Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Will the Circle Be Unbroken: The Trilogy

In 1972, long before O Brother, Where Art Thou? allowed hipsters and intermittent record buyers through the great oak doors of traditional country music, California's Nitty Gritty Dirt Band gathered legends and soon to become legends of country music into a Nashville studio and made the sprawling Will the Circle Be Unbroken. The success of this experiment led to a second volume in 1989 and a third in 2002. Trilogy compiles all three worthwhile volumes into a box set that includes the extra tracks found on the recently reissued versions. With a roster that includes Doc Watson, Maybelle Carter, Johnny Cash, and Taj Mahal, this 40-year time capsule of American music is worth spending the extra cash on.
--James Christopher Monger, All-Music Guide

Levon Helm sings and plays on three of the tracks from Volume 2.

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Grand Ole Opry Song
2. Keep on the Sunny Side
3. Nashville Blues
4. You Are My Flower
5. Precious Jewel
6. Dark as a Dungeon
7. Tennessee Stud
8. Black Mountain Rag
9. Wreck on the Highway
10. End of the World
11. I Saw the Light
12. Sunny Side of the Mountain
13. Nine Pound Hammer
14. Losin' You (Might Be the Best Thing Yet)
15. Honky Tonkin'
16. You Don't Know My Mind
17. My Walkin' Shoes

Disc 2

1. Lonesome Fiddle Blues
2. Cannonball Rag
3. Avalanche
4. Flint Hill Special
5. Togary Mountain
6. Earl's Breakdown
7. Orange Blossom Special
8. Wabash Cannonball
9. Lost Highway
10. Doc Watson & Merle Travis: First Meeting
11. Way Downtown
12. Down Yonder
13. Pins and Needles
14. Honky Tonk Blues
15. Sailin' on to Hawaii
16. I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes
17. I Am a Pilgrim
18. Wildwood Flower
19. Soldier's Joy
20. Will the Circle Be Unbroken
21. Both Sides Now
22. Foggy Mountain Breakdown
23. Warming Up for "The Opry" (talk)
24. Sunny Side (talk)
25. Remember Me

Disc 3

1. Life's Railway To Heaven with Johnny Cash and The Carter Family
2. Grandpa Was A Carpenter with John Prine
3. When I Get My Rewards with Levon Helm
4. Don't You Hear Jerusalem Moan with New Grass Revival
5. Little Mountain Church House with Ricky Skaggs
6. And So It Goes with John Denver
7. When It's Gone
8. Mary Danced With Soldiers with Emmylou Harris
9. Riding Alone with Emmylou Harris
10. I'm Sittin' on Top Of The World with Jimmy Martin
11. Lovin' On The Side with Paulette Carlson
12. Lost River with Michael Martin Murphey
13. Bayou Jubilee
14. Blues Berry Hill with Bruce Hornsby
15. Turn Of The Century
16. One Step Over The Line with John Hiatt
17. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman
18. The Valley Road with Bruce Hornsby
19. Will The Circle Be Unbroken with everyone
20. Amazing Grace

Disc 4

1. Take Me into Your Lifeboat with Del McCoury
2. Milk Cow Blues with Doc Watson / Josh Graves
3. I Find Jesus
4. Hold Whatcha Got with Jimmy Martin
5. Mama's Opry with Iris DeMent
6. Diamonds in the Rough with Cash, June Carter
7. Lonesome River with Sam Bush
8. Some Dark Holler with Dwight Yoakam
9. The Lowlands with Jaimie Hanna
10. Love, Please Come Home with Del McCoury
11. Goodnight Irene with Willie Nelson
12. I Know What It Means to Be Lonesome
13. I'll Be Faithful to You with Emmylou Harris
14. Tears in the Holston River with Johnny Cash

Disc 5

1. Fishin' Blues with Taj Mahal
2. Save It, Save It with Jimmy Martin
3. Wheels with Dwight Yoakam
4. Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms with Willie Nelson
5. Oh Cumberland with Matraca Berg
6. I Am a Pilgrim with Doc Watson
7. Sallie Ann with Earl Scruggs
8. Catfish John with Alison Krauss
9. Roll the Stone Away
10. All Prayed Up with Vince Gill
11. Return to Dismal Swamp II with Jerry Douglas and Tony Rice
12. There Is a Time with Rodney Dillard
13. Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Glory, Glory) with Taj Mahal and Alison Krauss
14. Farther Along

Disc 6 (DVD)

1. My Walkin' Shoes
2. Catfish John
3. One Step Over The Line
4. Roll The Stone Away
5. Love, Please Come Home
6. All Prayed Up
7. Oh Cumberland
8. Fishin' Blues
9. The Lowlands
10. Return To Dismal Swamp II
11. Earl's Breakdown
12. I Find Jesus
13. Mama's Opry
14. Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken: The Trilogy - 2003 - Capitol 91400