Audio CD review:
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken (30th Anniversary Edition)

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken (30th Anniversary Edition)

Band: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Title: Will the Circle Be Unbroken (30th Anniversary Edition) Rating: Release Date: 26 March, 2002 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Grand Ole Opry Song 2: Keep On The Sunny Side 3: Nashville Blues 4: You Are My Flower 5: The Precious Jewel 6: Dark As A Dungeon 7: Tennessee Stud 8: Black Mountain Rag 9: Wreck On The Highway 10: The End Of The World 11: I Saw The Light 12: Sunny Side Of The Mountain 13: Nine Pound Hammer 14: Losin' You (Might Be The Best Thing Yet) 15: Honky Tonkin' 16: You Don't Know My Mind 17: My Walkin' Shoes 18: Lonesome Fiddle Blues 19: Cannonball Rag 20: Avalanche 21: Flint Hill Special 22: Togary Mountain 23: Earl's Breakdown 24: Orange Blossom Special 25: Wabash Cannonball 26: Lost Highway 27: Doc Watson & Merle Travis: First Meeting (Dialogue) 28: Way Downtown 29: Down Yonder 30: Pins And Needles (In My Heart) 31: Honky Tonk Blues 32: Sailin' On To Hawaii 33: I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes 34: I Am A Pilgrim 35: Wildwood Flower 36: Soldier's Joy 37: Will The Circle Be Unbroken 38: Both Sides Now 39: Foggy Mountain Breakdown 40: Warming Up for "The Opry" (talk) 41: Sunny Side (talk) 42: Remember Me

Editoral Review 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. 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 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 .. You can see a complete list of all The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band discography, or go back to the The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band tabs