Full Circle
by Loretta Lynn
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. Record Collector
    Mar 25, 2016
    100
    A great record that proves her writing remains as vital as ever.
  2. Country Weekly
    Mar 9, 2016
    100
    Full Circle stands as 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.
  3. American Songwriter
    Mar 2, 2016
    90
    As both a comeback and perhaps a farewell to recording, with Full Circle Lynn continues with the style, talent and class that have personified her lengthy, legendary career.
  5. Austin Chronicle
    Mar 17, 2016
    89
    Distilling others' heartaches ("Always on My Mind") comes Full Circle.
  6. PopMatters
    Mar 8, 2016
    80
    There’s no grandstanding on this modest yet confident record. Rather there’s the humility, humour, wisdom and hard-won truths of country music at its best.
  7. Spin
    Mar 8, 2016
    80
    Full Circle is like an afternoon on the front porch listening to Lynn tell you her life story, a trajectory with an impact that no single disc could ever fully sum up.
  8. The Observer (UK)
    Mar 7, 2016
    80
    It feels like a simultaneous (re)introduction to Lynn’s career, and a summing up, and makes for a worthy companion piece to Cash’s American Recordings.
  9. Boston Globe
    Mar 4, 2016
    80
    Through 13 glorious tracks spanning back-porch hootenanny sessions to countrypolitan elegance, Lynn proves that at 83 she’s a national treasure who still exudes the earthiness of her rural roots.
  10. Pitchfork
    Mar 3, 2016
    80
    Only a interpreter as shrewd and tasteful as Loretta Lynn could find the inherent commonalities in these songs, and make a grab-bag late-late-career album like this feel not only emotionally grounded, but like a powerful choice.
  11. Mojo
    Feb 24, 2016
    80
    Lynn still sounds full of the life-force; more engaged and effervescent than many stars half her age. [Apr 2016, p.88]
    All this publication's reviews
  12. Uncut
    Feb 24, 2016
    80
    Willie Nelson and Elvis Costello appear as duet partners, affably resigned to not competing with that unmistakable undimmed voice. [Apr 2016, p.75]
    All this publication's reviews
  13. AllMusic
    Feb 24, 2016
    80
    As produced by her daughter and family friend, Lynn is in good, trusting hands who wish to present her at her best and, more or less, that's precisely what Full Circle offers.
  14. Rolling Stone
    Feb 24, 2016
    80
    Full Circle is a homey set, with few new songs and no May-December duets or hotshot young rockers, Elvis Costello notwithstanding.
  15. Magnet
    Mar 30, 2016
    75
    She didn’t play nice and didn’t take kindly to notions of acting “ladylike,” and Full Circle is her victory lap. [No. 129, p.57]
    All this publication's reviews
  16. Consequence
    Mar 2, 2016
    75
    Unvarnished emotion and simple language rolling off her imperfect voice like poetry cemented Lynn’s legacy; Full Circle tries to preserve it for posterity, but with an addendum. Mortality squiggles blatantly through on two new songs.
  17. Under The Radar
    Apr 12, 2016
    70
    Her confidence and sense of fun is palpable throughout the 14 track set of timeless Americana.

Awards & Rankings

40
#40 Best Album of 2016

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 21
  3. Negative: 3 out of 21
  1. Custom_Concerns
    Mar 29, 2016
    7
    Loretta Lynn is some kind of musical anomaly. How she manages to keep producing high-quality, pleasant-as-hell golden age country records 50Loretta Lynn is some kind of musical anomaly. How she manages to keep producing high-quality, pleasant-as-hell golden age country records 50 years later is beyond me, but she sure does. Full Circle is loosely themed around a revisiting of her entire career. Most songs here are reworkings of other, older tunes, including a version of (apparently) the first song Lynn ever wrote. Full Circle is an ode to one of the most consistent folk/country artists out there...if not the most, decades later.

    77/100    … Full Review »
  2. NaomiJudd4ever
    Jan 29, 2023
    10
    Loretta does not disappoint on this album. There are several remakes of her classic tunes but there are several new songs, as well. The duetLoretta does not disappoint on this album. There are several remakes of her classic tunes but there are several new songs, as well. The duet with Willie Nelson, Lay Me Down, is awesome. The mountain classic In The Pines is very robust and erie at the same time, the way Loretta' s voice keeps fading through the ending of the song. Not going to say much more but this album is very much worth adding to your collection!… Full Review »
  3. axel_bogay
    Jan 24, 2018
    10
    Full Circle is Loretta's first studio album since 2004s exquisite collaboration with Jack White, Van Lear Rose. If it were anyone else it'd beFull Circle is Loretta's first studio album since 2004s exquisite collaboration with Jack White, Van Lear Rose. If it were anyone else it'd be hard to believe - to be recording some of her most innovative, interesting and vocally brilliant songs in her 80s. But when you're dealing with Loretta Lynn, it's hardly a surprise at all.

    Taking from it's title, the album is almost a retrospective of her career & life, but it's also looking forward with a couple of new songs towards the end.

    The standout for me is the first song Loretta ever wrote, Whispering Sea. A lament of lost love and the other person moving on. The new arrangement and quality recording really lets it shine - and a superb opener. Remarkable this being one of the first songs she ever wrote, and aging so well. I think it speaks to her song writing talent, that hasn't wearied at all over her 60 year career. As the two closing numbers of the album (one a duet with Elvis Costello and the other with none other than Willy Nelson) are both originals. At very different ends of the spectrum, they sound modern yet have that classic, almost timeless quality that the high points of Loretta's song writing can reach. Lay Me Down is really something else.

    There are new takes on some of her back catalogue - Fist City still packs a proverbial punch. And I wouldn't want to take on Loretta lest she grab me by the hair a the head and lift me off the ground!

    Some of the most magical moments on the album are her interpretations of traditional country songs - Black Jack David speaks to her unsurpassed phrasing and fascinating interpretation on such an old song. I wonder if in some ways she's reflecting on her 45+ years with Doolittle. They married when she was 15!

    I've never been the biggest fan of Always On My Mind, but I really appreciate Loretta's take on it. She's most certainly singing to Doolittle, and reflecting on their time together.

    In The Pines is a solid number - the production by Patsy Lynn Russell & John Carter Cash takes it to another level. She uses her lower register & the deep, rich quality of her voice to bring the lyrics to life.

    I Will Never Marry is another standout. The fragility of Lynn's voice, the journey of the song to the sad conclusion. She is a master story teller and there really is no one like her.

    Can't wait for this year's Wouldn't It Be Great, and many more albums after.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »