Genre: Book
Grade: A-
Notable People: John McEuen
Title: Will the Circle Be Unbroken: The Making of a Landmark Album”
Review: This beautiful coffee-table size photo and story book came out earlier this year in honor of the 50th anniversary of this 1972 album that immortalized country music for a whole generation. Full disclosure; I am quite biased for anything to do with this record that turned me onto a musical journey and shook my counter culture brain open to a cultural phenomenon I had previously ignored. The recording sessions brought together the prototypical LA county rock band with the surviving royalty of founders/ giants of the bluegrass and country music world in late 1971, and made Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Mother Maybelle, Roy Acuff, Jimmy Martin and Vassar Clements a new kind of audience and was cutting edge in Its ambition at the time. The book is a wonderful narrative of behind the scenes anecdotes, history and brilliant photos by McEuen’s late brother and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band manager, Bill. I started out perusing the book the local librarian had gotten for me while watching a baseball game on TV, and could not stop reading every inch until I was done and then looked back at all the photos yet again. An absolute must for any fan of the album and a pretty illuminating read for other music fans; only held back a wee bit by it being too McEuen-centric.