Trio

Honestly comes out as boring to me. It’s an honest 5/10 to me.

I recently heard the phrase that country is the “white mans blues”. This album is a pretty good example of that being true lol. It’s fine for country music, but it’s always been one of my least favorite genres. 2.5/5.

There's no other way to start this than by acknowledging that the world lost such a kind soul in Dolly Parton last month. She passed away while I was on vacation. I paused the album generator before I went away, which is why I didn't get this sooner after I received Coat of Many Colors early last year. Thankfully, this came not much later, and it is a rather notable entry in Dolly's discography, for it is her first collaboration with two of her singer-songwriter contemporaries, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt.

Now, all three were longtime friends and admirers of one another. In fact, the prospect of Dolly, Emmylou and Linda recording an album together had been around since the mid-1970s, though scheduling and label conflicts hampered such an earlier release. Eventually, they reconvened in 1986 and finally worked out that collaborative album, titled Trio, which would become a point of career revitalization for each of them. How does it hold up all these decades later?

Well, I do consider this a very pleasant country affair, where the vocal harmonies not being uniform actually works to distinguish each woman's timbre, giving a sense of both unity and distinctive identity. Of course, each of them took turns singing lead vocals on different songs, but it works out for the whole. The warm, country ambience was never something I had to worry about with this record.

Instead, my concern would be how involved the ladies were in songwriting. Unfortunately, I really only got a sense of Dolly's perspective with her two contributions, "The Pain of Loving You" and "Wildflowers", because the rest are covers. Granted, they are well-done covers, especially with the vocal harmonies proving vital for the Teddy Bears' "To Know Him is to Love Him", and I was into the sweet, subtle arrangement Emmylou Harris had a hand in for the traditional "Farther Along". But I do feel like I am missing out on Emmylou and Linda's perspectives, which is a shame because I started to get a sense of Emmylou from "Boulder to Birmingham", and Linda made an appearance on Paul Simon's Graceland, yet she is the one person in this trio who doesn't have a solo album in the 1001 Albums books. I feel that is a bit of an oversight.

At the end of the day, I still really liked Trio. I'm glad Dolly, Emmylou, and Linda were able to get together for a follow-up record. If anything, it's cool to see that they were spiritually succeeded by other female country singer-songwriter supergroups like The Pistol Annies and The Highwomen. I feel that's a nice legacy to leave behind. Rest in peace, Dolly.

Simple and sweet. All three sound great. The album cover is cute but I wish it was centred slightly differently.

Last two tracks have become quite sad with Dolly’s passing, but this was maybe the best thing for a send off. It didn’t feel real when I saw the news. She was sort of how some people saw the queen of England in my head; that she’d just be around forever. Rest in peace <3

Когда первый трек определяет все настроение альбома и дальше рассчитывать не на что. Но на самом деле тут все было понятно на уровне обложки.

RIP Dolly. Country music isn’t really my thing, but I love her.

RIP Dolly, a truly unique and admirable person. I was not so familiar with her music, so this is exactly what I wanted to listen to today.

It's very pleasant, if a bit stuck in traditionalkst country routes. Sounds lovely either way.

I've been aware of this album for a while now and have been meaning to listen to it but just never got around to it. It is absolutely gorgeous. Those harmonies alone, I mean come on. Doing research it looks like they only did one other album together after this. I wish they did more, this is a marvelous super group. There wasn't a single song I disliked. Man I have a soft spot for good country.

I only wish I could listen to this without crying. The last track especially broke my heart. RIP Dolly, the entire world misses you. To know her was to love her.

Vale Dolly Parton, we knew you well.
This is sweet, but ultimately not really in my wheelhouse. Lovely interplay between 3 very good voices, the music is relatively pedestrian (like a lot of country, at least to me).

Don't want slain anyone right after she dies - but DAMN this is a boring album

I’d also rather gauge my ears out than listen to I’ve had enough again.

Dolly Parton passed away yesterday, may she rest in peace. I am not familiar with other two people on this collaboration, however ot was quite enjoyable listen, Dolly sounds great as always. Some really nice moments and couple of really good tracks, however most of it felt fairly bland so probably strong 3 stars, at least 3.5 RYM

Good but not exceptional

Wow, surreal timing. This album coming the day after Dolly Parton passed. She was an actual treasure of a human being. This album was pretty good too.

Getting this today of all days, the code behind this list is fucking out to get me. If the Rocky Horror soundtrack is somehow on this list I don't know if I could take it.

Honestly probably the best time to listen to an album full of sad ballads.

Rip Dolly, I will always love you xx

When I heard Dolly Parton had died, I headed straight to YouTube to watch clips of her with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt from Dolly’s 1970s TV show. This album is a little slicker than those performances but their voices still sound so beautiful together, and Farther Along made me go a bit misty eyed. The world is just generally a sadder place without Dolly.

Feel like the name of the game on this one is the harmonies between Dolly, Linda, and Emmylou.

Not everything on this album is for me (Some of the more ballady stuff is a little slow for my tastes, and there's at least one song - Telling Me Lies - that trades out country for a more 80's pop ballad sound that I really don't care for). But when this album is hitting, it is HITTING.

Songs like The Pain of Loving You, Rosewood Casket, and Wildflowers are fantastic.

Trying to be objective given the circumstances of generating this album is tough, but I did give the previous Dolly album I got (Coat of Many Colors) a four as well months ago. So I don't think anything external is influencing my score here. It's just a really good record.

All three of their voices are phenomenal.

Rest in peace legend.

Dolly Parton died yesterday. She was a wonderful musician, and an even better human. The world needs more like her. She will be sorely missed.

I love classic country, and I love it even more when it's thick with female vocal harmony. It's hard to top that combination for me, unless you're talking about The Chicks. All three of these women have lovely voices, and they blend them together so well. Anyway, this was great and I'll be adding it to my library

⭐⭐⭐.75

Pretty cozy.

Rest in peace Dolly Parton.