onurblues: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will The Circle Be Unbroken, 30th Anniversary Edition (2 CD + Bonus Tracks) (1972, 2002)

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The circle is still unbroken

In 1971, the five multi-instrumentalists of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (NGDB), "a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys” as Roy Acuff described them, had gathered some of the best guitar and banjo pickers, country singers and fiddlers around (asked to participate, Bill Monroe would have refused), managing to have them coming down from their mountains or leave their Tennessee or Kentucky ranches, from Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs or Merle Travis to the “King of Bluegrass” Jimmy Martin, Mother Maybelle Carter of The Carter Family, the “King of Country Music” Roy Acuff or master fiddler Vassar Clements, for this celebration of “old time” music, namely country and bluegrass, that was engraved for posterity on this historic triple LP (later re-issued as a 2-CD set).

"A bunch of long-haired West Coast boys”

The background
Following the path opened by early country/folk-rock bands like the Byrds or the bluegrass-influenced duo Dillard & Clark, NGDB's “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” largely contributed to the country and bluegrass revival that was in the air, bridging the gap between older country/bluegrass musicians and the younger “rock” generation, thus influencing or comforting many musicians to turn from psychedelic rock to a new form of rock-influenced country and bluegrass, like the Flying Burrito Brothers or the New Riders of The Purple Sage… while Hot Tuna had already developed the same approach concerning blues.

"Deliverance"  : the banjo/guitar dueling scene

The same year the album was released (1972), the John Boorman's movie “Deliverance” came out. The film soundtrack featured the instrumental bluegrass “Dueling Banjos" which became a hit. The song had been adapted by musician and banjo player Eric Weissberg from Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith's “Feudin' Banjos" written back in 1955. It was used in a scene at the beginning of the story when a “city boy” guitar player encounters an apparently inbred banjo-picking backwoods mountain boy, and goes into a guitar/banjo duel with him. Incidentally, the banjo was played in Earl Scruggs famous “three-finger style” (using finger picks), the same Scruggs who collaborated so much to make the NGDB project possible. The fact that “Dueling Banjos" became an international hit shows that the bluegrass revival was definitely in the air.

The Appalachian Mountains

If I insist so much on the term “bluegrass” rather than “country”, it is because the album, tough it does feature country songs, is largely devoted to bluegrass. But what is bluegrass exactly ?

About bluegrass
A sub-genre of mainstream country music, bluegrass has originated in the Appalachian range states : from Virginia to Georgia through the Carolinas, on the east side, in the foothills known as the Piedmont region, and on the west side, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Most of the guests on the album were from this region : Merle Travis was from Kentucky; Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson, from North Carolina; Jimmy Martin, Roy Acuff, Pete “Oswald” Kirby, Norman Blake, Randy Scruggs (Earl's son), Roy “Junior” Huskey, from Tennessee; Maybelle Carter, from Virginia; the only exception being Vassar Clements who was a Florida native.

Kentucky blue grass country

Originally, most of the earlier immigrants who settled in the Appalachians came from Scotland, bringing their traditional folk music and dances with them, joined in the 18th century by the Irish, who brought their fiddle and their Celtic ballads, then the English, who also brought their folk tunes. The banjo was introduced later, by the Afro-Americans.

West central Kentucky is known for a large area called the Bluegrass region due to its smooth meadow-grass from the “Poa pratensis” family, commonly called “Kentucky blue grass”. In 1939, the legendary musician Bill Monroe (1911–1996), a native of Rosine in the heart of the Bluegrass country, formed a band that he naturally baptized The Blue Grass Boys (in which Earl Scruggs played from 1945 to 1948). The term “bluegrass” was later adopted to name this specific type of old-time country music and Monroe is commonly considered as the father of bluegrass. 

Old-time band (early 20th century)

Bluegrass has three specificities : first, it's basically acoustic; second, it is a rhythmic fast tempo music; third, the instruments used in bluegrass are banjo, guitar and fiddle, and can be completed with mandolin, upright bass, dobro and harmonica or autoharp. As many specificities which were scrupulously respected on the album “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”. 

