The Egg Presents: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

ALL THE GOOD TIMES: The Farewell Tour – 60 Years of Dirt

For nearly six decades, the three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has entertained audiences with top-shelf musicianship and timeless hits. Now the time has come for the band to say so long to the highways and byways they’ve crossed an unimaginable number of times throughout their career.

On March 21, 2024, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band kicked off the first of its last traditionally scheduled gigs, ALL THE GOOD TIMES: The Farewell Tour, which has received critical acclaim. This isn’t goodbye forever, but it will be the last fans see of multi-city runs and long bus rides. As 2026 approaches, so does the band’s 60th Anniversary, and to celebrate, NGDB’s ALL THE GOOD TIMES: The Farewell Tour — 60 Years of Dirt will showcase a special slate of performances and appearances set for 2026, including a 60th Anniversary Celebration on May 13, 2026 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee.

The band has a new 5-song EP, Night After Night, produced by GRAMMY® Award winner and dobro master Jerry Douglas, releasing Oct. 24, 2025. The new single title track is described as a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-esque rocker and marks the group’s first all-new music since 2009’s Speed of Life. Jeff Hanna’s signature vocal delivery and the band’s freight-train groove feature prominently. Hanna says, “It’s right in our wheelhouse, and it’s pretty easy to tell what a blast we had playing and singing it.” The EP is a family affair: Hanna co-wrote three of the new songs, and “Nashville Skyline” was co-written by Hanna, his wife Matraca Berg, and his son and bandmate Jaime Hanna.

A brief history: the group formed in 1966 as a Long Beach, California jug band, scored its first charting single in 1967, and expanded through folk, country, rock ’n’ roll, pop, bluegrass, and what became known as Americana. Their first major hit was 1971’s “Mr. Bojangles.” The 1972 multi-artist project Will the Circle Be Unbroken went triple Platinum, spawned later volumes, and entered the Grammy Hall of Fame. In the 1980s the Dirt Band had 15 straight Top 10 country hits, including the chart-toppers “Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper’s Dream),” “Modern Day Romance,” and “Fishin’ in the Dark.” Circle II (1989) won two Grammys and the CMA Album of the Year; Circle III was released in 2003 with collaborations including Johnny Cash and Emmylou Harris.

Personnel has changed over the years, often bringing renewed enthusiasm and fresh ways of playing old songs. The current, expanded six-member lineup (the first six-strong configuration since 1968) includes:
- Jeff Hanna
- Jimmie Fadden
- Bob Carpenter
- Jim Photoglo
- Ross Holmes
- Jaime Hanna

Blood harmony, thrilling instrumental flights, and undeniable stage chemistry are part of each Dirt Band show, just as they are part of their recent recording Dirt Does Dylan (2022). For legions of fans, a Dirt Band show is less about the memories than the moment, crisp as an autumn apple and rich as a royal flush.