Post by the Scribe on Apr 5, 2020 12:23:15 GMT
Flashback: Parton, Ronstadt, Harris Share 'Those Memories of You'
In celebration of today's release of their new 'Complete Trio Collection' album, watch the legendary threesome perform for Johnny Carson
Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt sing "Those Memories of You."
By Stephen L. Betts
September 9, 2016
Forty-one years ago today, September 9th, 1975, marks the historic occasion when Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt all met for the very first time in a hotel room in Los Angeles following a studio session during which Harris recorded the prophetically titled "One of the Days." While Parton and Harris were friends first and both longed to meet their favorite "girl singer," the three began recording together as a trio almost immediately after first meeting. Early tunes they recorded included the 1975 Christmas single, "Light of the Stable," which also featured Neil Young, "Evangeline" and the frothy Fifties' classic, "Mister Sandman" (both later issued on Harris's 1981 LP, Evangeline) and a cover of Parton's plaintive 1971 track, "My Blue Tears, which surfaced in 1982 on Ronstadt's Get Closer album.
Dolly Parton: How She Fell in Love All Over Again With 'Pure and Simple'
Country icon found a creative spark through her union with Carl Dean as well as seeing one of her sisters find love
But the question of just when the three hugely popular solo stars would get down to business and release a full album of collaborative tunes was repeatedly met with the same answer: "One of these days." The day finally came in early March 1987, and Trio was met not only with rave reviews and brisk sales, but a dizzying media blitz worthy of the three superstar entertainers. Right out of the starting gate the LP's first single, "To Know Him Is to Love Him," penned by Phil Spector, charged to Number One on the country chart and the album would spawn three more huge hits: "Telling Me Lies," "Wildflowers" and "Those Memories of You," all of which reached the Top Ten.
On March 13, 1987, a high-profile story on the Trio project appeared in the Los Angeles Times detailing the intense three-day media frenzy the singers endured, including insight into Parton's patented humor after having repeatedly been asked about her recent weight loss. (In classic Dolly fashion, she replied, "I just pulled my head out of the lard bucket for a change.") That same day, Harris, Parton and Ronstadt appeared as musical guests on the Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. Parton was a favorite (and her voluptuous figure a favorite target) of the late-night host, so the appearance was hardly unexpected. What was surprising – and yet certainly appropriate – was that the ladies were given three performance slots – and some valuable couch time to gab with Carson. Opening with the lively "Those Memories of You," seen in the above clip, the entire performance was backed by an ace band which included Mark O'Connor on fiddle, Herb Pedersen and John Starling on guitars, Steve Fishell on Dobro, Leland Sklar on bass and Russ Kunkel on drums. "To Know Him Is to Love Him" followed and after chatting with Carson, the trio and musicians returned to the stage for "Hobo's Meditation," with lead vocals from Ronstadt.
"People are always askin', 'What's Johnny Carson really like?'" Parton joked when the host asked about some of the most-asked questions they encountered during their recent press junket. "Why don't you find out sometime?" he quipped, causing the unflappable Parton to reply, "Who knows? You get around, so I might be next."
Forty-one years after they first met, Harris, Parton and Ronstadt are being celebrated with another long-awaited release. The Complete Trio Collection, out today, compiles the 1987 Trio album, the 1999 sequel and 20 additional tracks comprised of alternate takes and previously unreleased tunes from the legends. While the spectacular harmonies and song selection throughout are plenty enough to make the set essential listening, as a bonus the beautifully compiled package comprehensive liner notes, with an extraordinary overview of the entire Trio output from former Rolling Stone Press editor Holly George-Warren.
Those memories of you "The Trio" (video original) starring the late Harry Dean Stanton
Hear Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt's Glorious 'Children'
A cappella take on "Calling My Children Home" appears on the upcoming 'Trio' boxed set
Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt pose for the release of the original 'Trio' album in 1987. Robert Blakeman
By Stephen L. Betts
August 11, 2016
With its mournful harmonies and plaintive lyrics sung from the perspective of a mother missing her children and beckoning them to return home, the traditional tune "Calling My Children Home" is one of the most deeply moving a cappella songs of all time. Entrusting it to three of the most magical voices that have ever been raised together in song — Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt — elevates the old-time ballad even further. On September 9th, the song appears in its definitive version with the release of the Complete Trio Collection boxed set. (Listen to "Calling My Children Home" below.)
Hear Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt's Rare 'Wildflowers'
Written by Parton, this alternate version of the singers' 'Trio' album hit appears on the upcoming 'Complete Trio Collection'
Inspired in part by the 1978 recording arranged by members of the bluegrass-gospel group the Country Gentlemen, "Calling My Children Home" was recorded for the first Trio LP, which was released in 1987. However, the track didn't make the final cut. Now, it's set to appear as one of the 20 rare and bonus performances that make up the third disc of the boxed set. The other two discs include the original Trio and its 1999 follow-up.
