As a courtesy to the artists and for the uninterrupted enjoyment of your fellow patrons, please silence all electronic devices. No portion of this performance may be photographed, recorded, filmed, taped, broadcast or mechanically reproduced without the written consent of the Artist and/or the Presenter. Mayo Performing Arts Center is not responsible for lost or stolen items. Program subject to change.
October 9, 2024
MAYO PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Morristown’s home for the arts since 1994
For nearly six decades, the three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has entertained audiences with their top-shelf musicianship and timeless hits. Now the time has come for the band who has carried a torch for American country and roots music to say so long to the highways and byways they’ve crossed an unimaginable number of times throughout their career.
On March 21st, 2024, the Dirt Band kicked off the first leg of their last traditionally scheduled gigs, ALL THE GOOD TIMES: The Farewell Tour. This isn’t goodbye forever, but it will be the last fans see of multi-city runs and long bus rides. These special shows will celebrate the music created by the legendary, yet everevolving NGDB.
Many veteran bands trade on nostalgia, on replication of past glories, and on recycled emotions from younger, more carefree days. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band trades on a mix of reimagined classics and compelling newer works. The group formed in 1966 as a Long Beach, California jug band, scored its first charting single in 1967, and embarked on a self-propelled ride through folk, country, rock ‘n’ roll, pop, bluegrass, and the amalgam now known as “Americana.” The first major hit came in 1971 with the epic “Mr. Bojangles,” which, along with insistent support from banjo master Earl Scruggs, opened doors in Nashville. Behind those doors were Earl Scruggs, Roy Acuff, Doc Watson, Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin, and others who would collaborate on a multi-artist, multi-generational, threedisc 1972 masterpiece: Will the Circle Be Unbroken went triple Platinum, spawned two later volumes, and wound up in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Was this a cutting-edge combo or a group of revivalists? Was the goal
rebellion or musical piety? Yes, to all these things. In the 1980s, the Dirt Band reeled off 15 straight Top 10 country hits, including chart-toppers “Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper’s Dream),” “Modern Day Romance,” and “Fishin’ in the Dark” (co-written by Jim Photoglo, who would join the band in the second decade of the new century). 1989 brought a second Circle album, this one featuring singer-songwriter talents including John Prine, Rosanne Cash, and John Hiatt and garnering two Grammy awards for the band (it later won another, for a collaboration with Earl Scruggs and other fine folks). Circle II also won the Country Music Association’s Album of the Year prize. Circle III was released in 2003, featuring collaborations with Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, and more.
Throughout the group’s lifetime, personnel has changed, with each change resulting in positive steps forward, new ways of playing the old songs, and renewed enthusiasm for writing and recording fresh material. The latest Dirt Band lineup is expanded to six members for the first time since 1968. Today’s group consists of founding member Jeff Hanna, harp master Jimmie Fadden (who joined in 1966), and soulful-voiced Bob Carpenter, who has more than 40 years of service in the ensemble. Those veterans are now joined by singer-songwriter-bass man Jim Photoglo, fiddle and mandolin wizard Ross Holmes, and Hanna’s son, the preternaturally talented singer and guitarist Jaime Hanna
Blood harmony, thrilling instrumental flights, undeniable stage chemistry ... these things are part of each Dirt Band show, just as they are part of Dirt Does Dylan, the first recording from the reconfigured, six-strong group released
in 2022. Produced by Ray Kennedy and Jeff Hanna, it’s a remarkable ride through some of the most impactful songs of the past century, penned by Bob Dylan and taken for a blue highway spin by a great American band, with help from geniuslevel contemporary artists like Jason Isbell and The War and Treaty.
A Dirt Band show is unlike any other. For legions of fans, it’s less about the memories than the moment, crisp as an Autumn apple and rich as a royal flush.
Brit Taylor
Fast-rising country Singer/Songwriter Brit Taylor — who is quickly becoming known for her loyalty to tradition while embracing the modern, for her unwaveringly honest and relatable lyrics, and for her sultry yet powerful alto — has, during her breakout year, debuted on the Grand Ole Opry, had her second album, the Sturgill Simpsonproduced Kentucky Blue — debut at No. 4 on the Bluegrass albums Billboard chart and station itself in the Top 20 on the Americana chart for weeks, performed across the nation including a headliner tour of 14 shows on the West Coast, as well as having solo performances at major music festivals including Railbird, Key West, Laurel Cove, Master Musicians, CMA Fest and multiple shows at Americanfest. Recognized repeatedly as one of country music's emerging artists, the Kentucky native had a song on the TV hit show Tulsa King and has supported musicians across the country including: Margo Price, Brent Cobb, Dwight Yoakum, Blackberry Smoke, Turnpike Troubadours, Kelsey Waldon, Charles Wesley Godwin, Dayton Farley and others.
When it didnʼt come easy for Brit, she earned it. Her grit, her music, and her story are born of hard work, difficult times, unlimited conviction and deep
self-reflection. Starting on the Kentucky Opry at just seven years old, she left at age 17 to chase her country music dream in Nashville. A college degree and an internship quickly led to her first publishing deal. But before she could soar, she had to navigate life's dips and jolts — a marriage gone wrong, a beloved dog crossing the Rainbow Bridge, a band and publishing deal that were no more and the bank wanting her sanctuary — the treasured mini-farm that brings her peace and houses her menagerie of animals. Her journey through life’s trials to today’s achievements lets her gift listeners with relatable and empathetic experiences, always offering either a background for life's laughter or a shoulder to lean on for life’s tears. Like the native Kentucky tulip poplar trees, soaring yet rooted deep in the mountain soils, Brit Taylor stands tall, stays put and sways with life’s winds, but she does not break.
