The origins of Trio (Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris) The Dolly Parton Show, 1977

 

The Sweetest Gift

In this post  we feature three songs Trio performed for a Dolly Parton special aired in April 1977. Oddly, these three songs were never released on a  record  by  Trio.

The Origins of Trio

This ad hoc trio of female singers emerged out of the friendship between country/rock singers Linda Ronstadt (born in Arizona) and Emmylou Harris (who was a military brat from Alabama).  They both agreed that Dolly Parton was their favorite female singer.  Dolly was in their mind the real thing.  Dolly is an  actual Tennessee mountain girl whose voice still carries those roots, despite her glitzy showbiz ways.

 The first time they sang together privately was  the early 1970s when the three ladies got together one night at Harris’s  residence in Los Angeles. That evening, they found their sound instantly by singing classic country songs by the acts like Carter Family.

“I called Linda and said, ‘Dolly’s coming over to my house,’” Harris says. “So she got in her little sports car and zipped over. We were delighted to meet each other. It was great. But of course, we were going to sing.”

“I didn’t really know all they knew because I was just getting to know them,” Parton says. “It was just one of those things where you’re like, ‘Oh! What is that sound?’ Even though you know it’s coming out of you, it was just such an amazing thing.”

“It’s a wonderful feeling to just jump into these other voices that you love so much,” Harris says. “The three voices create a fourth voice in a way. … That was another part of the joy. It wasn’t work. You just opened your mouth and sang. After we figured out what songs we wanted to sing, who was going to sing which part, it was just a matter of getting the best version of it in the studio.” (Quotations from ´Trio Brings out the Best in Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt by Lauren Tingle.)

Although it was clear there was something special in the combination, the trio had trouble making it work professionally. Mainly, their busy solo schedules made it hard for them to devote the six months or more that it would take to make and promote an album or do a tour. However, they did manage to get together for a few songs on various solo albums by each of the ladies. 

The ladies  managed to  get together publicly for the first time with an amazing appearance on Dolly Parton´s TV show in 1977. The three videos presented here come from that TV show. They perfectly capture the Trio doing the old time country songs that they do best. 

  When they did together to finally make an album they found it hard to reproduce the simple spontaneity that one gets singing old country songs in a living room. The first attempt at recording a whole album was aborted, and they did not try again til the 1986, when they finally made a full album and brought it successfully to market in 1987. That album was a major commercial success selling four million copies. Their second album came years later in 1999 and actually sat in the can for four years, waiting for a time that they could all promote it, it was a little less successful.  Their final album is  a 2016 box set which collects rarities, and the contents of the two studio albums. The group can not sing anymore because Linda Ronstadt lost most of her singing voice due to Parkinson´s disease.

I was surprised that these three songs were not included on their box set. ¨The Sweetest Gift¨ is a special favorite of mine.  Emmylou Harris also sang backing vocals on a solo version of this by Linda Ronstadt and on a version of the same song recorded by the Judds.  

Applejacks

Bury Me Beneath The Willow Tree

Trio Brings out the Best in Dolly Parton by Lauren Tingle.
Written by J.C.Bernhardt, June 2020.