Customer Reviews

Grass Is Blue

5 star:		(120)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Dolly Parton's 61st full-length album captures the freshness and vibrancy of the mountain music known as bluegrass. "The Grass is Blue" is a superb collection of swift, rambunctious tunes and soft, gentle melodies meshed together by genius instrumentation and Dolly's exquisite vocal style. From the rowdy opening cover of Billy Joel's "Travelin' Prayer" to the elegant a capella closing of "I'm Ready," the disc offers 13 delectable slices of heaven. Gathered together are the premiere artists of the genre - top pickers Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush and Stuart Duncan to name a few plus the harmonies of Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless and others - with one of America's true musical treasures belting out some sorrowful "high lonesome sound." Other pick tracks include the steamrolling "Train, Train," a mournful "Silver Dagger," the humorous "I'm Gonna Sleep With One Eye Open" and Dolly originals "Will He Be Waiting For Me," "Steady as the Rain" and the title cut. "The Grass is Blue," released on Sugar Hill Records and Dolly's own Blue Eye Records, is a true gift for her fans and enough to transport even a hard core rock fanatic into bliss in the hills of Kentucky.

I do not know what roads Dolly had to travel to get her back to her bluegrass musical home - but I am sure glad that she got there. This is Dolly's best piece of work since her collaboration with Linda Rondstadt and Emmylou Harris on Trio.

This is a wonderful, wonderful piece of work. I have listened to Dolly through the years and have always admired her talent and her personality. It has saddened me to see Dolly's career pushed down the rather tired formulaic Nashville path. It appears a return to blue grass was an excellent way of taking a nice long detour around Nashville.

I am not much of a blue grass listener but the Grass is Blue transcends confinement to any one genre of music. The arrangements are wonderful. They are free of the typicallly overdone wall of sound Nashville glitz that has transformed country music from its distinct roots into a slightly down home version of standard American pop music.

The back-up musicians and singers are perfect and complement Doly in fine fashion. In a strange way - The Grass is Blue is to Dolly Parton what Supernaural is to Santanna. Its a return to their artisitic roots - but with a stunning freshness that leaves the listener yearning for more of the same.

All the tracks on this CD are worth listening to. Cash on the Barrelhead stands out as does Train, Train. The closing track, I Am Ready find Dolly at her most soulful. It is sung as a prayer and has a mournful, yet joyous quality, that Dolly's voice renders perfectly.

This is one of the great CDs. You do not have to like or have any knowledge of bluegrass musc to love this CD.

Let me start by saying that I don't normally like bluegrass, country or Dolly even if I can appreciate the artistry behind them. That said, I must also say that this album is easily one of the best of 1999. I fell in love with the songs, lyrically and muscially. The music was perfectly performed and Ms. Parton's voice was the perfect compliment. She has mastered the art of singing and telling stories. She packs emotion into her voice without effort and brings the songs to life. I actually got teary eyed during what I feel is the best song on the album, "Silver Dagger", which takes the voice of a young woman telling her beloved that she can't marry him and she will sleep alone forever because of her mother's warnings. There's a really good mix of love songs and stories. A sense of humor also flits through the album. Parton even pulls a perfect reversal of the old "he done me wrong" song, singing in the voice of a woman who left a man and later realizes he was the one and is on her way back to him, wondering if he has waited for her. Do yourself a favor and buy this album. Don't think of it as a bluegrass album or a country album or as another Dolly Parton album. Think of it as the opportunity to hear a masterwork, the apex of someone's career. It is truly a wonderful collection of songs that will catch both your mind and your heart up with their rhythm and voice. Congrats Ms. Parton, you've won a new fan.

And I never thought I would go for bluegrass, always conjuring up images of "The Beverly Hillbillies" in my mind. Leave it to Dolly to educate me. This music is extraordinary: very intricate all-stringed arrangements headed off by Parton's lovely, shimmering vocals. The lyrics are pretty much standard, straight-on country, but the singer is so heart-felt, she invests them with so many colors and nuances, she might as well be performing Shakespeare. Thanks, Dolly, for a truly GREAT CD!

When a friend's e-mail said, "You have to get the new Dolly Parton album," I wrote back, "I don't see how, in 1999, a Dolly Parton album could anything but beside the point." Well, I'll take that big plate of crow I have to eat fried, please. This is astonishingly good. Every note from everyone is completely right, utterly heartfelt. All made by humans, all in real time on real instruments. Name another album you can say that about in the last five years. And I fear that "Silver Dagger" will haunt my days and nights for eternity. Dolly is a national treasure!

Although Dolly had recorded the occasional song in a bluegrass style before, I'd never have expected her to do a whole bluegrsass album.

