Talkin' 'Fishin' in the Dark' with NGDB's Fadden

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Fishin’ in the Dark” doesn’t just seem like it could be Wisconsin’s unofficial anthem.

“Oh yeah, it is,” said drummer Jimmie Fadden. “I think Wisconsin really, they’re on it. And Minnesota, too. There’s a little bit of that there.”

The band’s 1987 hit plays especially big in Wisconsin, where all that talk about the lazy yellow moon, counting the stars and waiting all winter for the time to be right never fails to spark a feel-good sing-along at whatever summer festival, bar gig or church picnic it gets played at. Fadden, who along with singer and guitarist Jeff Hanna, are the original members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for 50 years and counting, witnesses the love every time the band breaks out the song in the state.

“It’s the fishing thing and the outdoor thing together,” Fadden said. “I guess a lot of people have that kind of destination in mind in that state. I think about everybody going to the lake in the summer. All those family outings and maybe sneaking away and getting away from the family.”

It’s but one iconic song in a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band catalog that’s filled with them. “Mr. Bojangles,” “Dance Little Jean,” “Cadillac Ranch,” “Long Hard Road,” “An American Dream,” and, of course, 1972’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” the seminal album that defined the group’s blend of country, rock and bluegrass. The band, which also includes longtime members John McEuen and Bob Carpenter, will be hard-pressed to fit them all in during a sold-out show Friday night at the Meyer Theatre. It’s a stop on the band’s 50th-anniversary tour, which kicked off last year. May was the official milestone month.

“We’re going to try to milk it a little more, you know what I mean? When you’ve got an event like this, you want to get everything you can out of it,” said Fadden, who turns 68 Thursday. “I had no preconceived idea of what 50 might even be like. When you’re young and you take off and start doing this, the idea of what’s down the road is just a mystery. It’s kind of like, ‘Well, we’ll see.’”

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Do you find that being the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band these days is a balancing act between keeping up with the times and honoring the tradition of the past?

We’ve just kind of done what was in front of us, and we continue to do that. I think what’s behind us is in front of us every night. What is historically important in our band is currently important onstage, if that makes any sense. To be able to play these songs with enthusiasm and some freshness is an easy task for us. It’s kind of an interesting feeling. From night to night, (people say) doesn’t that get old? For me, no it doesn’t. It’s always a little bit of a different conversation musically. There’s always something that might be different from the night before or there’s something that’s happening that you remember it being like a few years ago.

We don’t use any prerecorded contrivances. There’s nothing digital going on onstage. It’s just live music, so there’s a lot of freedom in that in the sense that we communicate to one another as we’re playing in various ways as things happen. It’s an ongoing musical conversation. This spontaneity is an interesting experience to find yourself in. It’s the field of play, if you can imagine any team of people moving together in one direction.

With so many songs that people expect to hear, how much do you switch things up from night to night?

Not a whole lot. Sometimes Jeff will call out something we haven’t done in a while. It’s just kind of like stump the band. Everybody has maybe a little opportunity to play something with a little different inflection ... I think for me, some people have said how do you play a song like “Bojangles” from night to night and do it justice. To me, it’s a challenge to get the dynamics right. It’s a living, breathing experience, where we’re all sort of on the same page or maybe somebody is a little less into it or somebody is more into it. We all have different energy levels. Some nights we’ll play it a little slower. Some nights it’s a little peppier. Those things are very interesting in the moment that you’re doing it.

Is it fair to say that touring has been the lifeblood of this band?

Oh, absolutely. That’s going to probably be the most accurate thing we can reflect upon right now. Some bands become studio bands, and they turn out great records, and they spend their time (there), and they’re laboring over their creativity — Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, The Beatles. People that just for whatever reason seemed to become comfortable there and would rather that be their talent, but for us, it’s always been the stage.

What’s the longest break you’ve ever taken from the road in the past 50 years?

We took a year off one year. Not a whole year but part of a year. It was OK. It was interesting. I had to find something else to do.

Take us back to the beginnings of the band when you were all just teens in the ’60s. What stands out for you from those days?

I think just the early sense of freedom we had, when you’re a young person and you have a life in front of you and you’re not quite sure what it’s going to be. It involves all those things that you have to learn from day to day. How are you going to pay rent? How are you going to eat? How are you going to wash your clothes? And then on top of that, for us, how are you going to get to do your show? We actually all lived together in a big house for a while, which was convenient in many ways. It was kind of our little home base for everyone, and it made getting a lot of things done easier, but it was also a place that didn’t have a lot of privacy. We had a lot of fun running around in southern California, going to clubs and sitting in with people and seeing other musicians play. There was always something going on there, so we had a very busy social life.

When you did your 50th-anniversary concert at the Ryman Auditorium, you were joined by a who’s who of special guests (Jackson Browne, John Prine, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Rodney Crowell). Is there anybody else you wished could’ve been a part of it? 

Obviously, they are the people from the (“Will the Circle Be Unbroken”) album who are not with us. It would’ve been great to have Jimmy Martin and Earl Scruggs.

The band’s longevity seems to be a testament to timeless music and great musicianship. Is that how you see it?

I think that it’s wonderful to be part of the soundtrack to people’s lives. I think we all have songs to us that were important to us that made some kind of connection between what was going on at that moment and how we felt. I know we all experience that, but to be a part of that in somebody else’s life is really a wonderful feeling.

It’s a testament to our audience, too, that’s still there. The fact that they still enjoy what it was we did or what it is we do and still want to come out and experience that with us. A lot of people bring their kids. They brought them along with the music. Some of those kids have kids.

kmeinert@pressgazettemedia.com and follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert

DO IT

Who: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Meyer Theatre, 117 S. Washington St., Green Bay

Tickets: Sold out