Recorded at Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the album is 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 and Willie Nelson.
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".
"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.
The album's first single, "Everything It Takes", premiered on Rolling Stone's website on January 14, 2016. It was released for digital download the following day, January 15. On February 4, 2016, Pitchfork 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 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 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 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' 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, Robert Christgau 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 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 Billboard 200, the highest in her career on that chart. The recording has sold 75,300 U. S. copies as of September 2017.
