Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken (30th Anniversary Edition)
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Artist: Nitty Gritty Dirt BandBrand: Capitol
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2002-03-26
Music Label: Capitol
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Grand Ole Opry Song
- Keep On The Sunny Side
- Nashville Blues
- You Are My Flower
- The Precious Jewel
- Dark As A Dungeon
- Tennessee Stud
- Black Mountain Rag
- Wreck On The Highway
- The End Of The World
- I Saw The Light
- Sunny Side Of The Mountain
- Nine Pound Hammer
- Losin' You (Might Be The Best Thing Yet)
- Honky Tonkin'
- You Don't Know My Mind
- My Walkin' Shoes
- Lonesome Fiddle Blues
- Cannonball Rag
- Avalanche
- Flint Hill Special
- Togary Mountain
- Earl's Breakdown
- Orange Blossom Special
- Wabash Cannonball
- Lost Highway
- Doc Watson & Merle Travis: First Meeting (Dialogue)
- Way Downtown
- Down Yonder
- Pins And Needles (In My Heart)
- Honky Tonk Blues
- Sailin' On To Hawaii
- I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes
- I Am A Pilgrim
- Wildwood Flower
- Soldier's Joy
- Will The Circle Be Unbroken
- Both Sides Now
- Foggy Mountain Breakdown
- Warming Up for "The Opry" (talk)
- Sunny Side (talk)
- Remember Me
Music reviews of Will the Circle Be Unbroken (30th Anniversary Edition)
Music Review: This classic album got me "hooked" on the Dirt Band
Rating: 5 Stars
The original Will The Circle Be Unbroken album, which came out as a triple LP in '72 and was re-released in a newer version on CD a couple of years ago, is the one that got me hooked on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. After hearing my dad and one of my sisters play it, I bought Circle for myself. It soon became my favorite Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album and the one I played most often. Recently, I bought the remastered double-CD version of Will The Circle Be Unbroken. It has everything that was on the original triple LP, plus several new tracks.
When the Dirt Band's producer, Bill McEuen(brother of NGDB member John McEuen), brought the Dirt Band into the studio to record Circle in '72, they were five long-haired guys playing progressive country-rock. A lot of the veteran country artists the Dirt Band recorded with on Circle were conservative classic-country performers, so there was an obvious musical and cultural gap. However, the Dirt Band eventually won their veteran artist counterparts over by showing that they could play classic country and bluegrass with anybody. The result is a timeless album that's full of tradition.
Along with the Dirt Band members at the time--John McEuen, Jimmy Ibbotson, Les Thompson, Jimmie Fadden, and Jeff Hanna--Circle's roster of artists includes people who, in my mind, constitute a virtual Hall of Fame of country and bluegrass music: Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Merle Travis, Doc Watson, Roy Acuff, and Mother Maybelle Carter. There are also some great session players on here: Norman Blake and Oswald Kirby on dobro; Roy "Junior" Huskey on acoustic bass; Vassar Clements on fiddle; and Randy Scruggs, son of Earl, on lead guitar. And there are a lot of great musical moments. Doc Watson, with the Dirt Band backing him up, sings "Tennessee Stud" and "Way Downtown" and also does some clever guitar picking on "Black Mountain Rag" and "Down Yonder". Earl Scruggs provides excellent banjo work on a lot of the numbers, especially his own compositions: "Flint Hill Special", "Nashville Blues", and "Earl's Breakdown". Jimmy Martin, like Earl a prominent bluegrass performer, sings "Grand Ole Opry Song", "Sunny Side Of The Mountain", "You Don't Know My Mind", "Losin' You Might Be The Best Thing Yet" and "My Walkin' Shoes". Merle Travis contributes "Nine Pound Hammer", "Dark As A Dungeon", and "I Am A Pilgrim". Roy Acuff does a rousing rendition of Hank Williams' "I Saw The Light" and a memorable version of his own classic song "Precious Jewel". Maybelle's vocals are powerful on "Keep On The Sunny Side", "Wildwood Flower", and "I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes". Vassar Clements' fiddle work stands out on "Orange Blossom Special". The highlight, though, is "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", the title song, with the entire cast of musicians and singers and great singing by Mother Maybelle, Jimmy Martin, and Roy Acuff. Two of the bonus tracks are instrumentals: the bluegrass classic "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and the gospel number "Remember Me". The thing that really makes this record special is the between-song conversation among the performers, including a memorable dialogue between Doc Watson and Merle Travis, who first met in the studio while recording Circle with the Dirt Band.
I bought the second volume of Circle on CD before I bought the CD of volume one. Though Circle, Volume 2 has a lot to recommend it--for instance, more vocals and original songs by Dirt Band members--that album at times sounds like a slick studio product. This record, by contrast, sounds "live" even though it was recorded in a studio. Every song was recorded on the first or second try--"Do it right the first time," said Roy Acuff just before launching into "Precious Jewel"--and, as I've already stated, many of the interactions among the various performers made it onto the album. Also, I don't think it's any coincidence that John McEuen returned to the Dirt Band in '02 after a 15-year absence, about the time this remastered version of Circle came out. There are a lot of talented musicians on Volume 2 of Circle, but John was one of the guys who made the original Circle--and the Dirt Band--go. NGDB put out solid music after John left, but not too much of it had the bluegrass-country feel he provided. John's return to the band makes me appreciate this classic Circle album even more.
Description of Will the Circle Be Unbroken (30th Anniversary Edition)
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.In an age when the old-timey soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? sells 5 million copies, it's hard to imagine how revolutionary Will the Circle Be Unbroken seemed upon its release 30 years ago. The triple album (now rereleased as a two-CD set) paired many of Nashville's venerable country and bluegrass performers (Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Jimmy Martin, Vassar Clements) with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, or as Acuff called them, "a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys." The idea seemed nearly as foreign as Martians setting down in Tennessee, but the Dirt Band were Colorado hippies steeped in the genre, so there was no disputing the authenticity of the music, or its earthy appeal. Aside from the sheer joy of the performances (listen to Jimmy Martin's "whoop" on "Sunny Side of the Mountain"), there's great fun in hearing Roy Acuff give the boys a lesson in doing a song right the first time (and using the word hell before launching into a religious number). And Mother Maybelle wafts through like a benevolent ghost, or at least a patron saint. One caveat: The boast of four previously unreleased tracks is balderdash, since three are really between-track conversations and rehearsals, and only "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" qualifies as a real song. But that's nitpicking. Buy it. Love it. Wallow in it. O brother, that's country music! --Alanna Nash
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