To celebrate the 35th anniversary of her debut album, Sugar Hill Records have put together an album of both leading and up-coming female artists covering the songs of Dolly Parton. Not being familiar with her much of her work other than the excellent recent bluegrass albums and the more obvious classic tracks, this looked like an interesting way to hear more of her material, and one listen to this disc is all it takes to realise that underneath the media hype and superstar persona, Dolly Parton is a hugely talented songwriter and storyteller. 
Amongst the artists contributing are Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris, Kasey Chamber and Allison Moorer, but regardless of the artist the performing the track, the quality of the source material always shines through.
Norah Jones’s ‘The Grass is Blue’ has had all the traces of bluegrass removed, and it sounds excellent as a gentle ballad, Alison Krauss’s ‘9 to 5’ is equally transformed, it’s half the original speed, and now has a relaxed honky-tonk feel. It’d be easy to highlight many of the songs here, but there are three songs that really stand out; Joan Osborne’s version of ‘Do I Ever Cross Your Mind’ is the best track on the album, a beautifully understated performance of a strong song, ‘Jolene’ is one of the better known songs on the disc, a lyrically excellent track of female jealousy and helplessness, and the version here by Mindy Smith feels contemporary but is similar to the original, and finally the Shania Twain/Alison Krauss & Union Station cover of ‘Coat of Many Colours’ is a surprising success that sounds excellent.
Dolly’s recent bluegrass albums have brought her recognition with many people who would have normally shied away from anything ‘Dolly’ (myself included), this collection looks likely to continue this trend and will undoubtedly bring her considerable writing skills to the attention of an audience she wouldn’t normally reach.

£13.49