Disco de Dolly Parton: “The Grass Is Blue”

I do not know what roads Dolly had to travel to get her back to her bluegrass musical home - but I am sure glad that she got there. This is Dolly's best piece of work since her collaboration with Linda Rondstadt and Emmylou Harris on Trio.

This is a wonderful, wonderful piece of work. I have listened to Dolly through the years and have always admired her talent and her personality. It has saddened me to see Dolly's career pushed down the rather tired formulaic Nashville path. It appears a return to blue grass was an excellent way of taking a nice long detour around Nashville.

I am not much of a blue grass listener but the Grass is Blue transcends confinement to any one genre of music. The arrangements are wonderful. They are free of the typicallly overdone wall of sound Nashville glitz that has transformed country music from its distinct roots into a slightly down home version of standard American pop music.

The back-up musicians and singers are perfect and complement Doly in fine fashion. In a strange way - The Grass is Blue is to Dolly Parton what Supernaural is to Santanna. Its a return to their artisitic roots - but with a stunning freshness that leaves the listener yearning for more of the same.

All the tracks on this CD are worth listening to. Cash on the Barrelhead stands out as does Train, Train. The closing track, I Am Ready find Dolly at her most soulful. It is sung as a prayer and has a mournful, yet joyous quality, that Dolly's voice renders perfectly.

This is one of the great CDs. You do not have to like or have any knowledge of bluegrass musc to love this CD.

And I never thought I would go for bluegrass, always conjuring up images of "The Beverly Hillbillies" in my mind. Leave it to Dolly to educate me. This music is extraordinary: very intricate all-stringed arrangements headed off by Parton's lovely, shimmering vocals. The lyrics are pretty much standard, straight-on country, but the singer is so heart-felt, she invests them with so many colors and nuances, she might as well be performing Shakespeare. Thanks, Dolly, for a truly GREAT CD!

Although Dolly had recorded the occasional song in a bluegrass style before, I'd never have expected her to do a whole bluegrsass album.

With backing vocals by the three finest bluegrass ladies (Claire Lynch, Alison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent) and a stellar cast of bluegrass musicians (Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin, Bryan Sutton on guitar, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Barry Bales on bass and Jum Mills on banjo), the album is one of the best Dolly has ever recorded.

The songs include covers from a variety of sources, including Billy Joel (Travelin' prayer), Louvin brothers (Cash on the barrelhead), Hazel Dickens - another fine bluegrass singer (A few old memories), Lester Flatt (I'm gonna sleep with one eye open), Johnny Cash (I still miss someone) and traditional folk (Silver dagger).

Dolly's own songs are included - some old (Steady as the rain, first recorded by her sister Stella) and Will he be waiting for me (originally recorded by Dolly on her Touch your woman album) - and some new, including the title track.

The tempo of the album is generally upbeat. Much credit is given to the O brother soundtrack for the current popularity of bluegrass, but it's popularity had already risen significantly as a result of this excellent album.

Coming from someone whose musical preferences run the gamut, from Mariah Carey to Portishead to the Cardigans and back to Geri Haliwell, these words hold quite a bit of meaning. I had read reviews of the album which touted it as the "best of her career" and, of course, was skeptical. I can say with complete honesty that this Bluegrass was something I was unfamiliar with, but something I have come to greatly appreciate. The music is fresh and live, different from any mainstream pop we hear nowadays, and is well-deserving of a listen by anyone with an ear for music, whether they are a city boy (Bronx, NY here) or not. Good music has a way of transcending boundaries, and this is one of those discs.

First of all, Miss Dolly is at her best in this down-home-style, unplugged situation. Her voice can still bring a tear to this old man's eye.

Secondly, she has surrounded herself with some of the best pickers I've heard in years. From the opening riff, which will grab you if you're blue at all, to the end, which is a gospel piece (I Am Ready) performed a capella, she covers just about every bluegrass taste.

Two of my personal favorites are "Cash on the Barrelhead" and "Silver Dagger." The former, a jumped-up version of as good a Bluegrass Boogie as I, or anyone else, have ever heard. The latter, a soulful ballad of a girl being wooed by a traveling gigolo, and her mother's determination not to let the same thing happen to her daughter that happened to her.

Dolly covers some old standards like, "A Few Old Memories," "I Still Miss Someone, "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight," etc., as only she can. You know the song's real, 'cause you can feel the hills. "Train, Train" rocks with the best of them. I wasn't crazy about the title track, "The Grass Is Blue" but, like a few other things we have all known in this life, it might not all be great, but ain't none of it bad.

One more word about the pickers: I wish there could have been a little more mandolin, here, but you don't lose a thing. I just wish I could find an album with these guys on it! The fiddle was as soulful as any you've ever heard. The mandolin, though not as pronounced, was expertly done, leaving you wanting more. The banjo was everything you'd want to hear. The bass provided just the perfect back beat to every piece; couldn't have been any more tastful or better. The dobro...oh, the dobro! I've not ever, I don't think, heard any better an artist on this instrument, and that goes back over 40 years.

All in all, this CD made this old Kentucky hill boy's heart skip a beat. Five stars just ain't enough for Miss Dolly, in this situation, nor are they enough for her band, the sharpest thing to come along since Gillette razor blades. BUY IT!