot more rocking than the country charts would have touched decades ago.

However, Carpenter has never thought for most of their career that the NGDB has fallen victim to the “too country for rock/too rock for country” malaise of acceptance.

“That may have been the case very early on, but we were considered a pop band for a long time, even though we had the country instruments like fiddles, mandolins, and accordion,” he says. “I can’t figure it out! We just like to make and play music!”
Carpenter says that while this tour will be the end of their extended jaunts, they will likely continue to play live sporadically and even possibly enter the studio again.

Finally, as for “Mr. Bojangles,” Carpenter says that they “just have to play” it. Leaving it off the set list would have been akin to Jimmy Buffet deciding against trotting out “Margaritaville.” Though he’s bemused as to the song’s enduring popularity.

“Nobody thought that was going to be anything! It was too long; it was set to a waltz and the dog dies. I guess a lot of people have dogs!” he laughs.
The only other “must-play song” on their list is 1987’s “Fishin’ in the Dark.” It was not only a hit for them, but the crowd-pleasing Wendy Waldmon/Jim Photoglo-written tune has been covered by several other artists including Garth Brooks.

“I was talking to someone the other day,” Carpenter sums up. “And I realized that if you were in your 30s when that song came out, you’re on Medicare right now!”

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band play at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, at the Arena Theatre, 7326 SW Freeway. For more information, call 713-772-5900 or visit ArenaHouston.com. $39.50-$79.50

For more on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, visit NittyGritty.com