Dolly Parton – Coat Of Many Colors/ My Tennessee Mountain Home/ Jolene
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Posted On May 1, 2007
These were Dolly Parton’s first masterpieces. Recorded over roughly four years, they projected the full force of her magnificently pure vocals and brilliantly observational songs. Unlike the bulk of early 1970s Nashville fare, her work addressed complex subjects directly, yet with simplicity and nuance, her flair for stark, gothic Appalachian numbers comparable to ancient folk ballads.
That said, given Music Row’s near-unanimous admiration of her work, she was hardly working outside Nashville’s mainstream, as Waylon or Willie were during this period. She also had the good fortune to be produced by RCA Nashville’s Bob Ferguson, whose earthy work enhanced the hits of Connie Smith and Charley Pride.
Coat Of Many Colors, while best defined by the 1971 hit single that named it, showcases Parton in varied contexts, from an unconventional tale of mother-daughter rivalry (“Travelin’ Man”) to the eloquent, richly lyrical ballad “My Blue Tears”. The four unreleased tracks are well-chosen, but the standout is her acoustic demo of “My Blue Tears”, which carries greater pathos than the album version.
The bittersweet of mix of personal vignettes, real-life character studies (“Dr. Robert F. Thomas”) and memories on My Tennessee Mountain Home yielded two landmark efforts: the title track and “In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)”. Her understatement permits “The Letter” to remain powerful today, free of the bathos that can wreck recitation numbers.
1974’s Jolene reflected continuing growth even amid the traumatic split with Porter Wagoner, her boss and mentor since 1967. Though Ferguson added no pop overtones, the stark, dramatic title song, a #1 country single, reached both the pop and adult contemporary charts. The album also contained what is likely her most enduring number, “I Will Always Love You”. The four well-chosen unreleased tracks include “Cracker Jack”, her beautifully crafted tale of a beloved dog.
Parton had veered sharply away from the material on these albums by the late 1970s. It’s telling that she’s come full circle in recent years, returning to the sort of bare-bones fare she executed so brilliantly on these albums.
