Dolly Parton - 'Dolly'

Ninety-nine songs by Dolly Parton. Too much of a good thing? Not if you are an avowed Partonite.

The four discs take you from early “Dolly” to the more mature-sounding singer/songwriter, the heroine of many of today’s country singers, male and female.

The major hits – “Jolene” “Mule Skinner Blues,” “9 To 5,” etc., are all present and accounted for, but some of the lesser known items are the most interesting, particularly the 'mince-no-words’ “Evening Shade,” about shady practices in a home for wayward children.

That song, like many  in this RCA Legacy release, is an original, offering musical  food for thought. Those thinking songs are mixed with a happy heap of fun stuff .

“Dolly,” a collector’s item, is  abetted by a host of impressive guests , including Billy Ray Cyrus (effective on “Romeo”),  Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Pam Tillis and Kathy Mattea.

Other guests  include Ricky Van Shelton, Kenny Rogers and, of course, her discoverer/mentor, Porter Wagoner. She joined his Wagon Masters in 1959 when Norma Jean opted for marriage over career.

To date, Miss Dolly has had 26 gold and platinum releases, and 113 singles that landed on Billboard’s country charts. Let’s see today’s whippersnappers  match those numbers.  Parton is a sharecropper’s daughter, the fourth of 12 children, and tells her story in one of her most notable offerings, “Coat of Many Colors.”

“That song means more to me than any other song I’ve ever recorded,” she writes in a colorful 65-page booklet that comes with the package. It details each song and offers a biography, thoughts of others about the star, and a good amount of pictures old and new.

You will learn, if you did not already know, that Dolly is a prolific songwriter, having penned more than 3,000 songs. “In one 24-hour period,” she notes, “I wrote 20 songs – 15 were recorded.”

Some of the songs in the CD were demonstration pieces, and a few were unreleased until “Dolly.”

“If I don’t sing my songs and follow my dreams,” she writes, “then I ain’t nothing.” She is something – unique.

– Frank Roberts

Tracks to download “Evening Shade,” “Comin’ for to Carry Me Home”

Buy "Dolly" the box set (Link goes to Amazon.com)

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