Will The Circle Be Unbroken [Remaster]

Performer: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Artist: Doc Watson; Emmylou Harris; Roy Huskey, Jr.; Bela Fleck; Maybelle Carter; Michael Martin Murphey; Jimmy Martin; John Hiatt; Roger McGuinn; Merle Travis; Norman Blake; Bruce Hornsby; Earl Scruggs; Johnny Cash; Vassar Clements
Producer: William E. McEuen
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Les Thompson (vocals, mandolin); Jimmie Fadden (vocals, harp); Jim Ibbotson (vocals, drums); Jeff Hanna (vocals, washboard); John McEuen (banjo, mandolin). Additional personnel includes: Maybelle Carter (vocals, guitar, autoharp); Jimmy Martin, Doc Watson, Merle Travis (vocals, guitar); Earl Scruggs (guitar, banjo); Vassar Clememts (guitar, fiddle); Randy Scruggs (guitar, autoharp); Pete "Oswald" Kirby, Norman Blake (dobro); Roy "Junior" Huskey, Ellis Padgett (bass). Recorded At Woodland Studios, Nashville, Tennessee. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Jim Ibbotson (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Jeff Hanna (vocals, guitar); Bob Carpenter (vocals, accordion, piano); Roy Huskey, Jr. (upright bass); Jimmie Fadden (drums). Additional personnel includes: Johnny Cash, John Prine, Ricky Scaggs, Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Martin, Michael Martin Murphey, John Hiatt (vocals, guitar); Roger McGuinn (vocals, 12-string guitar); Levon Helm, Sam Bush (vocals, mandolin); Bruce Hornsby (vocals, piano); Rosanne Cash, The Carter Family, Roy Acuff, John Denver, Paulette Carlson (vocals); Chet Atkins, Randy Scruggs (guitar); Bela Fleck (banjo); Jerry Douglas (dobro); Mark O'Connor (mandolin, mandola, fiddle); Vassar Clements (fiddle). Producers: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Randy Scruggs. It's ironic that the 30-year anniversary of this classic album coincides with the runaway success of the O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU soundtrack, one of the best-selling movie soundtracks in history. Both albums find contemporary folk-rock musicians reaching back to the sounds of bluegrass, country, and folk (often lumped together under the heading "old-timey music"). The difference is that when the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band did it in 1972 it was a new (even risky) idea. Harry Smith's 1952 ANTHOLOGY OF FOLK MUSIC had inspired rock-generation kids like those who would form the Dirt Band to seek out traditional American music. The NGDB went a step further with this triple album by getting the old-timey artists themselves to collaborate on a tribute to the traditional American musical tapestry. Thus, we have Doc Watson singing "Tennessee Stud," Roy Acuff taking on the Hank Williams spiritual "I Saw the Light," and Earl Scruggs picking the "Nashville Blues," with the Dirt Band and various country/bluegrass luminaries backing them up. The most amazing thing about WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN is that it all works so well and fits together so seamlessly. An undertaking like this could easily have been a train wreck; instead it's a triumph.

Uncut (8/02, p.112) - 4 out of 5 - "...Revolutionary....deserves a place in the collection of anyone remotley interested in the development of American roots music." Uncut (8/02, p.112) - 4 out of 5 - "...Revolutionary....deserves a place in the collection of anyone remotley interested in the development of American roots music." Mojo (Publisher) (8/02, p.122) - "...A defining work....in the eyes of many, 'the' country rock album....Excellent musicianship and mood throughout."

Their earliest incarnation was as a large, fun-loving jug-band/trad folk group in mid-1960s California. Eventually the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band evolved into a tight, critically lauded country-rock ensemble, and had a Top Ten hit in 1970 with the poignant "Mr. Bojangles." The band was also legendary for assembling informal recording sessions with Nashville veterans such as Merle Travis and Roy Acuff, the results of which, 1972's MAY THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN, inspired two more volumes, a 30th anniversary reissue, and a box set. Through many lineup changes and a brief name change (the Dirt Band), their career has extended through the millennium and shows no signs of letting up.

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