Continuing my Deep Dive into the discography of Linda Ronstadt…
I’m going to hop around in the chronology a little bit today to highlight a quartet of albums that found Ronstadt collaborating with other women.
Ronstadt has had a 50+ year friendship and creative partnership with two of the greats, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Early in her career, she had covered their songs and featured them on her records, and the three artists discussed recording a full album together.
Throwing back to the week of October 29, 1983, we find Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton topping the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Islands in the Stream.’ The duet spent two weeks at #1, and gave each of the country legends their second chart-topper on the Hot 100. (Bonus points to any commenter who can name the previous #1 for one or both artists).
‘Islands in the Stream’ was written by the Bee Gees as an R&B song but it got a pop country makeover when it landed with Rogers and Parton. The song was released on Rogers’ album Eyes That See in the Dark, on which every track was written by Barry Gibb (most with brother Maurice).
Getting back to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2022, we arrive at a musical legend whose excellence nobody can deny: Dolly Parton. Parton is the first female country artist inducted into the Hall.
Parton herself questioned whether she belonged in the Rock Hall and initially declined the nomination, stating that she wasn’t “worthy” of the honor. That’s not how the admission process works, however, so she made it on the ballot whether she wanted to or not. Eventually she embraced the honor and performed, with typical charm and humility, at the induction ceremony.
The final song I’ll feature from the upcoming Dolly Parton anthology series Heartstrings is ‘JJ Sneed,’ a nice counterpart to ‘Jolene.’
While ‘Jolene’ depicted a woman deathly afraid that a temptress would steal away her man, ‘JJ Sneed’ gives us a narrator who sees her man tempted by another woman and responds by shooting him dead. I guess that’s… progress?
Our next song from the upcoming Dolly Parton anthology series Heartstrings is ‘Down From Dover,’ which first appeared on the 1970 album The Fairest of Them All.
While the album performed well both commercially and critically, this song proved controversial. It tells the story of an unwed pregnant waiting in vain for the father of her baby to return to her from Dover. Things don’t end well.
Meet Me In Montauk 