The end of the road nears for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Formed during the late 1960s, 2026 marks the group’s 60th anniversary. Looking back on the decades in the music industry, the band left their mark thanks to hit songs like “Mr. Bojangles,” “Fishin’ in the Dark,” and “Dance Little Jean.” Just a sample of their timeless catalog, longtime member Bob Carpenter recently took a moment to discuss how important it was for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to play their last concert in Colorado.
On June 16 and June 18, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will perform two concerts. One at the Dillon Amphitheater and the other at the Mission Ballroom. Although the band announced their farewell tour, they weren’t closing the door on future performances.
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According to Carpenter, “We deserve a break and we’re going to take one right now. We’re just trying to enjoy it as much as we can. We’re making jokes now about how this is the last time we’re going to be delayed and this the last free piece of cheesecake backstage.”
The free cheesecake backstage was more than enough to keep some bands performing well into their 80s, but the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was ready to celebrate the legacy they spent a lifetime building.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Remembers The Magic Of Aspen
As for Colorado, Carpenter recalled the magic of Aspen during the early years of the group. “We lived in Colorado for, like, eight, nine years. At that time, Colorado, and especially Aspen, which was like a little tiny ski town and didn’t have all the wealth that it has now, had great places to play music.”
Remembering what it was like before it turned into a tourist destination, Carpenter added, “People would just go out at night, walk around the clubs and play with each other. It was absolutely Camelot. Then you’d go out afterwards and sit in a hot tub or have a drink, get up the next morning and ski, then you’d rinse and repeat every day. It was just an unbelievable place to play music. It was just totally beautiful and insane.”
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band wasn’t the only celebrities in the area. Carpenter joked about how they would often cross paths with journalist Hunter S. Thompson. “He was crazy. He used to show up at Ibbie’s house when the sun was coming up at 6 a.m. with two naked girls in the back of his convertible car with his shotgun in the front seat.”
While the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band prepares to take the stage in Dillon and Denver, the performances carry added weight. More than just another stop on the calendar, the Colorado shows represent a full-circle moment for a band as they come to the end of the road.
(Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)
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