Will the Circle Be Unbroken

The Good: It’s an easy question…
The Bad: Uncertain if the band will like the answer…
The Ugly: Double album...

I knew of the band name when I saw the album pop up this morning… what I wasn’t ready for was the genre.
I thought it was going to be some kind of stoner rock…

Though I could spend minutes explaining why it is plausible that one should listen to this album at least once in their lifetime, I fear that I am going to be tarred and feathered, in good hillbilly style, for wasting people’s time.
Yes, this is detrimental to American culture, so is throat singing to Bhuddist culture, yet I’m sure there isn’t a single throat chanting album on this list, and if there were, I am pretty certain it won’t last close to 2 hours…

And to think that there is a Vol. 3 and Vol. 4 to this album…

2* for musicianship, it would have been 3 had it not been for that same annoying little mandolin lick being played...

Thankfully I had a long solo car journey to break the back of this. But it was a slog. A triple album of banjo, fiddle, guitar and ‘harmonica’. And sometimes ‘voice’. 2 hours of monotony. Good skillful playing, but soooo repetitive and sooooo over long. I actually took the sat nav off mute so I would have an occasional "in a quarter of a mile turn left" to break the tedium.

I will admit a couple of the tracks were ok. Exclusively they were instrumentals though, Nashville Blues and Lonesome Fiddle Blues were ok. And the version of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now was lovely (possibly because it was just a lone guitar - they didn’t let the rest of the band join in to fuck it up)

But the majority, indeed all of the sung songs were just awful. And some tracks (My Walking Shoes springs to mind) were so bad I was tempted to crash the car to make it stop. Oh and the chit-chat tuneup tracks? Just why!? I don’t fucking care how you recorded it, or what instruments you like!!

Just play the songs and shut the fuck up.

Special shout-out though to the female singer. Maybelle Carter, I think was her name? Dreadful! Utterly tuneless. Tone deaf. They could have found a better voice in a dockyard karaoke bar. I don't know how she persuaded the executive to give her a recording contract, but it certainly couldn’t have been by singing.

In summary I realise this album wasn’t recorded for me. And I understand that there are plenty brought up on this kind of music that love it. And good for them. But beyjesus, you should have gone for quality over quantity.
1½

It's got some energy to it, and they're musically talented, but... *dramatic sigh*

Oh yes, this is a nice country album. It's fun in between. I can understand other reviewers who, when listening to this music, wish they had a horse and wanted to ride lonely across the prairie. But firstly, I can't ride, I live in a big city and prairies only exist thousands of miles to the east. Secondly, the music reminds me of a scene from the movie 'Deliverance', in which one of the big city tourists gets into a banjo fight with a moronic hillbilly and loses. The scene seems somewhat depressing against the background of the events described later. I might actually listen to this album again later. However, I won't listen to it for 2 hours in one go. 3/5

The bluegrass tracks are really good, but the old-time-baptist-church-music, while well-executed, is just not my taste (PTSD). Combine that with a gargantuan runtime and copious studio chatter, and unfortunately this gets a mixed review. Still, this is an eternity and a half better than the utter swill spewed forth from the auto-tuned maw of Morgan Wallen.

2.5/5.0: Mixed

going in only knowing one song by this band i have to say they defied my expectations in the best way. This is a wonderfully done bluegrass album and features some country/bluegrass legends. my main complaint is the length of this album. Being two hours doesn't lend itself well to listening through the full album. i split the album up and listened in two sessions and i think that allowed me to more fully enjoy it. my other complaint is the talking sections that pop up on the occasional track. if it was once or twice i wouldnt bring it up but it happened quite a bit and a few of the tracks were nothing but this in studio discussion. it was infrequent enough over the two hours that i wont ding them a star for it but it certainly detracts from the enjoyment of this otherwise great bluegrass album.

3.08

There are some lovely moments on this album, and the musicianship is excellent... but damn, ain't nobody got time for a straight 2 hours of bluegrass!

