Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton. Dolly (Sony Legacy/RCA). Being
a country music icon for 50 years has its immediate risks, especially
if you’re Dolly Parton, whose oversized persona occasionally seems to
veer into self-parody. So it takes a mammoth box set like this, with 99
tracks on four discs, to straighten things out and re-establish her
throne position as the queen of popular music. 

Not just country, either: Among the
revelations on the first disc, which starts with her 1959 song “Puppy
Love” when she was just 13 (her voice sounds like she belongs with
Alvin and the Chipmunks), is that even in her wonder years she could
expertly handle other genres. Some of the earliest numbers sound like
girl-group fodder from the Phil Spector empire, while others have
brassier British-era orchestrations reminiscent of Petula Clark or
Dusty Springfield. Before the first disc ends, the Tennessee lass nails
her initial big hit “Dumb Blonde” in 1967 (“You know if there’s one
thing this blonde has learned/ Blondes have more fun”) and pairs up
with Grand Ole Opry star and mentor Porter Wagoner to get groomed for
stardom. 

Discs two and three chart the eventful
1970s, with Parton splitting from duet partner Wagoner and his overtly
controlling ways and establishing herself as a solo act, with some
oddball detours like 1978’s disco-inflected “Baby I’m Burnin’” with its
Meco-Star Wars sound effects. The last platter mixes her Hollywood movie ambitions (hello, 9 to 5)
with the country-pop songs that she cut in the 1980s and 1990s,
stopping with 1993’s “Romeo” with assists from Kathy Mattea, Tanya
Tucker and others. Singer-songwriter Parton’s lyrics run the gamut from
the dangers of cheating hearts (the plaintive “Jolene” is emotional
miles away from “Daddy Come and Get Me” with its asylum setting) to the
personal nature of her professional breakup with Wagoner (“I Will
Always Love You”), and there are so many autobiographical moments of
introspection sprinkled throughout the set that listeners will surely
think they’re getting the real deal. 

The liner notes contain a host of
amusing photos that detail Parton’s physical changes from big-hair
country cutie pie to her eventual bantam buxom body-set. There are also
plenty of tidbits such as her refusal to allow Elvis Presley to record
“I Will Always Love You” because Presley’s management wanted a share of
the songwriting credit—a business move that would have eventually
caused Parton to lose millions following Whitney Houston’s popular
cover on The Bodyguard soundtrack. And since Parton has written literally hundreds of songs, this Dolly box set seems poised to birth a sequel.