Her Texas-sized hair. The jumpsuits that accentuated her\u2026
\nwell, you know. Dollywood.<\/p>\n
It’s easy to overlook Dolly Parton’s songwriting talents when
\nher extravagant productions (both stage and personal) are so
\nprevalent. She initially started with bluegrass and, despite a
\ncouple of glitzy turns toward showbiz-style country and rock and
\nroll, Dolly Parton has remained faithful to her bluegrass roots.
\nHer most recent albums have revisited her bluegrass roots and have
\nwon her new fans (no thanks to the alt-country explosion and the
\nsuccess of
\nO Brother, Where Art Thou?<\/i>).<\/p>\n
With newfound credibility, the tribute album was inevitable.
\nEven though tribute albums are usually horrendous vanity projects,
\nthere are some golden nuggets worth salvaging.
\nJust Because I’m a Woman<\/i> is one of those nuggets. Virtually
\nevery artist is ‘A’ list talent: Norah Jones, Me’Shell
\nN’Degeocello, Allison Krauss, Sinead O’Connor and Joan Osborne to
\nname a few. Each of these artists add a bit of grit to Parton’s
\nsongs, making them all the more authentic to the listener.<\/p>\n
Shelby Lynne is arguably the most ‘Dolly’ of the bunch: she came
\non the music scene with her barbed-wire confessional
\nI Am Shelby Lynne<\/i>. However, like Dolly Parton, she got
\ncaught up with studio gloss and her Jewel-like makeover into a
\nsexpot with her follow-up recording (call it Lynne’s studio version
\nof the movie
\nRhinestone<\/i>). But Lynne has redeemed herself by going back to
\nbluegrass — and she continues that redemption with “The
\nSeeker.”<\/p>\n
Most of the tracks are fairly loyal versions of Parton’s songs.
\nEmmylou Harris adds a rugged beauty in “To Daddy.” Alison Krauss
\ndoes a great job stripping down “9 to 5,” one of Dolly Parton’s
\n‘rocking’ numbers during her early-80s stardom, to its hurt core.
\nParton’s uptempo, almost joyous delivery, overshadows the dreary
\nlyrics of working as a wage slave. Krauss slows the tempo down,
\nmaking the song more suitable for a barroom than an aerobic
\nstation.<\/p>\n
Some of the more unconventional recordings are the biggest
\npayoff to the listener. Sinead O’Connor’s beautiful voice resonates
\nin “Dagger Through The Heart,” arguably the best cover on an album
\nfull of solid covers. O’Connor has flirted with rock, rap and
\nelectronica, but on this song, she is backed chiefly by steel
\nguitar and fiddle. Me’ Shell N’Degeocello supplies some much-needed
\nfunk to the album with her half-singing, half-spoken delivery of
\n“Two Doors Down.”<\/p>\n
If you were to find a fault in
\nJust Because I’m a Woman<\/i>, it would be its relative lack of
\nrisk-taking. Most of the songs are fairly loyal to their original
\nsource material. Still, most listeners will likely prefer loyal,
\npassionate versions of some of Parton’s best works and not some
\nhalf-assed attempt at incorporating elements of dance or
\nelectronica into this album.<\/p>\n
Parton gets the last word in with the hidden track “Just Because
\nI’m a Woman.” It’s only fitting. Without Dolly Parton’s influence,
\nit is likely that 1\/3 of the artists on this compilation would not
\nhave made it in the music world. It’s almost unfair to call
\nJust Because I’m a Woman<\/i> a tribute album. It’s coherent,
\nwell-produced and ultimately, it makes you want to hit the ‘repeat’
\nkey – as much of a compliment to the musicians as the source
\nmaterial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5827],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37832","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-various-artists","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37832"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37832"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}