Will The Circle Be Unbroken 2

 (30 customer reviews)

This record is the sequel to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's original Will The Circle Be Unbroken triple album, the one that got me hooked on these guys. In '72, when Circle was released, the members of the Dirt Band were long-haired, progressive country-rock artists who were trying to bridge the musical and cultural gap between themselves and the veteran country artists they were recording with. When the sequel to Circle came out in '89, 17 years later, NGDB was a veteran country act who had had a lot of hits. Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Volume 2 is not the groundbreaking album its predecessor was, but this record has a lot of great songs by a talented group of artists.I don't know where to start with the highlights--there are many. The title track features Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff, Ricky Skaggs, Levon Helm(formerly of The Band) and NGDB's Jimmy Ibbotson taking turns singing the lead, and all the musicians and singers who perform on this record join in. Acuff, who was one of the...Read more

There are three Circle collections. General opinion is that the first album is the best, the third album is a close second and that this is the weakest of the three. I love all three but this one particularly appeals to me. It has many traditional musicians and singers but also a few less obvious singers like John Denver, Levon Helm (of the Band), John Prine, Roger McGuinn (of the Byrds), Paulette Carlson (of Highway 101) and Bruce Hornsby. Perhaps it is the presence of such guests that some dislike but you can't please everybody.

Whatever you may think of the normal music that some of the guests have recorded, they all justify their place on this excellent album of traditional music, sometimes singing songs they've previously recorded, but adapted to a traditional setting. For some of them, it may have been their chance to record some traditional country without upsetting their fans or their record label. Both would understand that this was (for them) a one-off. They...Read more

Before I share my thoughts on "Circle II," I need to clarify something. Many people over the years have referred to this disc as country. Simply stated, it isn't. It's a combination of bluegrass, folk, appalachian, and gospel. Think about those 4 styles of music as you'll see how true this is.
As for the disc itself, let me start by saying this. If you're a fan of any 1 or more of the above mentioned styles of music, then you'll love this disc. It sort of reminds me of Christmas at Grandma's house. There's something for everyone. Everyone who's bought this seems to be fans of one person or another that's on here, too. The picking, playing, and singing all blend well enough to let everyone shine. No one stand out, but yet everyone does,
This album got the NGDB their first 2 awards ever. The first was for album of the year at CMA Awards. The second was for bluegrass recording of the year at the Grammies(The Valley Road w/Bruce Hornsby). It's sad that it took...Read more