Will the Circle be Unbroken Album

This would be a good time to relate my recent purchase of a one-of-a-kind, three-disc album called Will the Circle be Unbroken (1972).  Unlike nearly all of the other rock and country collaborations that I know about, in this case the rockers hand the keys off to country music legends and let them drive.  Ostensibly (or even technically) a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album, Wikipedia calls the album a "collaboration from many famous bluegrass and country-western players, including Roy Acuff, 'Mother' Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis, Pete 'Oswald' Kirby, Norman Blake, Jimmy Martin, and others.  It also introduced fiddler Vassar Clements to a wider audience." 

Wikipedia continues:  "The album's title . . . reflects how the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was trying to tie together two generations of musicians.  Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was a young country-rock band with a hippie look. . . .  The other players were much older and more famous from the forties, fifties and sixties, primarily as old-time country and bluegrass players.  Many had become known to their generation through The Grand Ole Opry.  However, with the rise of rock-and-roll, the emergence of the commercial country's slick 'Nashville Sound', and changing tastes in music, their popularity had waned somewhat from their glory years. 

"Every track on the album was recorded on the first or second take straight to two-track masters, so the takes are raw and unprocessed.  Additionally, another tape ran continuously throughout the entire week-long recording session and captured the dialog between the players.  On the final album many of the tracks — including the first track — begin with the musicians discussing how to do the song or who should come in where." 

For any rock music fan who wants to learn about early country music, I cannot think of a better place to start. 

(February 2015)