If this impressive album immediately received great acclaim and soon became cult, it is because it marked an important evolution in modern American music, the rediscovery of old-time rural music all the more appealing for the younger generation that acoustic groove of bluegrass is particularly rhythmic.

The album

Recording session for the album

First let's point out the relaxed, almost domestic atmosphere of the recording with the musicians exchanging before many tracks, like the encounter of Doc Watson and Merle Travis on CD 2. You feel like you're in the studio with them. Secondly, let's say it once and for all, the five members of NGDB are all excellent instrumentalists but their most impressive quality is probably their deep respect for their guests and their music. The third point concerns the exceptional work of banjo wizard Earl Scruggs on most of the tracks where he's featured. Undoubtedly a tremendous musician ! And finally let's mention the fact that many titles, 17 if I counted right, are lively rejoicing bluegrass instrumentals, especially on CD 2.

Jimmy Martin

The 42 tracks of this monumental work logically starts by a bluegrass-flavored country song about the legendary Nashville Grand Ole Opry, a Saturday night concert founded in 1925. Broadcast on radio, and later on TV, the Opry rapidly became a sacred institution of American music religiously listened by millions of American households, contributing to spread country music coast to coast throughout the country. The song features guest Jimmy Martin on guitar and lead vocals, and Vassar Clements on fiddle. 

Mother Maybelle Carter

Ladies first, a quick word about Mother Maybelle Carter who his the only woman featured. Apart from the grand final which gathers all the musicians on the moving symbolic title song “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”, she sings three songs signed by her brother-in-law A.P. Carter, the founder of the famous Carter Family : “Keep On The Sunny Side”, “I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes”, “Wildwood Flower”, three pieces of folk-tinged country ballads. Not my favorite, but she had to be mentioned.

Doc Watson is as always one of the most appealing voice of the album, both vocally and on guitar. His songs mix bluegrass and Appalachian country and folk. He sings only twice, on his iconic “Tennessee Stud” and on “Way Downtown”, but the exceptionally warm and clear tone of his guitar enlightens many songs, and he's forming a notably great pair with Earl Scruggs. Doc is also a bit mischievous when he announces he's going to play something he's still got to work on a little more before playing “Down Yonder” perfectly !

Doc Watson

Singer-guitarist Jimmy Martin is actually as much a king of country than one of bluegrass, notable for his quite appealing “whooping” vocals which make “Sunny Side Of The Mountain” a stand-out. He also co-wrote and sings “Losin' You (Might Be The Best Thing Yet)” and the lively “My Walkin' Shoes”, and sings “You Don't Know My Mind”.

Country and bluegrass mix together on many tracks. The rhythmic bluegrass-flavored gospel country song “I Saw The Light”, sung by Roy Acuff and featuring Doc Watson's fine lead guitar, and “Honky Tonk Blues” allow the great Hank Williams, who wrote both songs, to be indirectly present. The swinging “Honky Tonkin'” features NGDB's Jimmie Fadden on lead vocals with Norman Blake on dobro and Vassar Clements both on fiddle and lead guitar. “Nine Pound Hammer”, written and sung by Merle Travis, is finely arranged with NGDB's John McEuen on banjo, Travis on guitar, and Fadden on harmonica.

Vassar Clements

The album also features a few melancholic ballads : “You Are My Flower” (A.P. Carter); Merle Travis' “Dark As A Dungeon”; “Wreck On The Highway” and the mid-tempo “Pins And Needles (In My Heart)” both sung by Roy Acuff; “Lost Highway” sung by NGDB's Jim Ibbotson; Merle Travis wrote, sings and is on guitar on the smooth “I Am A Pilgrim”.

Roy Acuff

As mentioned earlier, the instrumentals are amazing moments  (personally my favorites). There's three on CD 1 : “Nashville Blues” with the magnificent Earl Scruggs on lead banjo; “Black Mountain Rag” with the outstanding fiddle of Vassar Clements and Doc Watson's lead guitar; and “The End Of The World” featuring Pete "Oswald" Kirby's nice dobro sound.

