After four-plus decades in the music business, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has few peers. In fact, you can count the number of acts that have lasted as long or been as successful on one hand.
Although band members have come and gone -- and often, come back again -- the Grammy-winning country-rock group has continued, largely unabated, for some 42 years.
Tonight, the Dirt Band -- Jeff Hanna, Jimmie Fadden, John McEuen and Bob Carpenter -- arrives in Memphis for a show at the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center.
The Dirt Band, which released its last studio album, Woody Creek, in 2004, has been hard at work on a new record, due out early next year. In the meantime, they've re-recorded and released a version of their classic "Mr. Bojangles" cut with contemporary country stars Keith Urban and Dierks Bentley (the track is available as an online download).
Calling from Nashville, Hanna is eager to discuss the group's remarkable journey.
From encounters with presidents (the first President Bush famously flubbed their name at a country awards ceremony, calling them "the Nitty Ditty Nitty Gritty Great Bird") to making records with country music royalty (as they did on the landmark 1972 LP Will The Circle Be Unbroken) to sharing stages with rockers ranging from Aerosmith to Steppenwolf, even Hanna has to marvel at the people, places and things the group had experienced.
"Remember that film 'Zelig'?" asks Hanna, laughing. "We're sort of Zelig-like; we seem to show up in every photo. We're like the ultimate fly on the wall."
Q: When you guys started out in the mid- to late '60s, you would be paired up opening shows for a wide range of people, for old-time comedians like Jack Benny to hip young bands like The Doors.
A: The good news and the bad news about that era was that everything was wide open. You had Jimi Hendrix opening for The Monkees, for example. But we got to play with a lot of bands I admired like the Moby Grape and Buffalo Springfield.
Q: You mention Buffalo Springfield, a band that was terrific but had a very short life. How or why has the Dirt Band managed to survive for so long?
A: I was reading a quote from Neil Young talking about how there's a unique sound that a band makes, and that no matter how strong any of the individual components are, they're not going to make that same sound on their own. And I think the four of us have gotten pretty hooked on that sound. I love playing music with these three guys and there's something we do together that's this other thing; we call it the monster. That monster kinda comes out when the four of us play together. That and the fact that we've had a loyal fan base since the early '70s has kind of created this opportunity to see the world and play music, two things that we like to do.
Q: And that's been enough to sustain things? I mean, it's strange, because after 40 years together, most bands end up hating each other.
A: We've all been through that hating each other part. (laughs) We've come full circle. People have left the band and rejoined lots of times. I totally understand why people leave. Why they stick around or come back might be more complex. (laughs) I look at it as a family situation. I don't think there's a family on the face of the Earth that doesn't have some dysfunction. That's what a band is. It's a bunch of brothers that are going to argue over the little tiny stuff but they're gonna agree on the big things.
Q: In the early '70s, you guys had enjoyed a huge pop hit with "Mr. Bojangles" but then decided to take a risk and go to Nashville to record Will the Circle Be Unbroken, a concept album with a bunch of old-time country stars. Did that feel like a stretch or a risk at the time?
A: Musically for us it wasn't that much of a stretch. We were already doing bluegrass things and jug band and country stuff. Circle was like taking 30 percent of what were doing already and doing a whole record of it -- and, notably, with all of these people that we worshipped like Doc (Watson) and Earl (Scruggs), Roy Acuff and Mother Maybelle Carter. That was a pretty incredible experience. The pop success we'd enjoyed up to that point might have been derailed a little bit by Circle. But I wouldn't trade it. I think in the big picture -- on our permanent record, as we like to say -- it meant so much more. The Circle record is one of the most -- and I say this as an observer and not as a participant -- I think it is one of the most important records made in the 20th century.
Q: The Dirt Band has been involved in a number of interesting projects over the years. You guys made an appearance in the Lee Marvin/Clint Eastwood musical "Paint Your Wagon" and backed Steve Martin on "Saturday Night Live," for his "King Tut" song. But the one thing that really caught my eye was your tour of the Soviet Union in 1977.
A: We were the first American rock band to go over there. We were playing a gig in the Washington, D.C., area and some emissary from the Soviet Union saw it and decided he wanted us to go over. Our manager got a phone call from the State Department. He actually hung up thinking it was a hoax. (laughs) And they called him right back, and said "No, really, we're interested in the Dirt Band doing a Soviet tour" -- which turned out to be for a month. We started in Georgia, where all the action is right now, and played Armenia and all through Russia: Leningrad, Moscow. We were playing concert halls and a couple soccer stadiums. There were big crowds, but it was weird because no one knew who we were. We were just like, "the band from America." It was great fun, though. We had a KGB tail everywhere we went. It was totally like 007 -- but without the guns. Or the chicks.
Q: So now, 42 years later is it still as much fun?
A: Absolutely. We do 50-60 shows a year which keeps us away from home about 120 days. The truth, if you ask my wife, is that there's never any time off from the Dirt Band. We tend to talk a lot and scheme and write songs and other stuff. There's more to it than just what we do on the road. But we still really enjoy playing live. That passion has never left. Having been around so long, nowadays the audience ranges in age from folks who are a little bit older than us to kids and grandkids, and we love that.
-- Bob Mehr: 529-2517
Preview
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
8 tonight at the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center, 3663 Appling.
For details, call 385-6440.
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