A public service by what is ordinarily a fairly weak-minded folk-rock aggregation, this three-record set unites six great traditional country singers -- Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Roy Acuff, Merle Travis, and Jimmy Martin (of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys) -- with old-time material so tried and true that even this unreconstructed urbanite has heard most of it before. But rarely with such easy pleasure. All of the obvious pitfalls -- uninspired performances, schlocky backup, arty or arbitrary programming, and of course folkie irrelevance -- are avoided, and if the set is never definitive, it's an instant classic nevertheless, an intensely aggreable way into mountain music. As for the Dirt Band, Jimmy Martin was so impressed with their alertness that he offered to hire them, and I'm sorry they didn't take him up on it. A-

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

Bonus Reviews!

The influence of this two-disc set, which brought the previously pop-oriented Dirt Band together with some of the seminal names in country music, is incalculable. Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Roy Acuff, and others sat down with a bunch of longhairs, found common ground on the best of old-time country music, and changed the direction of popular music. Two decades on, it still sounds great.

- William Ruhlmann, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken is the hands-down must-own release by the NGDB, although it's not as much a reflection of the band's own music as it is a testament to its roots. The music was already old by 1972 but sounded fresh in this context. And it hasn't aged in the quarter-century since. * * * * *

- Gil Asakawa, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

Decades before O Brother, Where Art Thou?, this Survey's top-rated Country & Western album, a three-disc landmark, pulled out all the bells and whistles, bringing folk and hill music to the masses by pairing young Dirt Band pickers with a breathtaking supporting cast of traditional C&W stars, including Roy Acuff, Maybelle Carter and Doc Watson. Giving new life to old material, the bluegrass classic is a great scrapbook of Americana that stands the test of time. * * * * *

- Zagat Survey Music Guide - 1,000 Top Albums of All Time, 2003.

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