Dolly Parton - The Grass Is Blue

In this week's episode we're featuring the first in a trilogy of bluegrass albums that Dolly Parton released around the turn of the century: "The Grass Is Blue" (1999). After Decca Nashville closed their doors in 1998, Dolly found herself without a record deal for the first time in thirty years. She had talked about doing a legacy bluegrass project in the past, but now was the time. Teaming with Sugar Hill Records, she assembled some of the best pickers you can name, some well chosen covers and four of her own compositions and punched out what some might call her best solo album since the early 70s. Jerry Douglas on dobro wrote: "Dolly's performance brought this cream of the crop band leaping to it's feet. I consider it an honour to have been part of this project and see its culmination to be a momentous shot in the arm for bluegrass music." And he wasn't lying: with Dolly's starpower, her wonderful trembly warble and Appalachian heritage, she's made for bluegrass: this album has been partly credited with a surge in popularity in bluegrass music around the year 2000. Listen in and you'll see why.