Trey and Tom created a demo recording of “Dirt” during a writing session held in early 1997 at a rented farmhouse in rural Vermont, that later appeared on the 2000 collection of demos
Trampled By Lambs & Pecked By The Dove. Shortly after making the original demo, Anastasio took the song public at a performance on May 21, 1997, at Club Toast in Burlington, Vermont. The one-off concert billed as
New York! saw Anastasio joined by Phish bassist
Mike Gordon, trombonist
Paul “Pistol Stamen” Jaffee (The Bunny radio station DJ) and The Pants guitarist/vocalist
Tom Lawson (who would later join Trey in April 1998 for the one-off 8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes show). Also making its debut was the future Phish song, “Saw It Again.”