SACD Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris – Trio

Trio as a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series, mastered to DSD from the original master tape: Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris in eleven songs – from “The Pain Of Loving You” to “Farther Along”.

Three voices and a long-awaited album

Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris had wanted to record together back in the 1970s, but different labels and crowded schedules kept the idea from becoming an album. When Trio finally appeared in 1987, singing together was already familiar territory – the album grew out of a bond that went far beyond a conveniently arranged studio date.

George Massenburg handled both production and engineering, with sessions during 1986 at The Complex and Ocean Way in Los Angeles and at Woodland in Nashville. Three highly individual singers meet a production whose central task is the relationship between their voices: a melody needs a lead, while the other lines must stay both audible and connected.

From Jimmie Rodgers to Kate McGarrigle

The eleven songs reach across generations of American songwriting: Jimmie Rodgers’ “Hobo’s Meditation” sits next to Parton’s “Wildflowers” and Kate McGarrigle’s “I’ve Had Enough”, and Linda Thompson and Betsy Cook wrote “Telling Me Lies”. Even this small selection shows a shared sense of which stories the three could tell together.

“To Know Him Is To Love Him” brings Phil Spector’s song into this setting, “Rosewood Casket” reaches into Parton’s own family – the traditional song is credited with an arrangement by her mother, Avie Lee Parton – and “Farther Along” closes the album. Follow these connections and you’ll discover the whole programme, far beyond its best-known track.

The musicians behind the voices

The instrumental cast is just as carefully chosen: David Lindley, Albert Lee, Steve Fishell and Herb Pedersen bring different stringed instruments, Bill Payne plays keyboards, and Ry Cooder adds tremolo guitar to “To Know Him Is To Love Him” – a whole palette of acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin and steel guitar.

To follow the vocal interplay, listen to the moment a single line opens into a shared entry, and notice when an instrument fills a gap and when it leaves space. The singers never have to give up their individual identities – the movement between a recognisable solo voice and three-part singing is the heart of this album.

The hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions

CAPR 005 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series. According to the publisher, it was mastered to DSD from the original master tape. The publisher also recalls five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and the Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the eleven songs of the original album.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series

Also in another edition: Trio

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.