CD 2 is beginning with a long suite of eight instrumentals, most of them bluegrass, where the musicians shine with bright dexterity : banjo, guitars, fiddle, dobro and mandolin, not forgetting harmonica, upright bass (mostly Roy “Junior” Huskey) and washboard (NGDB's Jeff Hanna), are competing in emulating fast tempos that make you dizzy. 

The great Earl Scruggs

“Lonesome Fiddle Blues” has an Irish feel. Merle Travis delivers an amazing guitar performance on “Cannonball Rag”. Vassar Clements is incredible on fiddle on “Avalanche” or “Orange Blossom Special”. Earl Scruggs' astounding banjo picking technique can be heard on most titles, and particularly on his own songs : “Flint Hill Special”, “Earl's Breakdown” and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”. The legendary tune “Wabash Cannonball” is a country standard adapted by A.P. Carter, the most covered composer of the album. “Sailin' On To Hawaii” has an unexpected exotic flavor. “Soldier's Joy” is a banjo affair co-arranged by Earl Scruggs and John McEuen. Among the bonus tracks of this 30th Anniversary re-issue are an instrumental version of Joni Mitchell's “Both Sides Now” by Randy Scruggs solo on guitar. Finally, Pete "Oswald" Kirby's dobro accompanies Doc Watson's guitar on the closing track “Remember Me”.

Merle Travis

Will the circle be unbroken, the song
Before putting a final stop to this unusually long review, let's not forget the title song, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”, which originally closed the 1972 release. The version sung on the album is the one adapted by A.P. Carter from a Christian hymn originally written in 1907 by Ada R. Habershon (lyrics) and Charles H. Gabriel (music), and recorded for the first time by one William McEwan in 1911 or 1912. Carter reworked it completely as a funeral hymn with different lyrics under the title “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)” which was recorded by the Carter family in 1929 or 1935 (sources are contradictory), but later generally covered under its original title as on the album.

Pete "Oswald" Kirby

The recording gathered all the instrumentalists featured on the album (a remarkable achievement in itself), and many extra guests (mainly relatives of the musicians) on backing vocals (a total of 18 voices). The first and last verses are sung by Mother Maybelle Carter, the second by Jimmy Martin, and the third by Roy Acuff. This moving version originally closed the 1972 release, and I wonder why the 30th Anniversary re-issue didn't keep it that way…

There's also somebody who should be acknowledged : John McEuen's brother Bill who was NGDB's manager and produced the album like a real conductor, and also appears on guitar on “Honky Tonk Blues”.

This monumental album sounded like a musical revolution when originally released, and what is amazing is that, fifty years later it hasn't aged a bit. Few projects in modern popular music have matched this splendid historic achievement. ■

►“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” (1972), was followed by

→ “Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol 2” in 1989, featuring Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Vassar Clements, Chet Atkins, Bela Fleck, Rosanne Cash, Roy Acuff, The Carter Family, Bernie Leadon, Ricky Skaggs, Roger McGuinn, Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm, Chris Hillman, John Denver, June Carter Cash, Sam Bush, John McEuen, Michael Martin Murphey, New Grass Revival, Paulette Carlson, Buck White, John Hiatt, John Prine, Jerry Douglas, Mark O'Connor, Bruce Hornsby, Roy Huskey, Jr.

Listen on YT : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7ZiPW3cGLwQabTcDNHWOg7HKBow3844i

→ “Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. 3” in 2002, with Del McCoury, Doc & Richard Watson, Johnny Cash, Earl & Randy Scruggs, Willie Nelson, Taj Mahal, Vassar Clements, Jimmy Martin, Dwight Yoakam, Tom Petty, Emmylou Harris, June Carter Cash, Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush, Iris DeMent, Josh Graves, Jaime Hanna, Jonathan McEuen, Robbie and Ronnie McCoury, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, Matraca Berg, Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas, Glen Duncan, Tony Rice, Rodney Dillard.

Listen on YT : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nLrp4CM59SkFNEVYU8qpHbnRh8A4IosOU