Demasiado para mí. Creo que intentaron marcar territorio o algo así. 42 canciones revisando todo más conocido del bluegrass y country-and-western. Aunque me gusta más o menos este tipo de música me parece demasiado para el público en general. Así que 3 estrellas aunque deberían ser 2,5.

Country/bluegrass isn't really my thing, especially old school stuff like this, but I can at least appreciate it if it's good.
And I'm not gonna hold it against it, but 2 hours is maybe a tad much.

Nashville Blues goes hard though. Kinda feels like that song is a very early precursor to genres like gothic country, dark folk, or murderfolk. Good stuff.

Devil Went Down to Georgia jumpscare with Lonesome Fiddle Blues as well. Gonna be honest, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band did it better.

2nd disc really leaning heavy on stuff that's either old country/bluegrass standards or music artists in the future have definitely "borrowed" as I'm hearing a ton of licks and stuff I've heard before.

saw the confederate flags and panicked but this album is actually great - a nice education for me 4/5 #musicsky #albumsky

Listalla ei ilmeisesti ollut riittävästi bluegrassia kun pamautettiin tällainen kahden tunnin eepos. Lajissaan miellyttävää, joskin on myönnettävä että jossain kohtaa muuttui tasaiseksi massaksi. 3/5

Het album laat er direct geen twijfel over bestaan. Dit wordt 2 schijven lang luisteren naar snaarwerk met Amerikaans geknauw. Daar bestaat ook nog wel variatie in en dat merken we. Het album begint vooral vrolijk. Ik zou het nooit uit mezelf opzetten, maar het hoeft ook zeker niet uit. Maar na een paar nummers beginnen de energietrekkende lange tonen / lettergrepen. En daarvoor is twee schijven vol gewoon veel te lang.

1,5 ster.

I just finished this album and my head is just so tired of banjos and fiddles... If this was a quarter of it's length, it would've been good.

The talking before, between and after songs gets old really quickly.

TIL Dark As A Dungeon was made by this band..

42 songs?! 2+ hours?! 70s?! country!? In this economy?!

OK, I'm gonna try to give it a fair shake. I like the idea of a compilation of a bunch of different artists, including at least, but I think also at most, one lady (Maybelle Carter). There are a lot of funny lyrics here; too many for me to list. I also burst out laughing at 'The Precious Jewel', which starts with some bants about how the first take is the best take, and then the singing is the most unlistenable warbly bay of all time. Took me right out.
'Dark as a Dungeon' is solid. 'Black Mountain Rag' is jaunty. Every Acuff song is an ironic delight. I mean, the vowels! I'm creishing out.
I think the second disc is all instrumental. Wait, no, there's some more warbly singing. Whew, this is a long album. It just keeps going. Towards the end is 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken', which is pretty good. A lot of these songs are religious in nature, but Circle feels more like a straight gospel track then whatever else is going on on this album (the aural inspo for Disney's Fox and the Hound, maybe?). Then comes a total blindside in the form of 'Both Sides Now', one of my top songs of all time and also #1 on my "please play this at my funeral" playlist (which is a normal playlist that I'm sure everyone has!!). I was terrified to hear the Nitty Gritty version, but it was actually just instrumental, thank god. Extremely acceptable, even nice. Following it up with 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' is an upsetting tonal shift though.

Overall, this album was better than I expected, but that was partially because my expectations were rock bottom. Still, the rush of finishing it counts for a 3.

By and By Lord, By and By...

I'm a newbie when it comes to bluegrass but this seems like a great starting place. I thought it was really fun.

a double album's a loooooong time to simmer in this kinda shucks howdy shit. Imagining that I'm in a mining town only gets me halfway through disc one

Ой ні, соррі.

Quite enjoyed a lot of this, and can see myself returning to it if I ever want to listen to some bluegrass. I found it especially interesting how some of these sound like Irish trad music. But it took two sittings to get through...lawd that is a lot of bluegrass! 7/10