Two Miles High Music

In an age when the old-timey soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? sells 5 million copies, it's hard to imagine how revolutionary Will the Circle Be Unbroken seemed upon its release 30 years ago. The triple album (now rereleased as a two-CD set) paired many of Nashville's venerable country and bluegrass performers (Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Jimmy Martin, Vassar Clements) with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, or as Acuff called them, "a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys." The idea seemed nearly as foreign as Martians setting down in Tennessee, but the Dirt Band were Colorado hippies steeped in the genre, so there was no disputing the authenticity of the music, or its earthy appeal. Aside from the sheer joy of the performances (listen to Jimmy Martin's "whoop" on "Sunny Side of the Mountain"), there's great fun in hearing Roy Acuff give the boys a lesson in doing a song right the first time (and using the word hell before launching into a religious number). And Mother Maybelle wafts through like a benevolent ghost, or at least a patron saint. One caveat: The boast of four previously unreleased tracks is balderdash, since three are really between-track conversations and rehearsals, and only "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" qualifies as a real song. But that's nitpicking. Buy it. Love it. Wallow in it. O brother, that's country music! --Alanna Nash

No Description Available.Genre: Reggae MusicMedia Format: Compact DiskRating: Release Date: 19-MAY-2009

"We've lost the living room," Emmylou Harris says before her ethereal version of "Mary Danced with Soldiers," "but today I think we got it back." Full of back-home warmth, inspired pairings--Roseanne Cash and John Hiatt, Levon Helm and the host Nitty Gritty Dirt Band--and a song selection that walks the line between traditionals and excellent contemporary material, somehow this follow up to the barrier-breaking first volume is never nostalgic nor aimless. In fact, it's nearly as good--even John Denver sounds inspired. Jimmy Martin sings "Sitting on Top of the World" as if his life depended on it, and Ricky Skaggs and Levon Helm both turn in vocal performances that stand comfortably beside any of their careers. --Roy Francis Kasten

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band--the iconic and profoundly influential group often cited as the catalysts for of an entire movement in country and roots music--have finished work on their first studio album in five years, Speed of Life. The album finds the band at their laid back, ramshackle best, eschewing the large collaboration approach here for a set of songs anchored by the remarkably deft musicianship, and diverse songwriting and vocal styles of the core band of Jeff Hanna, Jimmie Fadden, Bob Carpenter, and John McEuen.