Fans of Harris have heard the song performed in her live shows for years, with two of her best-known bands, the acoustic Nash Ramblers and the stripped-down but harder-rocking quartet Spyboy, featuring Buddy Miller. Harris and those bands recorded the a cappella number together for LPs released in 1994 (At the Ryman) and 1998 (Spyboy).
The three longtime friends and collaborators did perform the song at the time the first Trio album was released, singing a short snippet of it during an interview with MTV VJ Nina Blackwood. But this breathtaking studio version is three minutes and 10 seconds worth waiting 30 years to finally hear in full.
Hear Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt's Rare 'Wildflowers'
Written by Parton, this alternate version of the singers' 'Trio' album hit appears on the upcoming 'Complete Trio Collection'
Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris's seminal 'Trio' album will be re-released on September 9th.
By Stephen L. Betts
August 3, 2016
By the time Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt released the fourth single from their 1986 Trio LP, they had already hit Number One with a Fifties pop classic, "To Know Him Is to Love Him," and scored Top Five hits with the folky Linda Thompson tune "Telling Me Lies," and "Those Memories of You," which was penned by Nashville Bluegrass Band banjo player Alan O'Bryant.
For the superstar threesome's final single from Trio, they chose the delicate but defiant "Wildflowers," one of the two songs Parton had written on the album (the other being "The Pain of Loving You," the LP's lead track, which she wrote with former duet partner Porter Wagoner). With spare instrumentation, spotlighting music legend David Lindley on autoharp, "Wildflowers" was vintage Parton autobiography, the tale of a "wild mountain rose needing freedom to grow."
Thirty years later, a never-before-heard version of "Wildflowers" will be available as the original Trio album and its 1999 sequel are reissued, along with 20 bonus tracks of unreleased tunes and alternate takes. Accompanied by the just-released lyric video, this bonus version of "Wildflowers" is distinguished by a second verse on which Harris, rather than Parton, sings lead, after which Ronstadt takes the lead on the third verse. This alternate take relies a bit more on modern accompaniment rather than the old-time mountain instrumentation of the original, which is perhaps why it wasn't chosen for the original LP. But one element that remains, however, is the magical three-part harmony the longtime friends shared on record and onstage.
The Complete Trio Collection will be released on September 9th, along with the 14-track sampler My Dear Companion: Selections From the Trio Collection.
In celebration of today's release of their new 'Complete Trio Collection' album, watch the legendary threesome perform for Johnny Carson
Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt sing "Those Memories of You."
By Stephen L. Betts
September 9, 2016
Forty-one years ago today, September 9th, 1975, marks the historic occasion when Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt all met for the very first time in a hotel room in Los Angeles following a studio session during which Harris recorded the prophetically titled "One of the Days." While Parton and Harris were friends first and both longed to meet their favorite "girl singer," the three began recording together as a trio almost immediately after first meeting. Early tunes they recorded included the 1975 Christmas single, "Light of the Stable," which also featured Neil Young, "Evangeline" and the frothy Fifties' classic, "Mister Sandman" (both later issued on Harris's 1981 LP, Evangeline) and a cover of Parton's plaintive 1971 track, "My Blue Tears, which surfaced in 1982 on Ronstadt's Get Closer album.
Dolly Parton: How She Fell in Love All Over Again With 'Pure and Simple'
Country icon found a creative spark through her union with Carl Dean as well as seeing one of her sisters find love
But the question of just when the three hugely popular solo stars would get down to business and release a full album of collaborative tunes was repeatedly met with the same answer: "One of these days." The day finally came in early March 1987, and Trio was met not only with rave reviews and brisk sales, but a dizzying media blitz worthy of the three superstar entertainers. Right out of the starting gate the LP's first single, "To Know Him Is to Love Him," penned by Phil Spector, charged to Number One on the country chart and the album would spawn three more huge hits: "Telling Me Lies," "Wildflowers" and "Those Memories of You," all of which reached the Top Ten.
On March 13, 1987, a high-profile story on the Trio project appeared in the Los Angeles Times detailing the intense three-day media frenzy the singers endured, including insight into Parton's patented humor after having repeatedly been asked about her recent weight loss. (In classic Dolly fashion, she replied, "I just pulled my head out of the lard bucket for a change.") That same day, Harris, Parton and Ronstadt appeared as musical guests on the Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. Parton was a favorite (and her voluptuous figure a favorite target) of the late-night host, so the appearance was hardly unexpected. What was surprising – and yet certainly appropriate – was that the ladies were given three performance slots – and some valuable couch time to gab with Carson. Opening with the lively "Those Memories of You," seen in the above clip, the entire performance was backed by an ace band which included Mark O'Connor on fiddle, Herb Pedersen and John Starling on guitars, Steve Fishell on Dobro, Leland Sklar on bass and Russ Kunkel on drums. "To Know Him Is to Love Him" followed and after chatting with Carson, the trio and musicians returned to the stage for "Hobo's Meditation," with lead vocals from Ronstadt.
