Why the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's musical bridge between generations still matters today

Jeff Hanna, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band laminitis and de facto leader, is tucked into a nondescript booth astatine El Palenque, a 30-years-plus section edifice successful a Nashville portion mall, talking astir “Nashville Skyline,” a pensive way from their EP, “Night After Night.” The family-owned Mexican edifice is the benignant of spot he’s gravitated toward since starting a jug set with friends successful Long Beach earlier migrating to Los Angeles’ folk/rock scene.

Threaded with fiddle, soft and pb vocal by his lad Jaime, “Nashville Skyline” is an elegy for Nashville’s rapacious gentrification arsenic good arsenic a emotion mislaid to time. The metaphor isn’t mislaid connected the elder Hanna, who recognizes what’s been mislaid with a dignity and sweetness.

“It’s much reflective,” helium allows. “But [capturing moments is] what we bash best.”

For the dark-haired 78-year-old, this scene’s played retired countless times crossed a vocation that’s spanned a fig of genres related to folk, popular and country: gathering a writer to speech astir the band’s singular marque of American music. Yet small astir the NGDB’s dependable has changed crossed six decades.

Beyond “Mr. Bojangles,” written by Jerry Jeff Walker, and “The House astatine Pooh Corner,” written by Kenny Loggins, the regulars of the Troudadour/Ash Grove clubs would person popular occurrence arsenic the ‘70s became the ‘80s with “Make a Little Magic,” featuring Nicolette Larson, and “Viola! An American Dream,” with vocals from Linda Ronstadt. But it was the multi-generational and genre-bridging Grammy-nominated “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” recorded with Nashville royalty Roy Acuff, Maybelle Carter and Earl Scruggs among galore others, that grounded the band’s aboriginal arsenic a mainstream state enactment successful the ‘80s and ‘90s, arsenic good arsenic what’s go Americana.

“Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. 2” (1989) and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. 3” (2004) continued that trend. Both brought location Grammys, portion featuring Rosanne Cash and John Hiatt, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Tom Petty, Randy Scruggs, John Prine, Bruce Hornsby, Dwight Yoakam and Hanna’s lad Jaime. Also, a wunderkind dobro subordinate named Jerry Douglas.

Hanna talks animatedly astir Douglas’ accumulation connected their five-song EP: “Like a batch of guys who came up successful the 2nd question of bluegrass aft Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Jerry’s portion of a progressive philharmonic practice with New Grass Revival, Tony Rice and New South wherever genre- and cultural-crossing makes you ace open-minded, truthful what we bash is precise fluid for him.”

The Grammy-winning dobro icon/master — Douglas receives name-billing arsenic portion of Alison Krauss & Union Station — has past with the Dirt Band. Beyond playing connected “Long Hard Road,” their archetypal state No. 1, Douglas has loved their euphony since “seeing them successful Mole Lake, Wisconsin, astatine a festival connected an Indian Reservation.”

“It was 1973, I was 19 and playing with the Country Gentlemen. Everybody was smoking; determination was adjacent a paraquat-testing booth. The Vietnam War was happening. But ‘Will the Circle Be Unbroken’ was out; they had Vassar Clements playing with them — and the honesty of their euphony stuck out.”

That honesty and being successful the infinitesimal carried the Dirt Band crossed taste upheavals, changing exertion and tastes by allowing songs and their sheer joyousness of playing to specify a vocation marked by implicit 100 shows a year, scattered recorded projects that featured songs by Marshall Crenshaw, Steve Goodman, Bruce Springsteen and 2022’s “Dirt Does Dylan.”

“I consciousness truly bully astir ‘Night After Night ‘as a infinitesimal successful time,” Hanna says. “It’s a bully operation of what we do, wherever we are. It’s a small reflective, but I emotion the mode the songs travel unneurotic … and arsenic overmuch arsenic I wanted to beryllium (Don) Henley successful ’75, I made my bid with that for thing that’s truer.”

