Will the Circle Be Unbroken Review Rolling Stone

The worlds of state and stone music were coming together by the early on 70s. The Byrds had washed Sweetheart Of The Rodeo; Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash had recorded together; Linda Ronstadt's solo career was underway; Grateful Expressionless had done Merle Haggard and Marty Robbins songs; and Willie Nelson was off inventing outlaw country. Yet bluegrass wasn't really part of the equation – that was a previous generation's sound. The immature folks may have had some Dr. Watson and Roy Acuff records in their collections, but few were covering those songs, and nobody was daring to invite those legends into the studio. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band pulled that coup on their archetype album, 1972's Will The Circle Be Unbroken.

Heed to Volition The Circumvolve Be Unbroken now.

The ultimate picking session

Less a band album than the ultimate picking session, Will The Circle Be Unbroken did the impossible past bringing together the greatest of bluegrass players – Doc Watson, Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin, Merle Travis – with a 18-carat bunch of hippie freaks. Bill Monroe was plainly the just legend to plow their invitation down.

What's more than, it managed to sell that music largely to a rock-trained audience (in an expensive, lovingly created triple-vinyl package, no less). The album accomplished one of its goals past appealing to largely stone audiences who'd come into country via the Dead, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, and the like; people who didn't already take oft-recorded classics similar "Tennessee Stud," "Wabash Cannonball" and "Wildwood Flower" in their collections.

In one sense, the Dirt Band was unlikely candidates for the chore. They weren't even all that famous… however. Formed in 1967 (with Jackson Browne as a short-lived original member), they began as a psychedelic cord band; their starting time three albums are weird and wonderful, and only one track, "Buy For Me The Rain," became a minor striking. They began playing it straighter on their 1970 album, Uncle Charlie And His Dog Teddy, which included their greatest hit, a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles." Only here, once more, country-folk and audio-visual rock were their touchstones; the same album introduced "House At Pooh Corner," past the not-yet-famous Kenny Loggins.

"None of the states could have predicted information technology"

The band did know and love bluegrass, though; they merely hadn't had an opportunity to actually express it before. "We grew upwardly in Southern California where the typical music being played for harmonies was The Beach Boys," group founder Jeff Hanna told uDiscover Music. "Everybody was forming rock bands, and we were all into folk music. That'due south what we all had in common. When we sat around listening to music, it was very likely we'd have a Doc Watson, Flatt And Scruggs, or a Merle Travis record. And y'all know how when you meet your heroes, yous current of air upwards wishing you lot hadn't? That couldn't have been further from the truth in this instance. We wound up developing lasting relationships with all those guys. I think the average historic period of our band was 23 or 24 at the time – so in terms of lasting influence, none of us could take predicted it."

Indeed, what stands out on Will The Circle Be Unbroken is how well the Clay Band checked their egos at the door. From the start, their role was to back – and learn from – the guests of honor, and on a few tracks, well-nigh of the band sits out altogether. Jimmy Martin gets to lead off the album with "Grand Erstwhile Opry Song," a tune that promises a very old-fashioned practiced time, and namechecks many of the artists who show upward subsequently on.

The full Dirt Band plays on another Jimmy Martin track, "You Don't Know My Mind," 1 of the merely tracks on the album to include electric bass and drums. Just they resist whatever temptation to turn it into a crossover slice, keeping the rhythm section at low rut while Martin and fiddler Vassar Clements become more of the spotlight. Already a 50-ish veteran of Bill Monroe's band, Clements would motion into Grateful Dead's circle afterwards.

Honoring the essence of bluegrass

This doesn't mean that Nitty Gritty Dirt Band didn't go a few good licks in. Their banjo/mandolin player, John McEuen, solos often and holds his own with the masters. And there'south a nice moment on "Tennessee Stud" where Hanna joins Doc Watson for the chorus harmonies, the sound of his voice calculation a subtle but unmissable bit of California sunshine. Will The Circle Exist Unbroken honors the blithesome essence of bluegrass, but the Acuff-led take on "Wreck On The Highway" is a reminder of how chilling pure American music tin can be – something Bruce Springsteen probable noticed when he wrote a vocal with the same proper noun.

After Volition The Circumvolve Be Unbroken was released, the two worlds were never far apart. The bluegrass artists toured to new audiences and sometimes opened upward to new influences. Doc Watson probably wouldn't have washed a rockabilly album, 1993's Docabilly, before the Dirt Band sessions. The Dirt Band recorded ii sequels, mainly with younger country artists, and endure to this mean solar day. If you've ever heard an electric band comprehend a bluegrass melody, y'all can give thanks this seminal band and anthology for it.

Volition The Circle Be Unbroken tin can be bought here.

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Source: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/nitty-gritty-dirt-band-will-the-circle-be-unbroken/

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