Dolly Parton - Little Sparrow

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Music reviews of Little Sparrow

Music Review: A mixing of the bluegrass with the celtic..
Rating: 5 Stars

Then in 1998, with the aptly named "Hungry Again", she all of a sudden left the commercialism of the music business and her persona behind and started making the music she wanted - honest simple songs that took us back to where she started - telling stories that were endearing and true. In this way, Parton joined a handful of older artists who, rejected by mainstream radio for not being young and contemporary, started making music that flowed against the mainstream by taking us back to a simpler time. In doing this Parton, like others in her position, has succeeded in making some of the best music in her career.

On 1999s "The Grass is Blue", she gave us one of the finest country/bluegrass recordings of the year making her break to the mainstream final and at last began to achieve some of the recognition as an artist she has deserved for so many years and if her last release presented a more countrified version of bluegrass, "Little Sparrow" represents a celebration of the ancestral connection that bluegrass has with its celtic roots. On Several of the songs on this CD, Parton makes use of drones, Irish whistles, and other instruments associated with the Celtic tradition. Further cementing this blend of bluegrass with the celtic is the presence of the celtic group "Altan" who's use of Irish verse on the old gospel standard "In The Sweet By And By" literally transports the listener back to a far away time and place. On this song Parton's voice assumes a wistful yearning quality that is achingly sad, yet expectant of the joys to come in the after life.

Parton is also not afraid of stretching the boundaries of tradition. She joyfully swings on Cole Porter's "I Get a Kick Out of You" making the song sound both timeless and re-invented and moves into more contemporary pastures with Collective Soul's "Shine". The disk occasionally slides into corniness as on "Marry Me" but then a bit of corn pone has always been "Dolly" - a part of her wants to be your best friend and a bit of gossip is part of her charm so a bit of forgiveness may be in order here.

The best songwriters are storytellers and it is here that Parton reminds us of why she remains one of the most endearing artists of her generation. The best of Dolly's writing has always been as a weaver of tales - many familiar with her early career remember that it was this ability to tell a story that made songs like "Coat of Many Colors" so lasting and true. At her best Parton has always had the ability to turn the lives of ordinary people into something mythical. On "Mountain Angel", Parton once again assumes the role of story teller, in a song about love, loss and the superstition of evil and here, Parton spins a tale of almost gothic proportion that tells the story of a woman's demise in such a way that her life and death seems to be real and legandary at the same time.

The result is a collection of songs that represents a simultaneous growth as an artist along with a re-birth of her beginnings - a full circle of a singer now not afraid to be herself.

Description of Little Sparrow

Country CDs

• Music > Styles
• Folk
• Pop