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The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at The Birchmere

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Birchmere*
Alexandria, VA
March 18

You don’t need to wonder what the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band sounded like in their prime, because they’re evidently still in it.

Sunday’s concert at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia saw the four-piece band as enthusiastic as newcomers whether they were playing classics such as “Mr. Bojangles” or more recent material from their 2009 Speed of Life album.
The audience even had time to consider a comparison. When Jonathan and Nathan McEuen, the sons of Dirt Band co-founder John McEuen, opened the show it reminded the audience how captivating it can be to “discover” talented new artists.

The duo, joined by their much-honored father for part of their set, performed an array of original Americana and covers including the Dave Mason classic “Only You Know and I Know,” from their just released album “For All the Good.”

“They play and sing almost too well,” said Dirt Band frontman, co-founder and guitarist Jeff Hanna, no doubt echoing the thoughts of those in the audience. “They should be fined for that.”

But for all the excitement the McEuen brothers engendered, it was the Dirt Band that brought down the house. The vocals by Hanna – whose youthful looks make one wonder if he has a Dorian-Gray type portrait in his attic – were strong and clear whether he was singing lead or blending his voice with those of band mates. Yes, his vocals have changed since the band’s 1960s start, but the more mature inflections only add depth to the lyrics.

Although keyboardist Jimmie Fadden and drummer Bob Carpenter played with the energetic zest of masters, it was multi-instrumentalist John McEuen who almost stole the show whether he was letting the fiddle do the talking on “You Ain’t Going Nowhere,” serving up first-class mandolin playing on “The Face on the Cutting Room Floor,” or letting his fingers fly on banjo or guitar. (Fun fact: A young McEuen taught his buddy Steve Martin to play banjo).

The band that is widely credited for launching the whole rock-country sound when it formed in 1965, kept the arrangements and instrumentations fairly close to the originals. You won’t find any reinterpretations in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s shows and, based on the thunderous applause and whoops from the near-capacity audience, that’s just the way fans want ‘em.

Fair enough considering the lyrics of the songs are multilayered enough for a host of interpretations. Consider “The Resurrection” that Hanna penned with his wife Matraca Berg, a much-lauded Nashville songwriter. Hanna told the crowd the song is about a town “waiting for a comeback,” but even casual listeners can unearth a host of religious and life affirming messages within the words.

Not that the band tries to force-feed their listeners any heavy-duty sermons. Far from it. The evening was joyful with the band mates’ teasing each other about everything from their eating habits to their multiple marriages.

“We weren’t sure we were a country band until Jeff and I realized we married twins,” said McEuen nothing that they received a “group discount” when the two couples divorced. “If that ain’t country, I don’t know what is.”

Go ahead and debate the definition of the words nitty and gritty as you mull whether the music of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fits their moniker.

Clearly, it suits a loyal, all-ages fan base just fine.