Ask Dan Hubbs to describe his band, folk-country trio Dry Bones, and the word “literary” will most likely come up at some point in the conversation.

That is not too surprising, considering that all three of the band’s members met in 2001 while working as librarians at the Saratoga Springs Public Library. Hubbs also cites “The Anthology of American Folk Music” as one of his main inspirations for picking up the banjo and writing his own songs. The band’s music is steeped in the traditions of American and Irish folk songs, although Hubbs insisted the group isn’t “hard core” about it.

“We play acoustic instruments, and this is what you can do with acoustic instruments,” Hubbs said, while practicing recently with his bandmates a half-hour before Dry Bones performed on Skidmore College’s radio station, WSPN 91.1 FM.

“We’re not so much hard-core traditional; it’s just the limited resources of a grassroots band. A rock band really is a middle-class construct — you have to spend thousands of dollars just for . . . instruments.”

Now, after about seven years of playing traditional and original folk music in and around Saratoga Springs, Hubbs and his bandmates, vocalist Mare Hill and guitarist Matt Gomm, will be performing together as Dry Bones for the last time. On Saturday at 8 p.m., the band will play its farewell show at Caffe Lena, with special guest Frank Orsini on fiddle.

Fortuitous split

According to the group’s members, the split is simply a matter of circumstance.

“Mare’s moving to Rochester,” Hubbs said. “Matt’s already left town; we have to drag him back up here to play.”

Gomm has worked at the Goshen Public Library in Goshen since 2004, making the drive to Saratoga Springs for practices and shows. But now, with Hill leaving, the group’s members will be spread across the state, a formidable obstacle to maintaining a working band.

“People have been asking us, ‘Is this just a big publicity stunt?’ ” Hubbs said. “Not really. It’s hard to maintain a band if you don’t keep working on things.”

Watching Hubbs, Hill and Gomm casually joke and rib one another, one can easily see the loose and playful dynamic that has propelled the band over the years. This laid-back atmosphere can be sensed on songs such as the up-tempo traditional “Hello Stranger,” and on Hubbs-penned originals such as “DT Blues” and the hazy, wandering “All Folked Up.” “We do a lot of songs with birds and strangers,” Hill said after a run-through of “Hello Stranger.”

Hubbs, the eldest band member at 51, is the group’s unofficial leader, helping to keep the focus on traditional folk and country. However, other styles do seep in. The group has been known to cover the Rolling Stones and the Cars, and Hubbs’ fondness for Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen can be heard in many of the band’s tracks. The 38-year-old Gomm, a rockabilly fan, has contributed a rockabilly-tinged number.

“I’m sort of more hard core; the young folk try to send us astray with modern songs from the ’40s and ’50s,” Hubbs said jokingly. “We do a few things because I can’t stop them.”

Embracing internet

Breaking with its traditional image, the group has embraced the Internet as its primary means of getting the music to the people. The band’s page on Garageband, www.garageband.com/artist/drybonesband, allowed the group to expand its audience base to locales as far away as France. A CD of some of the band’s songs, titled “Thieves Like Us,” is available for purchase or download from YouTune Records, http://youtunerecords.com/drybonesband.htm.

“[The Internet is] great. It makes it so it’s doable without getting in a car and driving around the Northeast,” Hubbs said. “It’s more realistic to do this.”

Although the band is splitting up, no one is quitting music. Gomm is working on a project called Salem Witch Army that will be “one-half burlesque, one-half rock and one-half performance art,” and will probably include Hill and Hubbs as well. Hill said she plans to take vocal lessons. And according to Hubb, the split up might not even last; an investor has approached the band about recording an album.

But according to Hill, the three are friends foremost, and will continue to play together, if not officially as Dry Bones. “We’ll always get together and play in Dan’s living room,” Hill said.