Dolly Parton, "Those Were The Days"

[drock89]

USA Today has revealed more details about Dolly's upcoming album "Those Were The Days." The paper mentioned that Mary Hopkins, Roger McGuinn, Alison Krauss and Kris Kristofferson have been added as guest stars in addition to the previously announced list of Keith Urban, Judy Collins, Rhonda Vincent, Joe Nichols, Nickel Creek, Tommy James, Pam Tillis, George Jones, Jeannie Seely, Brenda Lee, Jan Howard, Jack Greene, Billy Walker, Jimmy C. Newman, Mel McDaniel, Porter Wagoner, David Foster, Norah Jones, and Cat Stevens. Hopkins will join Dolly and a cast of Grand Ole Opry Legends on the title track "Those Were The Days," Krisofferson joins Dolly on her cover of his classic "Me & Bobby McGee," and McGuinn lends his voice to "Turn, Turn, Turn," no word on the track Alison Krauss sings on.

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While it is not known which tracks the two sing on, Lee Ann Womack and Mindy Smith have been added to the list of guest vocalists for Dolly's upcoming album Those Were The Days. The album is set for release by Sugar Hill Records on October 11th.

[Dolly Online News]

This is shaping up to be quite a project!! :) I for one can't wait--I love Dolly's bluegrass albums, and own The Grass is Blue and Halos and Horns.

[prenatt1166]

I can't wait to hear this, just for the Mary Hopkin (not Hopkins) collaboration alone!

[gcook]

I love Dolly and so this should be a great one! :)

[Zazie]

Someone got to the "Hopkin" correction before I did. But thanks for the info anyway, and I'm ready to buy this CD right now, if only to hear Kris K singing his own great song. Until now Gordon Lightfoot's version is the best I have heard of Bobby McGee.

[bamafan2102]

This will be great! Maybe her and Martina can go out and do a covers tour together.

[drock89]

olly Parton gets retro with cover tunes

By JOHN GEROME
Associated Press Writer



NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- It's almost a given for veteran singers to dust off the American songbook and cut an album of standards. But Dolly Parton does them one better on "Those Were the Days."

Not only does she put a country spin on songs such as "Turn, Turn, Turn," "Crimson and Clover" and "Me and Bobby McGee," she gets some of the artists who wrote or popularized the originals to join her.

Roger McGuinn, Kris Kristofferson, Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), Keith Urban, Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, Judy Collins and many others lend their talents.

It's easy to recruit performers like that when you're one of the world's most recognizable entertainers. For many people, the busty blonde in the gaudy getup is the embodiment of Nashville and country music.

One recent morning at her office, impeccably dressed in a yellow jacket, bright multicolored skirt and red heels, Parton spoke in her fast, pitter-patter speech. She had been up since about 2 a.m. (standard waking time for her, she says, as she only requires 3-6 hours of sleep) yet was cheerful and funny, punctuating conversation with a distinct laugh that's beyond a giggle but short of a guffaw.

"This record I didn't write any of the songs," she says. "I thought, well, I ought to just maybe make the next one all songs I'd written, and I thought what should I call that one - I'll call it `Let Me Compose Myself.' That would be a good title."

Parton says she wasn't trying to show off by assembling an all-star cast.

"I really wanted these artists on to complement them and to complement the songs. I'm not just trying to stick somebody out there to say, `Hey, look who we got on this record.'"

A few are noticeably absent. Bob Dylan declined to do "Blowin' In the Wind," and Joni Mitchell was set to sing on her "Both Sides Now" until a family emergency kept her away (Collins, who had a hit with the song in 1968, and Rhonda Vincent join in). Parton contacted Sean and Julian Lennon about singing on their father's "Imagine," but both told her they wanted to focus on their own music - same with Jacob Dylan when asked to fill in for his dad on "Blowin' In the Wind."

Islam sang and played guitar on his "Where Do the Children Play," then decided against the vocal parts.

"He did do a vocal just for me that I'll keep for myself and that I'll always treasure," Parton says. "But he just felt that it was in the wrong key and that he wasn't really complementing it. And he said - probably to flatter me - he did love my version and said every time he came in it was more distracting than adding to it."

Parton focuses on folk and rock songs from the 1960s and '70s with a couple of exceptions: "Twelfth of Never," a tune she does with Urban, was a hit for Johnny Mathis in the 1950s; and "The Cruel War" is a ballad that dates to before the Civil War, though Peter, Paul and Mary recorded it in the 1960s.

With so many of the songs associated with the anti-war movement of the '60s, she worried people might get the wrong idea.

"I'm certainly not into any kind of political thing or protest. People who know me will know I've chosen these songs to really kind of uplift and to give hope, like they were written for at the time," she says.

Still, she says the songs speak to the times - both then and now - and she didn't want to shy away from them.

"I just felt it was good time to bring a lot of these songs back," she says. "We don't want to be at war, but of course we have to fight if we have to. We don't want to lose our children in war, but of course we do. So we write about it and sing about it, and it kind of helps us relieve our grief and express ourselves."

The '60s theme extends to her current tour, billed as the Vintage Tour.

She's performing a half-dozen songs from the new album (due out Oct. 11) as well as her own hits. She dresses in bell bottoms and headbands and pokes fun at the era, cracking, "We went from taking acid to taking antacid" and "We went from BYOB to AARP."

"It's really kind of fun for me to get to go back and relive those days again when you really can enjoy them," she says.

