| Will the Circle be Unbroken - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band | |
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Reviewed by Kathy Coleman
Will the circle be unbroken? The hymn speaks of the circle of family, the circle of love; but
it seems the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is, rather, talking about the Great Circle of music.
Thirty years ago, a group that was already too country for country gathered together some
of the greatest names in country music (Merle Travis, Earl Scruggs, Maybelle Carter, Doc
Watson) and they made a groundbreaking country album unlike any other before it.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" was a two-LP masterpiece, a
bluegrassy old-time country album that won few awards (it went platinum in 1997, 25 years after
its release) and broke no sales records, but for 30 years it has been hailed as a singular
achievement for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Jeff Hanna, John McEuen, Jimmie Fadden, Les
Thompson, Jim Ibbotson, Jackie Clark, John Cable).
Then in 1989, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band released "Will The Circle Be Unbroken Volume
Two." Where the first volume had gathered great names of old-time country music, Volume Two collected the pickers and the singers of old-time and modern country, folk, blues, and rock, bringing together such artists as Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash, Ricky Skaggs, the Carter Family, Michael Martin Murphy, Emmylou Harris, John Denver, Earl Scruggs, John Hiatt, John Prine, Bruce Hornsby, and others to prove that the circle was still
unbroken. Country, rock, and blues, all part of one great and glorious circle.
Now, 30 years since that first great volume, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band reforms to do it all again. Although for some time the remaining members have been called simply The Dirt Band (having left the Nitty Gritty behind), they've restored their name (as well as a number of
original members) and come back to the circle, once again enlarging it and drawing that circle
bigger and bigger, as all the music which grows naturally on the old country music tree returns
to that great mother root and glories in her beauty.
The circle will remain unbroken as long as this music is remembered and cherished by these
musicians and others like them, artists who so obviously love what they are doing you can hear
the emotion in every phrase. This two-disc collection is what our kind of music - Country Music
- was meant to be.
On the third volume, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is joined by an amazing collection of talent
from across the country/rock/blues spectrum. Names such as The McCourys, Iris DeMent,
Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Taj Mahal, Earl Scruggs,
Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty, Vince Gill, and the next generation of the Dirt Band
in Jamie Hanna and Jonathan McEuen. They're all on this marvelous two-disc set, along with
many others, glorying in that great Circle of music as they present it in all its timeless glory.
It seems these days everything bluegrass is new again, but it takes a recording such as
this one is to remind us that "bluegrass" is really not a genre APART from country. Bluegrass
and the bluegrass style grew out of country just as country itself grew out of Appalachian
folk/mountain music/gospel. It's all a part of that beautiful circle, pure and solid and unbroken
here as the McCourys open the first disc with a bright gospel tune, "Take Me In Your Lifeboat."
Fantastic picking and singing shine on every track. Jimmy Martin sings "Hold Watcha Got." Iris DeMent gives us the story of "Mama's Opry." Dwight Yoakam gives his crisp hillbilly twang to two tracks, "Some Dark Holler" and "Wheels." Emmylou Harris is grand as ever as she presents "I'll Be Faithful To You" solo, then sings with Matraca Berg on "Oh Cumberland." The pure voice of Alison Krauss is delightful when she sings the classic "Catfish John." Taj Mahal and Vassar Clements present a delightful rendition of "Fishin' Blues." Willie Nelson teams up with Tom Petty to croon "Goodnight Irene." Vince Gill's heaven-sent tenor presents "All Prayed Up." And in what could be the song that'll be worth every cent you'll spend on this disc, Johnny Cash sings a tribute to Mother Maybelle Carter and Sister Sara Carter, "Tears In The Holston River." And that is only a bare overview of the amazing tracks you'll find on these two discs.
As long as these artists revere this music, as long as these great pickers and singers never forget, as long as we listen and glory in the sounds, the Circle will truly never be broken. Three cheers for the Dirt Band, for shaking their series out and giving us another grand chapter. May
this circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by.
Song List:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Album cover, used with permission of Capital Nashville.
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