ALBUM REVIEW: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken

    Sometimes an album isn't just an artistic expression of ideas or a smooth collection of songs - sometimes it serves double duty as a historical document. Such are the case for many older albums, compiling recordings from the long-gone greats as a means to preserve their recordings; other times, the case is with older songs being re-recorded by newer artists to preserve their value, as is the case with this Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were a unique country rock group born out of the late 1960s, albeit one with a hippie look. On this release and session, the group collaborated with many of the most notable bluegrass musician players alive for one purpose - to record the music of old for a new audience to hear. While Will the Circle Be Unbroken is a mindbogglingly long release, it's a significant one. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band have preserved what could easily be considered the ground zero of musical Americana with this big ol' helping of Appalachia and Bluegrass.

     The idea of a group of some of the sharpest bluegrass musicians joining together in tandem with a hippie group like The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is certainly surreal on first suggestion, but with the album's concept it makes perfect sense. It helps that a country group as sharpened as The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band are well suited for the task at hand of introducing a new generation to the world of bluegrass in a means to "complete the circle" between old and new. The Dirt Band are also great players throughout this entire album, just as tight and galvanized as one would expect, and the helping hands they get along the way are just as significant here. Joining the Dirt Band here on this album are some of the most notable bluegrass and country-western players still living; fiddler Roy Acuff, guitarist Maybelle Carter and Doc Watson, banjo player Earl Scruggs, guitarist Merle Travis, and "King of Bluegrass" Jimmy Martin are just a few of the significant names tied to this somewhat historic album, especially given the caliber of some of these musicians (Earl Scruggs is the man behind the "Scruggs Style" of banjo playing). Even if one isn't partial to bluegrass, you've got to admit that this is a great sounding album - consummate musicianship throughout gives a brilliant sheen to these classic works.

    At three discs long and nearly 2 hours, Will the Circle Be Unbroken certainly isn't scant on contents. While it does teeter out a bit in the second half (no thanks to some undoubtedly fun, but ultimately not as exciting instrumentals), most of the material on the album is incredibly in-line with itself - this is classic Appalachia, not only in performance but in song selection. Songs that were formerly iconic for some of the artists on here like "Dark as a Dungeon" or "I Am a Pilgrim" are done just as wonderfully on this album, and plenty of other moments show themselves. The great opening track "Grand Ole Opry Song" is a love letter to the world of bluegrass and the weekly stage concert of the same name, and few songs would make as roaring a beginning. "You Are My Flower" is a lovely gentle moment, and "Tennessee Stud" is a great story serving with some killer guitar playing and harmonica fills - one of my favorite moments from the album. "I Saw the Light" is a great upbeat moment with hints of gospel and black music in the performance, as is the straight rhythm of "Nine Pound Hammer". Most of the instrumental tracks of the second half still manage to be fairly driving on their own, and only a few really disappoint. Closing the album with an instrumental rendition of "Both Sides Now" is not only strangely poignant, but also the most logical way to end - the true completing of the circle.

    The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band document Americana in its most pure form on this album. It's an expansive beast of an album that is, realistically, not the most fluid when going through all two hours, but it is still a fun album through and through. It's filled with poignant and lively performances, and it's a real test of aesthetic throughout - a successful test, too. The circle was, in some way, unbroken, as these old bluegrass tunes live on through this album, free for anyone to enjoy more than 50 years later - even the person reading this very review.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Will the Circle Be Unbroken.