Product Description

Despite Dolly Parton's status as a bona fide country legend, it's surprising to see a singer who's journeyed to the heights of crossover mainstream pop putting out a hardcore bluegrass album on an independent label. But that's just the kind of left hook that attests to Parton's continuing artistic viability. Parton's accompanied by some of the finest bluegrass musicians in the world, including dobro wizard Jerry Douglas, mandolinist Sam Bush, and ace fiddler Stuart Duncan, all of whom have successful solo careers. To her credit, Parton plays it entirely straight here, without a hint of crossover; no drums, no electric instruments, just pure bluegrass matched by the purity of the marvel that is Dolly's crystalline voice. Hot picking naturally abounds, all in support of Parton's highly effective, no-frills delivery of bluegrass classics and her own compositions.

Track Listing

1. Travellin' Prayer
2. Cash On The Barrelhead
3. Few Old Memories
4. I'm Gonna Sleep With One Eye Open
5. Steady As The Rain
6. I Still Miss Someone
7. Endless Stream Of Tears
8. Silver Dagger
9. Train Train
10. I Wonder Where You Are Tonight
11. Will He Be Waiting For Me
12. Grass Is Blue
13. I Am Ready

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14869 in Music
• Released on: 1999-11-01
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Although better-known for big-haired country hits, Dolly Parton makes a welcome return to her roots for The Grass Is Blue. Bluegrass is the place to be for country acts in the late nineties, as evidenced by The Mountain, Steve Earle's collaboration with The Del McCoury Band--and Parton wears her East Tennessee background proudly on her sleeve for this selection. As well as a couple of original compositions ("Will He Be Waiting For Me" and "The Grass Is Blue"), Dolly tackles the Louvin Brothers classic "Cash On The Barrelhead", the traditional "Silver Dagger", and Johnny Cash's immortal "I Still Miss Someone"--with the traditional bluegrass backing of mandolin, fiddle, guitar and banjo emphasising her strong singing voice to perfection throughout. Concluding with a moving acapella, gospel-style "I Am Ready", this album offers conclusive and enjoyable proof that there is a lot, lot more to Dolly Parton than just the larger-than-life figure who wrote Whitney Houston's biggest hit ("I Will Always Love You"). --Patrick Humphries

Customer Reviews

Love it!
I really wasn't too sure what to expect from this, handed to me by a friend, but it's totally got me! I've listened to this album an embarrassing amount of times, with equal pleasure.... Genuine, delightfully unironic, heartfelt, damn good get-you-going music and an excellent soundtrack to pretty much any hardship one might encounter in life (especially the broken heart variety). Dolly will see you through! Solid quality music-wise, of course.

Dolly's first bluegrass album
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.

REAL MUSIC FROM THE HEART
I'm not familiar with bluegrass and cannot really add much to the existing reviews. All I can say is, this is a great album that I enjoy listening to over & over. My favourites are the poignant I Still Miss Someone, the buoyant Will He Be Waiting For Me and the understated and poetic The Grass Is Blue. This is so much better than most contemporary country/MoR music that you hear on the radio these days. I was expecting similar stuff to what she did with Porter Wagoner way back in the early 70s, but this album's very different and unique. And she looks so gorgeous on the cover.