John McEuen Talks Legendary Album &#;Will The Circle Be Unbroken&#;
Editors Note: This article was written by Saving Country Music contributor Kevin Smith.
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It’s in the Grammy Hall of Fame. It’s in The Library of Congress. It sold Gold. It sold Platinum. Chet Flippo once said it was one of the most important albums that ever came out of Nashville. Will The Circle Be Unbroken, an album by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, has become over the last 52 years what you might call an essential masterwork in the history of American music.
Recorded in , the album has a timeless and ageless quality to it. It’s an album that has inspired and excited multiple generations of music fans and musicians. One of the central figures in making the album is John McEuen, a year former member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He is a banjo legend, fiddler extraordinaire, multi-instrumentalist, CMA and ACM award recipient, and a producer of a Grammy winning album, among his many accomplishments.
Just this past fall, McEuen and Les Thompson&#;another former NGDB member and participant in the Circle record&#;presented a compelling discussion to an IBMA
Bluegrass Today Profiles
John McEuen and Les Thompson discuss Will The Circle Be Unbroken at IBMA Bluegrass Live!
During IBMA Bluegrass Live!, a special session was held midday Friday celebrating the year legacy of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band&#;s Will the Circle Be Unbroken three-record album. Host John McEuen, co-founding member of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and his brother (William McEuen who passed in ), conceptualized and delivered an album that stirred music, influenced generations of musicians in multiple genres, and has stood the test of time for more than five decades. John used a film presentation of his &#;Circle Band&#; shows to supplement his talk. He and a panel of a few hand-picked industry veterans (Bluegrass Unlimited editor Dan Miller, radio personality and columnist Daniel Mullins, NGDB&#;s founding member and mandolinist Les Thompson, and singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale) discussed the making of the album and how it influenced the world.
John began the session, &#;I didn’t want to be a musician. I wanted to be a cowboy, but I was allergic to horses. When I was 17, I got my first banjo for my birthday. I formed a group at the McCabe&#;s Guitar Sh
William E. McEuen, Producer and Manager for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band &#; Steve Martin, Dies at 79
William (&#;Bill&#;) Eugene McEuen, a record producer and manager best known for his work with Steve Martin and country rockers the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, died on Thursday (Sept. 24) at age
&#;It is with tremendous sorrow that I share news that my brother William Bill Eugene McEuen (aka Bill) has passed away in Kona, Hawaii – a place he loved,&#; revealed McEuen&#;s brother and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founding member John McEuen on Facebook.
McEuen managed the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and produced several albums for them, including their commercial breakthrough Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy and the sprawling, landmark album Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which enlisted a collection of country and bluegrass legends including Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, “Mother” Maybelle Carter, Roy Acuff and Jimmy Martin. The latter album became notable for introducing these older performers to a younger generation and reviving their careers; it now holds a place in the Library of Congress and the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Later in his career
From a studio with a picture window looking east to Independence Pass, the makings of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” were woven together in steely precision that’s endured half a century.
John Denver, Starwood and the Dirt Band cut albums that made magic there, and it’s where Bill McEuen — who died Sept. 24 in Kona, Hawaii — created his best work that spanned decades and crossed over mediums, said his five-years-younger brother John.
“He called ‘Will the Circle Be Unbroken’ his masterpiece,” said John McEuen. But the album that’s included in the Library of Congress and which features McEuen’s original artwork was only part of Bill’s legacy.
Bill McEuen’s Aspen Film Society, located in his Eastwood home, would summon the ancient Egyptian jive for Steve Martin’s “King Tut,” dive into Martin’s multilayered comedy “The Jerk” and introduce audiences to the quirky genius of “Pee Wee Herman’s Big Adventure.”
Like the Aspen Film Society, “Aspen Recording Society studio was a very influential imprint,” McEuen said. “And Bill and Alice loved the town.”
Golden days
Bill and John McEuen rolled into Aspen in
“We were tired of L.A. and everybody. Within 20
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