A TENNESSEE GODDESS

Dolly Rebecca Parton has had one of the most enduring and multi-faceted careers in music history. She is beloved for her iconic status as a pop culture legend as well as for her unmatched singing and songwriting abilities.

Dolly has moved effortlessly from country music to pop music and back again. Her forays into television with The Porter Wagoner Show as well as hit films such as 9 To 5 and Steel Magnolias, established her ability to sail across not only musical genres but also separate and distinct forms of entertainment. She seemed to reveal even more of her outsize talents with every endeavor.

COMING HOME

After nearly 60 albums, Dolly found herself in the same precarious situation as many other veteran country artists. She had been pushed aside and dropped from youth-obsessed country radio stations and their generic computer-generated playlists. Deciding that she was better off being true to herself rather than chasing after hits, she returned fully to her mountain roots and embraced the sound and history of bluegrass music. Critics and fans alike heralded a trio of releases on Sugar Hill Records in conjunction with Dolly’s own imprint, Blue Eye Records.

THE GRASS IS BLUE

Released in October of 1999, The Grass Is Blue is the first of three glorious bluegrass excursions. Dolly’s vocal performances are among the most energetic and soulful of her career and prove that this genre of music truly brings out the best in her considerable talents. Her choice of material is eclectic to say the least but that only serves to make the album that much more involving. You never quite know how she’ll interpret each song. Producer Steve Buckingham has stockpiled the band with world-class musicians including Stuart Duncan on fiddle and Bryan Sutton on guitar. Vocal harmonies are handled by none other than the divine Alison Krauss & Patty Loveless. To say that Dolly and her producer knew who to recruit for this record is a vast understatement. Despite, or perhaps because of, this illustrious company, Dolly still manages to shine brighter than anyone else. (more…)

Some people are just flat-out smart-asses.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing to be at times, mind you, but a good smart-ass pulls it off with a modicum of grace and might give you a chuckle for it. In the music world, there are relatively few of the latter. Instead of a wink and a nod, they just about knock you unconscious and then ask if “you saw that.” You can tell one from the other by their choices in the realm of cover songs.

A word of note to anyone who is not a music nerd accidentally finding themselves at this site: a cover song is when an artist records another artist’s song, hence covering it. The term ‘remake’ fits as well. The term ’smart-ass’, at least relative to this article, refers to those who decide to go all hipster and record something that bears no relevance, charm or wit toward their own sensibility. I’m thinking of Madonna’s cover of “American Pie” or that godawful A Perfect Circle CD where the songs weren’t just reworked, they were worked over, until all that was left was roadkill disguised as tribute. Then there’s the Bluegrass Tribute to Pink Floyd’s The Wall. More notoriously, I’m thinking of the late-’50s pop songs from black artists covered by teen idol white artists because, you know, if it comes from a white guy in a sweater, the subtext can’t be about sex. Right? Pat Boone? Tutti Frutti?

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