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| Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 1, 1989 (1989-05-01) | |||
| Recorded | December 1988 and January 1989 | |||
| Studio | Scruggs Sound (Berry Hill, Tennessee) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 62:19 | |||
| Label | Universal | |||
| Producer |
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| Nitty Gritty Dirt Band chronology | ||||
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Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two (alsoCircle II) is the nineteenth studio album by Americancountry folk groupNitty Gritty Dirt Band, released on May 1, 1989. The album follows the same concept as the band's 1972 album,Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which featured guest performances from many notablecountry music stars.
Circle II features largely acoustic,bluegrass music instrumentation with a line-up of contemporarycountry music artists that includesJohnny Cash,Rosanne Cash,Emmylou Harris,Michael Martin Murphey andRicky Skaggs. Returnees from the firstCircle are bluegrass musicianJimmy Martin,banjoistEarl Scruggs,fiddlerVassar Clements and singerRoy Acuff.
Other artists represent therock,folk andpop genres, includingLevon Helm fromthe Band,John Denver,John Prine,John Hiatt andBruce Hornsby.
Among the tracks is theBob Dylan composition, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", sung as a duet by former members ofthe Byrds,Roger McGuinn andChris Hillman, their first reunion in many years. The appearance of McGuinn and Hillman on an album dominated byGrand Ole Opry members represented a reconciliation of sorts between them, after the Byrds had received a cold reception at their lone appearance on theOpry in 1968;[1] the song itself was one thatRalph Emery had famously dissed during the Byrds' brief Nashville residency in the same era.[2]
The roster ofsession musicians for the album featured many notable performers, including fiddlerMark O'Connor,resonator guitaristJerry Douglas, banjoistBéla Fleck, guitaristChet Atkins and bassistRoy Huskey, Jr., son of bassist Junior Huskey, who had played on the firstCircle.[3]
Like the firstCircle, the album features snippets of studio chatter. In the lead-in to John Denver's song, "And So It Goes", someone asks, "Is this practice?" Denver replies: "They're all practice."
In an intro to the song "Riding Alone", Emmylou Harris summed up her thoughts about relaxed atmosphere of the recording sessions, saying: "Years ago I had the experience of sitting around in a living room with a bunch of people and singing and playing, and it was like a spiritual experience, it was wonderful. And I decided then that was what I was going to do with my life was play music, do music. In the making of records, I think over the years we've all gotten a little too technical, a little too hung up on getting things perfect. We've lost the living room. The living room has gone out of the music, but today I feel like we got it back."
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | {unrated}[4] |
| Hi-Fi News & Record Review | A:1[5] |
| New Musical Express | 8/10[6] |
Nick Robinson of British music newspaperMusic Week reviewed the album positively. He wrote: "The result is an impressive and uplifting collection of 20 tracks that should even appeal to those punters that are not already familiar with the styles included."[7]
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two was certified gold in the United States and Canada. The album peaked at No. 5 on theBillboard Top Country Album chart and at 95 on the Billboard 200. Singles from the album includedJohn Denver's "And So It Goes", "Turn of the Century", "When It's Gone" and "One Step Over the Line".
It wonGrammy Awardsin 1990 forBest Bluegrass Recording (for "The Valley Road", withBruce Hornsby),Best Country Instrumental Performance (for "Amazing Grace" byRandy Scruggs), andBest Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It also won Album of the Year at theCountry Music Association Awards. A documentary film,The Making of Will the Circle Be Unbroken II, was released by Cabin Fever Entertainment.
Circle II was followed up with a 2002 album,Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III, which coincided with the 30th anniversary re-release ofWill the Circle Be Unbroken.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Session musicians
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