I'm not a religious man, but every now and again a performer or group will put out a nice rendition of a gospel song (Rod Stewart's version of "Amazing Grace" on Every Picture Tells a Story and the Band's impromptu version of "Old Time Religion" from The Last Waltz come immediately to mind) and it will knock me out--much like this week's tune. I came across this one while watching a concert of theirs featured during a PBS fund drive some years ago and I still enjoy the many different versions the band has produced through the years....
I wrote about the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in Volume CCC, and the band's history has not added much in the last couple of years. However, I should mention that they did release an album of Bob Dylan covers in 2022, and I saw another concert of theirs for a PBS fund drive which featured the said cover versions (as well as a liberal sprinkling of their greatest hits), and it was another fine show.
"Will the Circle Be Unbroken" appeared on the band's seminal work melding pop music with classic country/bluegrass, the ever so cleverly entitled Will the Circle Be Unbroken. The song was not released as a single, and the album peaked at #68 on the Billboard 200.
Fun Fact: "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" has been covered by at least thirty-one different artists, most of which released the song with the title as I've featured it. The song, though, is actually entitled "Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)." Fascinating stuff, I know.
If you're looking for Americana in your music, you've got just about everything you need in "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"--guitars, banjo, harmonica, fiddle, autoharp, and dobro. It also has a host of bluegrass/country greats--Mother Maybelle Carter, Roy Acuff, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, and Vassar Clements to name a few. It tells the tale of a mother, through the eyes of her child (possibly adult child), being taken to be buried, and the sorrow attendant with the loss of one's mother. The artists take turns on the verses singing vocals, with some wondrous harmonies on the chorus from a virtual army of singers. There's a few really nice instrumental breaks, and a nice closing verse with the mother's children singing the hymns that she'd taught them to celebrate her life. Just a stellar piece of American music.
Lyric Sheet: "Will the circle be unbroken/By and by, Lord, by and by/There's a better home a-waiting/In the sky, Lord, in the sky..."
Enjoy:
Republicans = Nazis
Peace,
emaycee
No comments:
Post a Comment