NItty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken

 The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is, naturally, most well known for their major hit song, "Mr. Bojangles", which gave them the credence with the record company to produce this special three-LP set. What started as a collaboration with the famous banjo player Earl Scruggs ended up (with Earl's help) including a monumental list of stars of early Americana, Country and Bluegrass, who had mostly fallen out of favor by the early 70's when this was initially released. With a roll call that included Roy Acuff, Mother Mabelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Merle Travis, Pete Kirby, Norman Blake, Jimmy Martin, Vassar Clements and others, this is an incredible achievement by a bunch of West Coast hippies who had to win the favor of some of the classic artists, some of whom were a bit hesitant of this experiment.

To say that the experiment was a success would be an understatement, though! The NGDB were extremely respectful and faithful to the original artists and arrangements and even the signature sounds from back in the day. They recorded live for 6 days, with the musicians generally sitting around in a circle, capturing the sound and style of the original recordings, although with better equipment, of course!

While the instrumentation is quite similar to the originals, there are often more harmony vocalists, adding a fuller and, frankly, sometimes better sound to the songs. There are some extra instrumental breaks, as well, since there are sometimes more players than the artists had initially. But, anyone who enjoyed the music of these older artists will certainly dig these recordings, as well. The songs still ring true, without any attempt to "modernize" them.

The NGDB did a great, reverential job here and I'm certain that they helped to bring these artists to a wider and younger audience. I love this stuff myself and am glad I finally picked up this set!