Truer means blending laminitis Jimmie Fadden (drummer/writer/harmonica), 40-years-plus subordinate Bob Carpenter (keyboards/vocals) and longtime pal Jim Photoglo (bass/vocals) with stand-out next-gen players multi-instrumentalist Ross Holmes (Mumford + Sons, Bruce Hornsby) and Hanna’s son, guitarist/vocalist Jaime (the Mavericks, Gary Allen). Hanna says, “Jaime’s 1 of my champion friends successful the satellite and we stock a batch of music, but his chops are substantial. I sometimes look over, proceeding him play what were my solos and smile. He’s got the 3 T’s successful electrical guitar: tone, sensation and timing.”

Beyond the EP’s romping Paul Kennerly/Daniel Tashian rubric way ruminating connected emotion lost’s impact, a poignant consciousness of reckoning with the transition of clip and nonaccomplishment of places that substance is tempered with grace and acceptance. Featuring salient acoustic guitar picking, Fadden’s signature harmonica and lyrics stained with philosophical nostalgia, the task gilds the band’s existent Farewell Tour celebrating 60 years of music-making that rooted erstwhile “Buy for Me the Rain” became a determination Los Angeles hit.

Douglas concurs astir the fingers-on-strings magic. “We recorded each this astatine Oceanway, sitting successful a circle, moving the songs and looking astatine each other. It’s a small much integrated than immoderate projects; we didn’t bash 20 takes, but created dynamics … I’ve played euphony my full life, and this was 1 endorphin unreserved aft another.”

That unreserved can’t beryllium machined oregon algorithmed. Both Country Music Hall of Fame Chief Executive Kyle Young and Americana Music Assn. Executive Director Jed Hilly constituent to the Dirt Band arsenic a groundbreaking influence.

Young enthuses, “I grew up successful Nashville, and it took them to amusement maine Nashville’s philharmonic past and heritage; I was listening to everything but country. That archetypal ‘Circle,’ you can’t overemphasize its interaction enough,” portion Hilly raves, “They were legendary erstwhile I was 10 years aged successful Vermont, going to the Craftsberry Fiddle and Banjo Contest! It was Neil Young’s ‘Harvest,’ [Grateful Dead’s ‘Working Man’s Dead,’ Doc Watson and ‘Circle.’]”

Hilly continues, “I’ve heard T Bone Burnett speech astir ‘Oh Brother,’ however large euphony cuts through. But the Dirt Band? They were pivotal, similar John Prine, who conscionable made his music … reaching into the past, but bringing it to the contiguous truthful it’s precise current. And the happiness onstage? No one’s similar them.”

And there’s Darius Rucker, a modern state prima and person of ubiquitous ‘90s rock/roots Hootie & the Blowfish, who emailed, “I learned truthful overmuch astir the existent roots of state and however to use it erstwhile we started making records successful college.

“They were a large popular band, and ‘Circle’ was specified an important infinitesimal for bringing old-school state and bluegrass artists — Maybelle Carter, Roy Acuff, Doc Watson, and Merle Travis — into the country with ‘hippie kids’ … It allowed for state and California stone to travel together. “

Laughing erstwhile the praise is shared, Hanna demurs. “The magnitude of oculus rolls you get from saying ‘Farewell Tour,’ due to the fact that it’s truthful abused. But the rigors of touring, particularly with question the mode it is ... Fadden’s ever been 1 to punctual america however grateful we are erstwhile it’s 3 hours of sleep, the nutrient choices aren’t truthful bully and something’s lost, due to the fact that we are.

“We’ve ne'er stopped making music,” Hanna continues. “Sometimes we were the Toot Uncommons with Steve Martin, oregon playing arsenic Linda Ronstadt’s back-up set for a minute, but it was ever large music. Even erstwhile grounds institution radical would suggest thing to marque america ‘cool with the kids,’ we knew, and don’t person excessively galore cringe moments.

“With ‘Night After Night,’ I got to co-write astir of this grounds with my son, my woman (Nashville Songwriter Hall of Famer Matraca Berg) and friends similar Mac McAnally. Jaime brought america immoderate chill songs, too. Everybody played great. We had the aforesaid benignant of amusive we did erstwhile we started. Sixty years in, what much is there?”