Parton, 59, grew up in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains, one of 12 children in a poor family. Her mother and father were both musical and taught her church hymns and mountain folk ballads.

After high school she moved to Nashville and found success as a songwriter. She had her first top 40 hit as a singer with "Dumb Blonde" in 1967, but her career took off when she teamed with singer Porter Wagoner that same year. The two recorded duets together through the 1970s.

Parton also began a hugely successful solo career in the '70s. Her hits, many of which she penned, ranged from the very country "Jolene" to ballads like "I Will Always Love You" and pop hits like "Here You Come Again."

Her fame took her to Hollywood where she starred in "9 to 5," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and "Steel Magnolias."

But radio programmers cooled to her new music in the 1990s, and by 1999 Parton figured she may as well do as she pleased musically. So she released "The Grass Is Blue" and won a Grammy for best bluegrass album in 2001. Its success put her on a creative roll that included the acoustic flavored "Little Sparrow" and "Halos & Horns."

With "Those Were the Days," she takes a break of sorts from her songwriting, which she calls her greatest love. While she didn't include any of her own material on the new album, she says she continues to write prolifically, including a bunch of songs for a Broadway production of "9 to 5."

"The people that really have followed me and that really do look closer and look underneath the big hair and big boobs and big mouth - the artificial look - they really know I'm a serious person about my work and am serious about my songwriting more than anything," she says. "It's the songs that brought me out of the Smokies. It's the songs that started it all."

[drock89]

I got the album early, so here are my short non-thought out reviews:

1. Those Were The Days
Very catchy. There is quite a bit of backup vocals--Dolly shines of course. This kind of reminds me of an old English bar song. In fact, they use some "bar" noises in the song. It's kind of Celtic sounding, but not really (does that make sense?).

2. Blowin in the Wind
Somewhat lyrically like "Stairway to Heaven" (the answer is in the wind). This is your typically bluegrass song. I love the harmonica in this. Dolly again shines. I won't say that anymore unless she is amazing (when isn't she) because I'm sure she is great on all these. This song has a nice beat too.

3. Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
Ohhhh, strings start this song off. Dolly kind of whisper-sings this song. The background consistantly accompanies her. The song is about learning about mistakes--makes references to soldiers.

4. Twelve of Never (With Keith Urban)
Keith sings backups and leads on the 2nd verse. He sounds good. The song is about everlasting love. It's an uptempo. I think anyone sounds good with Dolly.

5. Where Do the Children Play?
I don't like songs with children choirs, and there is a light additive of that. There is also an adult choir. Kind of a strange song - I don't get the lyrics but I'm not giving the lyrics my full attention on this one.

6. Me and Bobby McGee
I have never heard the original, but I'm loving this one. Obviously, there is a great touch of harmonica. Dolly delivers this vocally, as well. Kris sounds great also! Dolly really takes the end away

7. Crimson and Clover
Starts out with choir like backgrounds. This song is probably the most radio friendly--electric guitar and drum beats exceed the banjo. Whoever is doing the collaboration has a nice voice. I like the ending. This song is kind of repetitive though.

8. The Cruel War
Very sweet song about love. She sings both sides of an argument. This is a story song. It's somewhat like "Travelin' Soldier" in lyrical content.

9. Turn, Turn, Turn
I like this melody. This sounds like something that would be on "Halos and Horns", moreso than anything else on this record. The song is about how there is a time for everything.

10. If I Were A Carpenter (With Joe Nichols)
Joe starts this song off. This is a nice duet. These two sound wonderful together. The backgrounds make me think of a wedding party- with the bridesmaids singings with Dolly and the groomsmen singing with Joe.

11. Both Sides Now
This is an interestingly wrote songs. Somewhat of a depressing song, but it is very uptempo. It is about seeing both sides of love.

12. Imagine
More strings to open this song. A question song somewhat like Hello God and Raven Dove from "Halos and Horns". This reminds me of "What If" by Reba back in 98. A powerful song, with very powerful vocals from Dolly.

Overall, this album impresses me. It is not as bluegrass as "Halos and Horns". It is, in fact, completely different from all Dolly bluegrass albums. I like the collaborations. I like her song selection. I would recommend this to anyone interested. Atleast have a listen. I can't pick a favorite or standout--the record is well rounded and without picking each song apart, I need to hear the album more to make decisions.

[Zazie]

If this is the Both Sides Now written by Joni Mitchell, I think Dolly would do well with it -- it's about someone who has experienced both sides of love and now admits that, although she used to think she did, she really doesn't understand love. It shouldn't be depressing, but it does have reflective lyrics (which I know by heart and will never forget until Alzheimer's comes to get me).

If I Were a Carpenter, written and sung beautifully by Tim Hardin when I was in high school (and a former #2 country hit by Johnny Cash and June Carter), is an old-fashioned song with good lyrics. I look forward to hearing the duet. Nichols did very well with Rhonda Vincent in a duet on the Louvin Brothers tribute album, singing Cash on the Barrel Head (which Dolly has recorded also).

Turn, Turn, Turn has lyrics drawn from the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes. She ought to do well with this one, if she doesn't go over the top.

Some of the songs on this are old favorites, and some (Where Do the Children Play, Where Have All the Flowers Gone) are ones I learned to dislike when I was young, but I'm definitely looking forward to the album.

Thanks for the review, SGG!

[drock89]

Both Sides is what you think it is--it's not depressing like "God's Will" but kind of sad because of what you said. lol. If I Were is old fashioned. I'm too young to know any of these, but I definetly enjoy Dolly's takes.