What is the history of the song, "Will the circle be unbroken?" Is is a ***** spiritual?

Question

I have hears Southern rock bands, like the Allman Brothers cover this song. Just heard it in "Iron Jawed Angels" with Hillary Swank and wondered if it was an abolitionist song. What is the history, where does it originate & when?

Answer 1

Will the Circle Be Unbroken
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” was sung for many years as “Can The Circle Be Unbroken” and is one of the most enduring and popular sacred songs in the American folk tradition. One source says it was composed in 1908, but more than likely, “Can the Circle Be Unbroken” has been around since African and Anglo Americans first began “borrowing” each other’s music.
In the 1920s, when phonograph players first began appearing in many American homes, “Can the Circle Be Unbroken” was recorded by a number of groups including the Metropolitan Quartet, the Silver Leaf Quartet of Norfolk, VA and The Carter Family. It was the Carters who probably changed the title from “Can,” to “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Source: The Collected Reprints from Sing Out! Volumes 1964-73, Sing Out Publications.
Recordings on file by: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band & Others, Frank Profitt, Various artists, Doc Watson with Clint Howard & Fred Price.

Answer 2

Will the Circle Be Unbroken is a 1972 album officially by the The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but with collaboration from many famous Bluegrass and country-western players, including Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis and others. It also introduced fiddler Vassar Clements to a wider audience.

Its title comes from a song by Ada R. Habershon (famously re-arranged by A. P. Carter) and reflects how the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was trying to tie together two generations of musicians. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was a young country-rock band with a hippie look. Roy Acuff described them as, "a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys." The other players were much older and more famous from the forties, fifties and sixties, primarily as old-time country and bluegrass players. Many had become known to their generation through the Grand Ole Opry. However, with the rise of rock-and-roll,the emergence of the commercial country's slick 'Nashville sound,'and changing tastes in music, their popularity had waned somewhat from their glory years.

Hope this helps

Ada Habershon wrote this in 1907

Answer 3

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RE:
What is the history of the song, "Will the circle be unbroken?" Is is a ***** spiritual?
I have hears Southern rock bands, like the Allman Brothers cover this song. Just heard it in "Iron Jawed Angels" with Hillary Swank and wondered if it was an abolitionist song. What is the history, where does it originate & when?

Answer 4

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Thanks for the history lesson. I did not know that Protestant ministers like John Wesley were called Father Wesley, and women like Mary Baker Eddy "Mother Eddy." Of course, Episcopalian clergymen as still called Father. And apparently, your first three answers didn't read your question details to learn anything to overturn their anti-Catholic prejudice. I wonder if following their mistaken literal reading, they called their own fathers "Bob" or "Henry." This is an excellent example of how modern Protestants reading ancient manuscripts with a modern mindset, without historical context, fail to interpret Jesus' teachings well. Jesus was telling us not to automatically honor the undeserving with titles of respect. I think of "Father Pfleger," the political hack posing as a priest in Chicago, or "Reverend Jesse Jackson," who is not bothered by the fact that black babies are the leading victims of abortion. Cheers, Bruce

Answer 5

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