Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two

Composition

Circle II features largely acoustic, bluegrass music instrumentation with a line-up of contemporary country music artists that includes Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Michael Martin Murphey and Ricky Skaggs. Returnees from the first Circle are bluegrass musician Jimmy Martin, banjoist Earl Scruggs, fiddler Vassar Clements and singer Roy Acuff.

Other artists represent the rock, folk and pop genres, including Levon Helm from The Band, John Denver, John Prine, John Hiatt and Bruce Hornsby.

Among the tracks is the Bob Dylan composition, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", sung as a duet by former members of The Byrds, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, their first reunion in many years.

The roster of session musicians for the album included many notable performers, including fiddler Mark O'Connor, resonator guitarist Jerry Douglas, banjoist Béla Fleck, guitarist Chet Atkins and bassist Roy Huskey, Jr., son of bassist Junior Huskey, who had played on the first Circle.

Like the first Circle, the album features snippets of studio chatter. In the lead-in to John Denver's song, "And So It Goes", someone asks, "Is this practice?" Denver replies: "They're all practice."

In an intro to the song "Riding Alone", Emmylou Harris summed up her thoughts about relaxed atmosphere of the recording sessions, saying: "Years ago I had the experience of sitting around in a living room with a bunch of people and singing and playing, and it was like a spiritual experience, it was wonderful. And I decided then that was what I was going to do with my life was play music, do music. In the making of records, I think over the years we've all gotten a little too technical, a little too hung up on getting things perfect. We've lost the living room. The living room has gone out of the music, but today I feel like we got it back."

Reception

Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two was certified gold in the United States and Canada. The album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Top Country Album chart and at 95 on the Billboard 200. Singles from the album included John Denver's "And So It Goes", "Turn of the Century", "When It's Gone" and "One Step Over the Line".

It won Grammy Awards in 1990 for Best Bluegrass Recording (for "The Valley Road", with Bruce Hornsby) and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It also won Album of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards. A documentary film, The Making of Will the Circle Be Unbroken II, was released by Cabin Fever Entertainment.

Circle II was followed up with a 2002 album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III, which coincided with the 30th anniversary re-release of Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

Track listing

1. "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Traditional, arranged by Johnny Cash) – 4:39
2. Lead vocal and guitar by Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash, Anita Carter and Helen Carter (as the Carter Family)
3. Randy Scruggs plays "Mother" Maybelle Carter's Gibson L5
4. "Grandpa Was a Carpenter" (John Prine) – 3:24
5. Lead vocal and guitar by John Prine
6. "When I Get My Rewards" (Paul Kennerley) – 4:25
7. Lead vocal by Levon Helm
8. "Don't You Hear Jerusalem Moan" (Traditional) – 3:56
9. Mandolin and first verse lead vocals by Sam Bush, second-verse vocals by John Cowan and Bob Carpenter
10. "Little Mountain Church House (Jim Rushing, Carl Jackson) – 3:32
11. Lead vocal and guitar by Ricky Skaggs
12. "And So It Goes" (Paul Overstreet, Don Schlitz) – 3:54
13. Lead vocal by John Denver
14. Released on John Denver's Australian album Stonehaven Sunset
15. "When It's Gone" (Jimmie Fadden, Don Schlitz) – 2:34
16. Lead vocal by Jimmy Ibbotson
17. "Mary Danced With Soldiers" (Kennerley) – 3:07
18. Lead vocal and guitar by Emmylou Harris
19. "Riding Alone" (Bob Carpenter, Jeff Hanna, Richard Hathaway) – 3:09
20. Lead vocals by Bob Carpenter and Emmylou Harris
21. "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" (Lonnie Chatmon, Walter Vinson) – 3:10
22. Lead vocal and guitar by Jimmy Martin
23. "Lovin' on the Side" (Paulette Carlson, Jimmy Ibbotson, Sandy Waltner) – 2:57
24. Lead vocal by Paulette Carlson
25. "Lost River" (Michael Martin Murphey) – 3:26
26. Lead vocal and guitar by Michael Martin Murphey
27. "Bayou Jubilee" (Jeff Hanna) – 3:01
28. Lead vocal by Jeff Hanna
29. "Blues Berry Hill" (Carpenter, Fadden, Hanna, Ibbotson, R. Scruggs) – 3:26
30. Instrumental, featuring Randy Scruggs on lead guitar
31. "Turn of the Century" (J. Fred Knobloch, Dan Tyler) – 3:39
32. Lead vocals by Jimmy Ibbotson (first verse), Jeff Hanna (second verse) and Bob Carpenter (third verse)
33. "One Step Over the Line" (John Hiatt) – 4:30
34. Lead vocal and guitar by John Hiatt with Rosanne Cash, vocals
35. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" (Bob Dylan) – 3:53
36. Lead vocals and twelve-string guitar by Roger McGuinn with Chris Hillman, lead vocals and guitar
37. "The Valley Road" (Bruce Hornsby) – 4:13
38. Lead vocals and piano by Bruce Hornsby
39. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (A. P. Carter/last verse lyrics by Jimmy Ibbotson) – 5:39
40. Lead vocals by Johnny Cash (first verse), Roy Acuff (second verse), Ricky Skaggs (third verse), Levon Helm with Emmylou Harris (fourth verse) and Jimmy Ibbotson (fifth verse)
41. Backing choir: Roy Acuff, Cynthia Biederman, Sam Bush, Paulette Carlson, Bob Carpenter, Gretchen Carpenter, June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash, Cindy Cash, Rosanne Cash, John Cowan, Steve Dahl, John Denver, Jimmie Fadden, Béla Fleck, Pat Flynn, Radney Foster, Vince Gill, Jeff Hanna, Melody Hanna, John Hiatt, Chris Hillman, Bruce Hornsby, Jimmy Ibbotson, Helen Carter Jones, David Jones, Bashful Brother Oswald, Bill Lloyd, Jimmy Martin, Michael Martin Murphey, Roger McGuinn, Tracy Nelson, Robert Oermann, Brad Parker, Don Schlitz, Earl Scruggs, Gary Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Steve Scruggs, Lynn Shults, Marty Stuart, Wendy Waldman, Steve Wariner, Cheryl White, Sharon White, Bobbie White
42. "Amazing Grace" (John Newton) – 1:48
43. Solo guitar, performed by Randy Scruggs

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Session musicians