Customer Reviews

Skeeter Davis sings Buddy Holly/ Skeeter sings Dolly

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This CD pairs two tribute albums recorded by Skeeter, one to Buddy Holly (recorded in 1967) and one to Dolly (recorded in 1972, except one track recorded in 1967).

The selection of Buddy Holly songs was fairly predictable. The least famous song here is I'm looking for someone to love. The other songs are world-famous, except perhaps Early is the morning. If you want to be really critical, you could say that Skeeter's versions lack the energy of Buddy's orginals, but I just think that Skeeter was aiming at a different market (country rather than rock'n'roll), and I find Skeeter's versions very enjoyable.

In any case, the real reason for buying this is the Dolly tribute. What makes this album extraordinary is that Dolly hadn't yet established herself as a solo singer in 1972. Skeeter, the established big name, was paying tribute to an up-and-coming singer yet to really hit big. Of course, there are plenty of people (like me) who think that Dolly's best years were the early seventies, and Skeeter was clearly on to something.

So, the selection of Dolly songs (unlike the Buddy songs) looks anything but obvious, especially as Dolly's most famous song up to that point (Coat of many colors) is not among the songs that Skeeter chose to record. The songs that are here include Fuel to the flame (a song from Dolly's Monument period, which Skeeter recorded in 1967 and had a top ten country hit with), Joshua (Dolly's first #1 record) and many other interesting songs from Dolly's early years, some of which Dolly recorded solo, but others were Dolly and Porter duets.

30 years later, this is still the only Dolly tribute album ever recorded (though Irish singer Margo O'Donnell came close with an album of mostly Dolly songs), and is therefore something of a Dolly collector's item. More recently, a various artists tribute (Just because I'm a woman) has been released, but Skeeter remains the only individual artist to record an entire album of Dolly's songs.

At last there is someone who realises that there is really good stuff out there that needs to be captured on CD. This is a CD compilation of two tribute albums done by the great Skeeter Davis; one to Dolly Parton and the other to Buddy Holly. There are 22 songs on this 'gem' and the outstanding ones are; the gospel tinged "Early In The Morning", the ever-sweet "True Love Ways", "It's So Easy", "It Dosen't Matter Anymore" (my favourite) and "Oh Boy"

Favourites from the Dolly half are "Joshua", the engaging "Gypsy, Joe and Me", "Just The Way I Am", and a song way ahead of it's time in terms of lyrics, "Down From Dover". This CD is a far cry from all the others that just repeat songs that you've heard already. I highly recommend this CD to all and I am sure that after you've heard it that you too will recommend it to others.

Although the CD is quite good, Skeeter's versions of some of Buddy's songs are rather unusual. I think her versions of Dolly's songs are better. However, on the whole, the CD is pleasant to listen to.

(THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS FOR THE "SKEETER SINGS DOLLY" CD ONLY)...In 1972 Skeeter Davis (mostly known for her 1963 "The End of The World" single) went into Nashville's RCA Sound Studio to cut this tribute album in honor of Dolly Parton. This marks the only time that an artist has recorded an entire record of Dolly-penned songs, although in 2003 a tribute album was released featuring over a dozen female singers performing Dolly's music. When asked about the "Skeeter Sings Dolly" record, Skeeter replied, "it's almost like these songs were written for me personally by Dolly. I have always felt a connection to her music". The album, which is long out-of-print, features 10 songs and made it to #45 on the country Billboard charts, something of a rare occurence for Skeeter as most of her late '60's/early '70's albums never even charted. The album features some of Dolly's best songs before 1972, with some of them being previous hits for Dolly or for Dolly and Porter, or were simply Dolly album cuts. The tracks include "Fuel To The Flame" that Skeeter actually recorded in 1967 and had a hit with, "Put It Off Until Tomorrow", "Gypsy, Joe, and Me", "In The Good Old Days", "Down From Dover", "Tomorrow is Forever", "Joshua", and "Touch Your Woman". This album was released on CD in the early 2000's along with another Skeeter Davis tribute record that she recorded for Buddy Holly.

Country singer Skeeter Davis released scores of albums on RCA during her 20+ years with the label, this CD combines two of her three "tribute" albums, rock n' toll legend Buddy Holly, SKEETER DAVIS SINGS BUDDY HOLLY, released in 1967 eight years after his death, and 1972's SKEETER SINGS DOLLY, a full album of songs composed by the swiftly rising star Dolly Parton (barely four years after she first broke through to stardom!).

Like a true song stylist, Skeeter almost never sings these famous songs in their original arrangements but giving a completely new spin on them. The Buddy Holly tracks are quite adventurous because rather than being in the rock n'roll Holly tradition or even adapted to mainstream country, these new versions sound more like Broadway musical numbers, others seem pure Easy Listening. Indeed, the arrangements are so Hollywood/Broadway one might think they were done for Barbra Streisand or Liza Minnelli. The effect may be jarring at first but it ultimately works particularly "It's So Easy". And happily a few of the tracks are done in that solo "girl group" sound that Skeeter was so adept at capturing. Other highlights are a lovely take on "Raining in My Heart" and the 60's pop radio version of "Heartbeat".

The Dolly album is closer to the original source but then Skeeter and Dolly did record for the same label and at the same studio. Still, it's nice to hear Skeeter's double-track harmony wrapped around some of Dolly's earliest songs from the unromantic nostalgia of "In the Good Old Days When Times We're Bad" to the butterfly-chasing nature child of "Just the Way I Am". Another highlight is one of Dolly's most underrated songs, "Tomorrow is Forever".

Amazon for some reason lists only the Buddy Holly tracks on their listing - these are the songs from the SKEETER SINGS DOLLY album here - "Joshua", "Put it Off Until Tomorrow", "Gypsy Joe and Me", "Fuel to the Flame", "Just the Way I Am", "Touch Your Woman", "Down from Dover", "In the Good Old Days", "Tomorrow is Forever", "Daddy Was an Oldtime Preacher Man".

The CD contains reproductions of the original albums front and back covers inside but get out your magnifiying glass to be able to read the vintage liner notes written by Buddy Holly's parents and Dolly Parton herself, it's worth it. These albums are both great tributes to two unique popular music icons performed by a lady who was a pretty awesome talent herself.