Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s farewell tour coming to Cedar Rapids

UPDATE: The concert is moving indoors to the Alliant Energy PowerHouse because of looming bad weather. Tickets sold for the outdoor amphitheater will be honored at the arena.

It's not easy to believe veteran bands when they announce their final tour. KISS and Motley Crue claimed to embark on final tours, but both acts returned to the road after concluding a jaunt that was marketed as their swan song run.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band says the group is on its last tour, and it sounds like it really is fans’ final chance to catch the venerable country/rock band. Originally slated to play Saturday, June 22, 2024, at the outdoor McGrath Amphitheatre, the concert is moving indoors to the Alliant Energy PowerHouse, because of the threat of bad weather. Ticket holders will be seated in a comparable location.

“This is our farewell tour,” keyboardist Bob Carpenter said while calling from his Los Angeles home. “At some point, we're going to have to end this, and it’s about time. We're scaling down now. We're going to play about 60 shows this year and this is it. We can’t do this forever.

“We wanted to go out while we’re still playing well. We have no desire to be like Willie Nelson who still is touring (at age 91). This can’t go on forever. It’s been so long since we formed this band, and we’re incredibly fortunate to have lived this long and that we maintained our health. We’re not going to push it.”

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band formed in May of 1966 in Long Beach, Calif. Vocalist/guitarist Jeff Hanna formed the group with drummer Jimmie Fadden. Carpenter started sitting in with the band in 1975 and became a member four years later. The trio is on a 44-year run.

“It’s been incredible,” Carpenter said. “We have no regrets. We’ve accomplished so much.”

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has had its share of hits. The cover of the Jerry Jeff Walker classic “Mr. Bojangles” peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Modern Day Romance” and “Fishin’ in the Dark” topped the country charts.

Expect the hits when the band comes to town, but the group also is dusting off favorites that haven’t been performed in years.

“We’re putting new old songs into our set,” Carpenter said. “We’re covering every decade. It’s fun to reintroduce ourselves to these songs. It’s good for our brains to try to remember this stuff. It’s fun to play them since we won’t play them exactly how they were recorded. The arrangements to the songs will be different when you see us.”

The bandmates will be taking a page out of their pal Bob Dylan’s book. “Dirt Does Dylan,” the group’s latest album, which dropped in 2022, is a collection of covers of arguably the greatest songwriter in rock history.

“We had such a great time recording those (Dylan) songs with our band and with some of our friends,” Carpenter said. “It was truly a labor of love. It was a challenge for us. We thought, ‘How can the Dirt Band make this stuff work?’ ”

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which also includes guitarist Jaime Hanna, who is Jeff Hanna’s son, bassist Jim Photoglo and fiddler Ross Holmes, knocked it out of the park. However, the Dirt Band never received feedback from the Dylan camp. But the group and Dylan shared a dressing room for the first Farm Aid performance in 1984.

“We shared space during that show with Bob and John Denver. We didn’t get to share the stage with him, but it was nice sharing a dressing room. It was an experience.”

Carpenter isn’t certain if the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will play one-off shows or record once the curtain is drawn on the band.

“I don’t know what we’ll do,” he said. “I’m going to be 78 this year, and I’m fine with being here at home. Right now I’m going to help my wife in the garden get the aphids off the roses. I’m fine with just being around here since we’ve accomplished so much over the years.

“We’ll see what happens in a year or so. Right now I’m just going to focus on the shows since we’re making sure we give fans the best possible show. It’ll be something they can remember us by.”