"People are always askin', 'What's Johnny Carson really like?'" Parton joked when the host asked about some of the most-asked questions they encountered during their recent press junket. "Why don't you find out sometime?" he quipped, causing the unflappable Parton to reply, "Who knows? You get around, so I might be next."
Forty-one years after they first met, Harris, Parton and Ronstadt are being celebrated with another long-awaited release. The Complete Trio Collection, out today, compiles the 1987 Trio album, the 1999 sequel and 20 additional tracks comprised of alternate takes and previously unreleased tunes from the legends. While the spectacular harmonies and song selection throughout are plenty enough to make the set essential listening, as a bonus the beautifully compiled package comprehensive liner notes, with an extraordinary overview of the entire Trio output from former Rolling Stone Press editor Holly George-Warren.
Those memories of you "The Trio" (video original) starring the late Harry Dean Stanton
Hear Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt's Glorious 'Children'
A cappella take on "Calling My Children Home" appears on the upcoming 'Trio' boxed set
Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt pose for the release of the original 'Trio' album in 1987. Robert Blakeman
By Stephen L. Betts
August 11, 2016
With its mournful harmonies and plaintive lyrics sung from the perspective of a mother missing her children and beckoning them to return home, the traditional tune "Calling My Children Home" is one of the most deeply moving a cappella songs of all time. Entrusting it to three of the most magical voices that have ever been raised together in song — Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt — elevates the old-time ballad even further. On September 9th, the song appears in its definitive version with the release of the Complete Trio Collection boxed set. (Listen to "Calling My Children Home" below.)
Hear Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt's Rare 'Wildflowers'
Written by Parton, this alternate version of the singers' 'Trio' album hit appears on the upcoming 'Complete Trio Collection'
Inspired in part by the 1978 recording arranged by members of the bluegrass-gospel group the Country Gentlemen, "Calling My Children Home" was recorded for the first Trio LP, which was released in 1987. However, the track didn't make the final cut. Now, it's set to appear as one of the 20 rare and bonus performances that make up the third disc of the boxed set. The other two discs include the original Trio and its 1999 follow-up.
Fans of Harris have heard the song performed in her live shows for years, with two of her best-known bands, the acoustic Nash Ramblers and the stripped-down but harder-rocking quartet Spyboy, featuring Buddy Miller. Harris and those bands recorded the a cappella number together for LPs released in 1994 (At the Ryman) and 1998 (Spyboy).
The three longtime friends and collaborators did perform the song at the time the first Trio album was released, singing a short snippet of it during an interview with MTV VJ Nina Blackwood. But this breathtaking studio version is three minutes and 10 seconds worth waiting 30 years to finally hear in full.
Hear Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt's Rare 'Wildflowers'
Written by Parton, this alternate version of the singers' 'Trio' album hit appears on the upcoming 'Complete Trio Collection'
Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris's seminal 'Trio' album will be re-released on September 9th.
By Stephen L. Betts
August 3, 2016
By the time Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt released the fourth single from their 1986 Trio LP, they had already hit Number One with a Fifties pop classic, "To Know Him Is to Love Him," and scored Top Five hits with the folky Linda Thompson tune "Telling Me Lies," and "Those Memories of You," which was penned by Nashville Bluegrass Band banjo player Alan O'Bryant.
For the superstar threesome's final single from Trio, they chose the delicate but defiant "Wildflowers," one of the two songs Parton had written on the album (the other being "The Pain of Loving You," the LP's lead track, which she wrote with former duet partner Porter Wagoner). With spare instrumentation, spotlighting music legend David Lindley on autoharp, "Wildflowers" was vintage Parton autobiography, the tale of a "wild mountain rose needing freedom to grow."
Thirty years later, a never-before-heard version of "Wildflowers" will be available as the original Trio album and its 1999 sequel are reissued, along with 20 bonus tracks of unreleased tunes and alternate takes. Accompanied by the just-released lyric video, this bonus version of "Wildflowers" is distinguished by a second verse on which Harris, rather than Parton, sings lead, after which Ronstadt takes the lead on the third verse. This alternate take relies a bit more on modern accompaniment rather than the old-time mountain instrumentation of the original, which is perhaps why it wasn't chosen for the original LP. But one element that remains, however, is the magical three-part harmony the longtime friends shared on record and onstage.
The Complete Trio Collection will be released on September 9th, along with the 14-track sampler My Dear Companion: Selections From the Trio Collection.