Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/09/dolly-parton-sings-a-song-live.html
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Dolly Parton, sure I’ll have a listen.
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Not sure if serious…
Dolly Parton is an astonishing singer and songwriter. She is a prime example of why it’s foolish to write off an entire genre just because some percentage of it is dreck. The reason Baroque and Classical music seem to be full of nothing but winners (not actually true!) is because after all this time humans have continued to perform the best of the best and let the worst fade into nothingness. That will happen to Country music as well.
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I forgot how big hair could be back then. It’s too bad her larger ‘attributes’ have always meant that some people write her off as untalented or bimbo-ish. She is really a gem.
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And such an instrument player! That was the first thing I noticed when I heard her 45rpm songs pitched down to 33 1/3, her picking is crazy precise no matter the speed.
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Sturgeon’s Law
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That sort of thing requires crazy amounts of skill. I never really gave much thought to Parton, but am appreciating her talent and ability all over again. Thank you for posting this.
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Dolly Parton’s charm is weapons-grade.
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What’s really impressive about this isn’t that she just did the song faster and an octave higher, but her articulation matched a sped-up 45 perfectly. It sounds like she’s doing left-hand muting or something similar to get the guitar tone quality right.
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In this case it might be called Sturgill’s Law.
And the lyrics to that song, for people who might double-take with a “what did he just say?”
I wonder if that’s what influenced John Oswald to do this to Dolly Parton:
Dolly is very very smart. I think she figured out a long time ago that she could use her hair, makeup, and chest to impress people at ‘face value’ before knocking them out with her sheer talent.
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I loved Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, even though Turtles was the only song from that album to get any real airtime.
I have two gay Brothers that go to dress up parties [and elsewhere too] as Polly Darton Twins [note sassy mix up of Dolly’s name] , yes they are adorable. So I haven’t really a choice, I have to be a fan of Dolly Parton.
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She writes an astonishing number of songs for other artists.
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I had no idea – her net worth is estimated at $650MM.
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An amazingly talented writer and singer.
But, I really miss the days when Dolly looked like Dolly rather than a geriatric Barbie doll. I do wish that she’d let herself grow older ‘naturally’ (and, yes, I appreciate the irony, given her look).
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Joan Osborne’s cover of Dolly’s “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind”
I guess it’s time to watch “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” again.
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“Jolene” slowed down is fantastic. That’s such a great guitar groove that just jumps to the foreground. I need to learn that.
edit: Sorry, that version of slowed down Jolene is terrible. This is better:
Or one with an attempt to keep her voice pitch the same:
(I prefer the up-and-front guitar riff/rhythm of the first example)
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I love that guitar riff. It’s in the key you get when you drop a piano down a mineshaft: A flat minor. Probably the effect of slowing down the recording. I doubt the original recording was in that key, because it’s uncommon and doesn’t really lay well on the guitar.
It’s basically a vamp over A flat minor add 2, with some light percussive stuff. Pretty easy to get, but also easy to rush and overdo and basically sound like a kid who just discovered the E7/9 chord and suddenly thinks he can play “funk”.