With backing vocals by the three finest bluegrass ladies (Claire Lynch, Alison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent) and a stellar cast of bluegrass musicians (Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin, Bryan Sutton on guitar, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Barry Bales on bass and Jum Mills on banjo), the album is one of the best Dolly has ever recorded.

The songs include covers from a variety of sources, including Billy Joel (Travelin' prayer), Louvin brothers (Cash on the barrelhead), Hazel Dickens - another fine bluegrass singer (A few old memories), Lester Flatt (I'm gonna sleep with one eye open), Johnny Cash (I still miss someone) and traditional folk (Silver dagger).

Dolly's own songs are included - some old (Steady as the rain, first recorded by her sister Stella) and Will he be waiting for me (originally recorded by Dolly on her Touch your woman album) - and some new, including the title track.

The tempo of the album is generally upbeat. Much credit is given to the O brother soundtrack for the current popularity of bluegrass, but it's popularity had already risen significantly as a result of this excellent album.

AS A TRUE DOLLY PARTON FAN, AND ALSO A BLUEGRASS MUSIC FAN. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A WISH TO HAVE SONGS DONE BY MISS DOLLY IN BLUEGRASS FORM. I HAVE ENJOYED MOST ALL OF THE MUSIC SHE HAS DONE IN HER CARREER, BUT CAN SAY THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT MY FAVORITE. THE TEAMING OF HER VOICE WITH THE WONDERFUL HARMONIES, AND MUSICIANSHIP, OF THESE OTHER (GREAT IN THERE OWN RESPECTS) ARTISTS, WAS A DREAM COME TRUE. I PURCHASED THIS ON THE RELEASE DATE, AND HAVE LISTENED TO IT ALMOST EVERY DAY SINCE. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TO ANY DOLLY FAN, OR BLUEGRASS FAN LOOKING FOR GREAT MUSIC.

Coming from someone whose musical preferences run the gamut, from Mariah Carey to Portishead to the Cardigans and back to Geri Haliwell, these words hold quite a bit of meaning. I had read reviews of the album which touted it as the "best of her career" and, of course, was skeptical. I can say with complete honesty that this Bluegrass was something I was unfamiliar with, but something I have come to greatly appreciate. The music is fresh and live, different from any mainstream pop we hear nowadays, and is well-deserving of a listen by anyone with an ear for music, whether they are a city boy (Bronx, NY here) or not. Good music has a way of transcending boundaries, and this is one of those discs.

Dolly surprised everyone with this album. Just recently Dolly had been let go as a result of Decca's closure, and she wasnt signed to MCA like many of the old Decca artists were, so Dolly decided to go independant. This is the best bluegrass cd ever. Dolly does a lot of old favorites and some new ones. From the album starter Traveling Prayer to the album's accapella closer, I Am Ready, Dolly covers a lot of ground here. Highlights include A Few Old Memories, Silver Dagger, Endless Stream of Tears, Cash on the Barrelhead, my favorite though is Traveling Prayer. You gotta get this one, be amazed like the rest of us. This is pure gold.

First of all, Miss Dolly is at her best in this down-home-style, unplugged situation. Her voice can still bring a tear to this old man's eye.

Secondly, she has surrounded herself with some of the best pickers I've heard in years. From the opening riff, which will grab you if you're blue at all, to the end, which is a gospel piece (I Am Ready) performed a capella, she covers just about every bluegrass taste.

Two of my personal favorites are "Cash on the Barrelhead" and "Silver Dagger." The former, a jumped-up version of as good a Bluegrass Boogie as I, or anyone else, have ever heard. The latter, a soulful ballad of a girl being wooed by a traveling gigolo, and her mother's determination not to let the same thing happen to her daughter that happened to her.

Dolly covers some old standards like, "A Few Old Memories," "I Still Miss Someone, "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight," etc., as only she can. You know the song's real, 'cause you can feel the hills. "Train, Train" rocks with the best of them. I wasn't crazy about the title track, "The Grass Is Blue" but, like a few other things we have all known in this life, it might not all be great, but ain't none of it bad.

One more word about the pickers: I wish there could have been a little more mandolin, here, but you don't lose a thing. I just wish I could find an album with these guys on it! The fiddle was as soulful as any you've ever heard. The mandolin, though not as pronounced, was expertly done, leaving you wanting more. The banjo was everything you'd want to hear. The bass provided just the perfect back beat to every piece; couldn't have been any more tastful or better. The dobro...oh, the dobro! I've not ever, I don't think, heard any better an artist on this instrument, and that goes back over 40 years.

All in all, this CD made this old Kentucky hill boy's heart skip a beat. Five stars just ain't enough for Miss Dolly, in this situation, nor are they enough for her band, the sharpest thing to come along since Gillette razor blades. BUY IT!