Musicianship was front and centre during the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band concert earlier this week at The Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton.

Kicking off with “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” first featured on “Will The Circle Be Unbroken Volume 2” Jeff Hanna clearly shows his vocals are in fine form. The ‘Circle’ and Bob Dylan, who originally penned “Nowhere” play key roles in tonight’s performance.

For a band that’s been around as long as they have, you’d think they’d show up, go through motions and play a less than lively 80-90 minute set. This is not the case with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Everyone was in top form, including the two “new” guys, Jaime Hanna on guitar and Ross Holmes on fiddle and mandolin, playing their hearts out for nearly two hours.

A couple Dirt classics followed with “Face On The Cutting Room Floor” and “The Long Hard Road” then Jeff and company took a breather. He chatted a bit about the history of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band that goes back to 1966. He then added, “A few years ago when putting a setlist together to celebrate 50 years of Dirt, we thought wouldn’t it be great if we played the first song we ever had a hit with back in ‘67. But we couldn’t remember the lyrics, so we went to eBay and bought a CD. Here’s ‘Buy For Me The Rain’”

“A couple of years ago we put out an album, “Dirt Does Dylan” and I had to clarify it was Bob, not Thomas.” He then introduced his son on guitar who used to play with the Mavericks and the Gary Allen Band. “This is my son Jaime. I went to go to Ancestry dot com and found him.” They then mastered “Girl From the North Country” and “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You.” “We were going to bring some copies up for this tour but we didn’t want them to get stopped at customs.”

It was now time for a couple from the Circle albums. Great version of “Grandpa Was a Carpenter” and a rousing rendition of “Take Me In Your Lifeboat” that showcased former Mumford and Sons fiddle player Ross Holmes with some fine finger work. More from the “Circle” series of albums as Jimmy Fadden sang on “Honky Tonkin’” all while playing drums and harmonica. As Jeff Hanna said, “He’s singing, drumming and playing harmonica at the same time. He has some serious ADD. Heck, he’s even doing a crossword back there.”

The NGDB then settled in with some good old Dirt songs such as “Working Man Nowhere to Go” “Mr. Bojangles” “John Henry” and more. The intro to “Bless The Broken Road” stated, “This is from one of our lowest selling albums. You know how you have gold and platinum; well this would have been certified aluminum.” It may not have been a big hit for the NGDB, but Rascall Flatts had some success with the song. Bobby Carpenter came out from behind the keys to sing this one.

Everyone in attendance appreciated the Ian Tyson tribute as they tugged at our heart strings with a great cover of “Four Strong Winds.” There was great 10 minute jam for “Ripplin Waters.”

Jimmy Fadden had another smooth harmonica solo that led into a nice guitar solo before jumping into “Fishing In The Dark” a cell phone favourite and a great sing along. Young and older alike were singing at the top of their lungs. The token insert City name here during “Voila, An American Dream” drew great cheers.

If you’ve ever been to a country bar on a Saturday night, you’d know the moves to “Cadillac Ranch.” Well in Alberta, they teach those moves in Junior High School. However, a seated crowd at the Jube found it quite hard to make the steps, but there were a few brave souls dancing along the sides.

The night was drawing to a close, and almost 2 hours after they started the jumped into “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” for the encore and what an encore it was. Another Bob Dylan connection as The NGDB included The Band’s “The Weight.” As mentioned earlier, Jeff Hanna’s voice is in fine form after 57 years of playing and singing. Yes, he did hit that high note at the end of “…Circle” and then patted his chest. You can take a breath. And a bow. This was one exciting show. Standing ovations abound, lots of chatter after the show like “..best show I’ve ever been to..” “that was my favourite show since the lockdown.” or even “…best concert EVER.” The NGDB gave us the goods.