INDEX OF MUSIC REVIEWS
Also AVAILABLE
BY DAVID ELLIOTT:
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AMERICA
ANAM
ANDREA BOCELLI
ANDREA BOCELLI/VERDI
ARMEN CHAKMAKIAN
BARENAKED LADIES
BEAUSOLEIL
BIG BAD VOODOODADDY
BILLY BRAGG&WILCO
ANI DI FRANCO
BUFFALO DAUGHTER
BURLAP TO CASHMERE
BURNING SPEAR
CASEY CHAMBERS
CECE WINANS
CELTIC HARPISTRY
CLIVE DAVIS-ULTIMATE BROADWAY
DANCE HALL CRASHERS
DAVE DAVIES
DAVID SANBORN
DEBRA DAVIS
DON WILLIAMS
DYLAN
EMMYLOU
ERIC CLAPTON
EVE 6
FIVE GREATS
FIVE WHEEL DRIVE
FOREVER ELLA
FOREVER TANGO
FROM SPIRITUALS TO SWING
GENE AUTRY
HARVEST HOME
IAN WHITCOMB
INTI-ILLIMANI
JENNIFER KIMBALL
JETHRO TULL
JEWEL
JIANG TIEFENG
JIM WHITE
JOE JACKSON
JOHN BARRY
THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND
For six days in August of 1971, THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND got together for what has become one of the most memorable and legendary albums in the past three decades. Some of the most brilliant acoustic performances of all time were recorded by this ensemble cast of traditional and country music's greatest players: Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Mother Mabel Carter, Roy Acuff, Merle Travis, Vassar Clemens, Norman Blake, Pete Oswald Kirby, Junior Husky, along with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band members Jimmie Faddin, Jeff Hanna, Jim Ibbotson, John McEuen and Les Thompson. It just shows what can happen when you get a bunch of musical geniuses in the same room together.
What was unusual about the period of time when this album was cut is that groups like the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, etc. ruled the top ten. It was a period of time when the hippies were out of synch with the rednecks. But that didn't matter. Good music triumphs when it comes from the heart.
When I first saw them at Pasadena's ICE HOUSE they had a top ten radio hit with a song titled Buy for Me The Rain. A very few years later, since they were playing traditional and bluegrass acoustically, banjo virtuoso Earl Scruggs and his sons came to see the DIRT BAND play live. The band held him in such high esteem that after the show it was with lumps in their throats that they decided to throw the dice and muster their courage to ask if he would perform on this album with them. He said he would be honored, and they were pleasantly surprised. After that they approached Doc Watson, and then all of the other icons of traditional country music one by one.
The music on this record had a watershed of success when it was released three decades ago and went on to platinum status. It was the first record to combine the country rock sensibilities of Southern California with some of the most legendary of Nashville's icons. Most of the band members were raised in Orange County and Long Beach (John McEuen had even worked at Disneyland where he taught comedian Steve Martin to play the banjo).
Last year with the phenomenal success of Oh Brother Where Art Thou (with six million units plus sold), THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND decided to reform with a tour last year. What the Dirt Band did back then and is doing all over again is revealing not only what good musicians they were and are, but capturing a period in time of American musical history that will never be again. Some of the original players in WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN have departed this earth, which makes what the dirt band did in getting them all together not just a mere recording, but the preservation of what makes this music so special.
They say what goes around comes around. And lucky for us. Capitol records re-released WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN, which John McEuen remastered from the original analog tapes and added to it four previously unreleased tracks. This beautiful re-release soars to incredible heights with all the original favorites plus four previously unreleased cuts. Combining the sacred and the profane, this album is sincere and genuine in reaching for the heart of the matter, and telling it like it is with simplicity and joy.
All Rights Reserved © By David Elliott,2003
MAN ON THE MOON/ANDY KAUFMAN
MARE WINNINGHAM
MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER
MEDIAEVAL BABES
MILES DAVIS
NANCI GRIFFITH
NANCY WILSON
NATALIE MAC MASTER
NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND
NPR SERIES
NRBQ
OBLIVION
PATTI GRIFFIN
PATTI TEEL
PAVAROTTI AND FRIENDS
PETE SEEGER
PETER HIMMELMAN
PRINCE OF EGYPT
QUINCY JONES
R.E.M.
RALPH STANLEY
RAUTAVAARA
RHINO SCOOBY
RHONDA VINCENT
RICK BRAUN
RITE OF SPRING
ROBERTCRAFT
STRAVINSKI
ROBERTO ALANGNA OPERA
RODNEY CROWEL
SANTANA/SUPERNATURAL
SARAH BRIGHTMAN
SARAH BRIGHTMAN II
SARAH MCLACHLAN
SECRET GARDEN
SHAKIRA
SHANA MORRISON
SOGNO/BOCELLI
STEVIE NICKS
SWING WEST
SWINGLE SINGERS
TERESA STERNE
U 2
VITAMIN C
ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER
WALLFLOWERS
XAVIER
YOLANDA ADAMS
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JOHN TESH
JOHNJENNINGS
ARLO GUTHRIE
JUBILANT SYKES
JULIA FORDHAM
MICHAEL KAMEN
KAREN TYLER
KATE RUSBY
KING KONG
KINKS
LA BOHEME
LAURA NYRO
LEO KOTTKE
LOS SUPER SEVEN
LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES
LUCY KAPLANSKY
LYNN MILES
MAIRE BRENNAN