For
Rose "Payola" Nylund. I saluted To Know Him Is To Love Him in May, 2010. This is what I said:
8. MILESTONE TOP TEN CHART: The 'female Highwayman' CD finally saw the light of day 23 years ago this week (after a decade of on again, off again starts). To Know Him Is To Love Him by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt was #1 and continued the 50s revival on the country charts during the second half of the 1980s.
Before they decided to work together, Harris and Ronstadt collaborated on The Sweetest Gift (#12 in 1976). Two years later, Harris made a major hit out of the Parton tune, To Daddy (#3). It was during this time they wanted to record an album's worth of material. However, in 1977, Harris was on the Warner Bros. label, Parton was on RCA, and Ronstadt was on Asylum. NONE of the labels budged, so they abandoned the project. However, four songs appeared on four different albums: Mister Sandman, Evangeline, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, and My Blue Tears (none of them appearing on the 1987 CD).
1986 was a pivotal year. First, the three women decided to start recording the Trio CD on Parton's 40th birthday (in January). Second, Parton scored her last major hit on RCA (Tie Our Love In A Double Knot-#17) and signed with Columbia Records. Harris and Ronstadt were still with Warner and Asylum, respectively.
Before the first Trio single was released, Ronstadt scored a major pop hit with James Ingram called Somewhere Out There (#2). While that single was flying high on the pop charts, Parton, Harris, and Ronstadt made their debut with To Know Him Is To Love Him (a #1 pop hit for The Teddy Bears in 1958, which succeeded Conway Twitty's It's Only Make Believe, which was a top ten for Ronnie McDowell in 1988-#8 (with background vocals by Twitty himself)).
Getting back to the Trio CD, it was #1 on the country albums chart for five weeks while claiming the #6 position on the Billboard 200 charts. It sold over a million copies. It yielded three more top tens:
1. Telling Me Lies-1987-#3
2. Those Memories Of You-1987-#5
3. Wildflowers-1988-#6
To Know Him won the first C.M.A. Vocal Event of the Year (in 1988) and a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. Twelve years later, Trio II emerged. This is what the chart looked like back then:
BILLBOARD TOP TEN FOR WEEK ENDING MAY 16, 1987:
1. TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM-DOLLY PARTON, EMMYLOU HARRIS, AND LINDA RONSTADT-WARNER BROS.
2. Can't Stop My Heart From Loving You-the O'Kanes-Columbia
3. It Takes A Little Rain To Make Love Grow-the Oak Ridge Boys-MCA
4. Julia-Conway Twitty-MCA
5. I Will Be There-Dan Seals-EMI America
6. Domestic Life-John Conlee-Columbia
7. Girls Ride Horses Too-Judy Rodman-MTM
8. Too Many Rivers-the Forester Sisters-Warner Bros.
9. Plain Brown Wrapper-Gary Morris-Warner Bros.
10. Til I'm Too Old To Die Young-Moe Bandy-MCA
P.S.: If you were to look at pages 149 and 150 in the Random Video of the Day thread, I saluted ALL four Trio singles. Enjoy!
