''Full Circle'' is the forty-third solo studio album by American country music singer-songwriter

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill (song), The P ...

. It was released on March 4, 2016, by

Sony Legacy Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 20 ...

. It was produced by Lynn's daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell, and

John Carter Cash John Carter Cash (born March 3, 1970) is an American country singer-songwriter, musician and author. He is the only child of Johnny Cash and his second wife June Carter Cash. He is the grandson of Mother Maybelle Carter. Biography John has ...

, the son of

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

and

June Carter Cash Valerie June Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003) was an American country singer and songwriter. A five-time Grammy Award–winner, she was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. Prior to her marria ...

. The album became Lynn's 40th album to reach the top ten of the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...

chart and her career peak on the US ''Billboard'' 200, debuting at number 19. The album received a nomination for

Best Country Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Country Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the country music ge ...

at the

59th Annual Grammy Awards The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year ...

Background

Recorded at Cash Cabin Studio in

Hendersonville, Tennessee Hendersonville is the most populous city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake. As of the 2020 census the city's population was 61,753. Hendersonville is the fourth-most populous city in the Nashville metropolitan area after Nas ...

, the album was Lynn's first new studio recording in 12 years. The album is a mixture of recordings inspired by Appalachian folk songs Lynn learned as a child and newer versions of past hits, and includes duets with

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

Previous recordings

Four songs on the album had previously been recorded by Lynn: *"Whispering Sea" was previously recorded for Zero Records in 1960 as the B-side of her first single, "

I'm a Honky Tonk Girl "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" is the debut single by American country music artist Loretta Lynn, released in March 1960. The song was among the first to not only be recorded by Lynn, but also to be penned by her. She composed the song while living in Wa ...

". *"Secret Love" had been previously recorded for her 1967 album '' Singin' with Feelin'''. *"Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" was previously recorded for her 1965 album ''

Hymns A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

''. *"

Fist City "Fist City" is a country music song written and performed by Loretta Lynn, released in 1968. Inspired by her husband's dalliances with other women who pursued him while she was busy touring, Lynn wrote the song as a warning for other women to stay ...

" was previously recorded for her 1968 album of the same name.

Promotion

The album's first single, "Everything It Takes", premiered on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' website on January 14, 2016. It was released for digital download the following day, January 15. On February 4, 2016, ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' premiered the second single, "Who's Gonna Miss Me?", on their website. It was made available for digital download on February 5. An updated version of Lynn's 1965 song, "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven", was released as the third single from the album. It was premiered by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine via their website on February 16, 2016. On February 17 the single was made available for digital download. The album's fourth and final single, "Lay Me Down", was written by Mark Marchetti, husband of Lynn's daughter, Peggy. It was released as a single on March 23, 2016. A music video was released on Lynn's

VEVO Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

channel the same day.

Critical reception

''Full Circle'' was released to strong reviews and near universal acclaim. It received a rating of 84 at Metacritic.com . ''

Country Weekly ''Country Weekly'' (known as ''Nash Country Weekly'' from 2015–16) was an American magazine about country music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site Nash Country Daily. O ...

'' called the album "a wonderful and welcome piece of work, 14 solid songs that shift easily from Appalachian mountain soul to pure country and even spiritual fare. Plus, Loretta has simply never sounded better." ''Pitchfork'' wrote "She makes a grab-bag late-late-career album feel not only emotionally grounded, but like a powerful choice."

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown Houston, Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely ...

' positive review writes "For an artist who has been so incredibly prolific, it's statistically improbable that, at 83 years old, Lynn would be recording some of the best music of her career." Spin opined that it was "a mandatory look back at one of country music's most essential artists." In ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

named "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" and "Wine Into Water" as highlights while summing the album up as "remakes that never seem redundant from an 83-year-old who's lived clean but never been a

prig In British English, a prig () is a person who shows an inordinately zealous approach to matters of form and propriety—especially where the prig has the ability to show superior knowledge to those who do not know the protocol in question. They se ...

about it".

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 4 on the Top Country Albums chart, the 40th top 10 on the chart for Lynn, selling 20,000 in its release week. It also debuted at No. 19 on the ''Billboard'' 200, the highest in her career on that chart. The recording has sold 75,300 U. S. copies as of September 2017.

Track listing

Personnel

Ronnie Bowman Ronnie Bowman (born July 9, 1961) is an American singer and composer of bluegrass music. Besides his solo albums, he is known for his work with the Lonesome River Band. Biography Early years A native of Mount Airy, North Carolina, Bowman sang gosp ...

- backing vocals *

Mike Bub The Del McCoury Band is a Grammy Award-winning American bluegrass band. History Originally the band was called Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals with Del on guitar and his brother Jerry on bass. The band went through a number of changes in person ...

upright bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival. ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

* Shawn Camp -

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, mandolin *

Laura Cash Laura Weber White, also known as Laura White, Laura Weber, Laura Cash, and Laura Weber Cash is an American country music, country fiddler, singer, songwriter, and guitar player. White has worked as a session musician on many albums and toured wi ...

- acoustic guitar *

- duet vocals on "Everything it Takes" *

Dennis Crouch Dennis David Crouch (born April 30, 1975 in Columbia, South Carolina) is an American patent attorney who worked for McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP (MBHB) in Chicago, Illinois, until 2007.Dennis Crouch''Thank you MBHB, Hello Missouri!'' ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, upright bass *Mark Fain - upright bass * Paul Franklin -

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

*Tony Harrell -

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Jamie Hartford Jamie Hartford is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Career Jamie, the son of John Hartford, was raised in a musical environment, meeting and learning from artists such as Johnny Cash, the Everly Brothers, Cowboy Jack Clement, and Jo ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

*Rick Lonow -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

- lead vocals *

Ronnie McCoury Ronald Delano McCoury, known as Ronnie McCoury, (born March 16, 1967) is an American mandolin player, singer, and songwriter. He is the son of bluegrass musician Del McCoury, and is best known for his work with the Del McCoury Band and the Trave ...

- mandolin *

Pat McLaughlin Pat McLaughlin is an American singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. He was raised in Waterloo, Iowa, but moved to San Francisco, California, in the early 1970s. There McLaughlin began to write songs, playing alone at open mic nights ...

- mandolin *

- duet vocals on "Lay Me Down" *

Jon Randall Jon Randall Stewart (born February 17, 1969) is an American producer, songwriter, and musician. His career began as a guitarist for Emmylou Harris' Nash Ramblers with whom he won his first Grammy for their ''Live at the Ryman'' album in 1992. Be ...

- backing vocals *

Randy Scruggs Randy Lynn Scruggs (August 3, 1953 – April 17, 2018) was an American music producer, songwriter and guitarist. He had his first recording at the age of 13. He won four Grammy Awards and was named Musician of the Year at the Country Music ...

- acoustic guitar *Will Smith -

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

Bryan Sutton James Bryan Sutton (born 1973) is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicking acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and electric guitar. He also sings and writes songs. Biography Early career Sutton's gr ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, acoustic guitar *

Robby Turner Robby Turner is an American pedal steel guitarist, best known for his work with Waylon Jennings and his contributions to recordings by many other artists. Biography Early years Turner grew up in a musical family; his parents Doyle and Bernice ...

- pedal steel guitar * Laura Weber -

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

, acoustic guitar, backing vocals * Jeff White - acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2016 albums Albums produced by John Carter Cash Appalachian music Legacy Recordings albums Loretta Lynn albums