Jolene [Remaster] (CD - 1974)

Producer: Bob Ferguson.

Reissue producer: Mike Ragogna.

Recorded at RCA's Nashville Sound Studio, Nashville, Tennessee. Originally released on RCA (0473). Includes liner notes by Robyn Flans.

Digitally remastered by Elliott Federman (SAJE Sound, New York, New York).

This is part of Buddha Records' Original Masters series.

Personnel: Dolly Parton (guitar); Dave Kirby, Bobby Thompson (guitar); Jimmy Colvard (electric guitar); Pete Drake, Stuart Basore (steel guitar); Chip Young (dobro); Buck Trent (banjo); Johnny Gimble, Mack Magaha (fiddle); Onie Wheeler (harmonica); David Briggs , Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano); Bobby Dyson (bass instrument); Ralph Gallant, Larrie Londin, Kenny Malone, Jerry Carrigan (drums); Dolores Edgin, June Page, Hurshel Wiginton, Joe Babcock (background vocals).

Of the three 2007 Dolly Parton reissues from Sony, Jolene is the most absorbing musically and the most problematic lyrically. A sparkling production creates a rich backdrop for both "Jolene" and "When Someone Wants to Leave" (both Parton originals), mixing acoustic guitar, country instruments (steel guitar, dobro), and light percussion. This tasteful mix, nicely spread across the stereo spectrum with Parton front and center, is a joy to listen to. Lyrically, however, these songs are a long way from Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man." Parton's female protagonists are downright pitiful, adrift in a world where a more attractive woman might take their man, where a woman cannot let go of a man who no longer loves her, and where a man is the "highlight" of her life ("Highlight of My Life.") Jolene, originally released in 1974, feels like a shot across the bow of the feminist movement, a reaffirmation that many women still liked the men to wear the pants (women, presumably, who listened to old-fashioned country music). This seems somewhat peculiar now, in that no one -- looking at her long, distinguished career and commanding stage presence -- would accuse Parton of being a weak-kneed songbird. Still, the music and Parton's vocal prowess are in top form on Jolene, and "I Will Always Love You" is one of her best performances (which is saying a lot). Like it or loath it, Jolene offers a fascinating snapshot of an era in transition, and captures Parton at the top of her game. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.

Although Dolly Parton had been a country star since the late '60s, this was the first of her albums to made mainstream audiences take notice of her prodigious talents as a singer and songwriter. In fact, a case can be made that this is still overall her finest work.

The title song--which has been covered by no less a fan than Patti Smith--is something of a masterpiece, a piece of rural Americana that sounds as if Parton learned it as a child from some octogenarian Appalachian folk singer. The other classic here is the original version of "I Will Always Love You"; Whitney Houston may have ridden it to Number One with her 1992 version, but Parton performs it with understated subtlety, as a sort of cross between a country song and a '50s rock ballad. minimize