Bear Family BCD 16889 FK



During the 1960s and the early 1970s duets between major male and female country stars were commonplace. The most successful of these teams were George Jones and Tammy Wynnette, Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner. Each pairing had their own approach to the music resulting in quite contrasting and distinctive styles. I religiously purchased the duet albums by Dolly and Porter that were released between 1968 and 1975 when first released, salivating over the superb performances. As good as each of them was with their solo recordings, together they always seemed to rise to new heights. What made them standout was their precision and an ability to make simple tunes interesting by a constant injection of fresh ideas. This lavish 6-CD set includes all of the recordings from those classic albums—which included 21 country chart hits—plus several previously unissued recordings amongst the 160 tracks.    

Porter Wagoner, known for his rhinestone stage outfits, helped launch Dolly Parton’s career by hiring her as his duet partner in 1967. Parton, all baby-faced and bouffant-haired, wasn’t Wagoner’s first or only female singing partner, but she certainly became his most famous. She joined his acclaimed television and touring show in 1967, replacing the popular Norma Jean. As Wagoner recalled, her debut on the road was a disaster: “The first couple of days were pretty tough for her because she didn’t know how to talk to people. She talked so fast and was real nervous on stage. She was afraid they wouldn’t like her, and they didn’t like her at first because they didn’t know her.”

To ease the transition, he’d have her sing duets with him. This they carried over to the weekly syndicated television show and to the recording studio. Their first duet recording sessions took place on October 10-12, 1967, and less than two months later, their revival of Tom Paxton’s The Last Thing On My Mind was on the country charts and heading for the top 10. Despite this success, according to Wagoner, RCA Nashville chief Chet Atkins was reluctant to sign Parton to a solo recording contract, so he offered to underwrite any losses that the label might incur from her records. As it transpired, RCA has more than recouped that original investment many times over, as Dolly Parton became one of label’s most successful international stars.

Porter was the big-name act when they began recording together, and Dolly was very much the unknown novice learning the ropes. Porter controlled the sessions, selected the song material and booked the musicians. Their first album, JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME, released in January 1968, featured a mix of older songs like Before I Met You, Home Is Where The Hurt Is and the Jack Clement-penned title song, which had been a recent hit for Charley Pride, alongside several songs written by Dolly—some in partnership with her uncle Bill Owens. Despite the fact she was only 21, Dolly was already recognised as a talented songwriter having provided hit songs for Bill Phillips (Put It Off Until Tomorrow), Skeeter Davis (Fuel To The Flame) and Hank Williams Jr (I’m In No Condition). Wagoner recognised her writing talent and utilised more and more of Dolly’s songs in subsequent sessions. Dolly rose to the challenge and began penning songs that were tailor-made for their duets, playing to the duo’s strengths. 

Porter and Dolly were witty and sassy together and had great fun in the studio with songs like Run That By Me One More Time, Fight And Scratch and The Fighting Kind that had them ad-libbing as they play-acted friendly banter which today might well be termed white-trash trailer-park country. It was all new to us in the early 1970s and we just lapped it up and laughed away at their antics. To counter those lighter moments there were also dark Appalachian ballads, again mainly penned by Dolly. The best—and most maudlin—was Jeannie’s Afraid Of The Dark, which proved to be way more popular than the lowly chart position of 51 suggests. It featured a moving Wagoner recitation and one of Dolly’s most emotional vocals that just tears at your very heart and soul.

When the pair got together, whether it was a romantic love song or slipping-around sagas, they each had a chance to display their vocal wares separately as well as working in their perfectly succinct harmony to create absolute classic duet recordings. Virtually all the material they recorded was penned by Dolly or Porter, who had taken up songwriting for the first time in almost 20 years to keep up with his protégé. They were very much of their time, and possibly to today’s country fans they sound more than a little dated. But they mirrored how we lived and loved in those days in much the same way that today’s country music mirrors life in 2014.

As time went on Dolly began to enjoy her strongest period of success as a solo artist so far in her career, whilst although Porter maintained a consistent run of hits, his stature was definitely on a downward trend. A strong-willed Dolly Parton insisted on more involvement in her career, which at the time was almost totally controlled by Wagoner. Her frustration came out in her song I Will Always Love You, which she wrote in 1974 and became her third solo chart-topper that year. Eager to develop her solo career, June 1974 marked the final show that she performed with Porter as she put together her own stage show with her Family Band. Though Porter continued to produce Dolly’s recordings until 1977, the split was messy with Porter suing over contractual issues and the two settling out of court in 1980.

It’s sad that such a great musical partnership should have ended with such acrimony, but at least we still have the music … and what superb music it is. This whole package comes with a large LP-size hard-back book that documents both Dolly’s and Porter’s careers, superbly written by acclaimed Nashville-based music journalist Alanna Nash, with loads of photos and full recording session details in typical Bear Family tradition. Suffice to say, as far as I’m concerned this is essential listening for any bona fide country music fanatic … young or old. 

www.bear-family.com

June 2014