R.I.P Dolly

Music if in the decades of reading this blog is something you realized I'm quite passionate about often features here, some of the very first entries duo-posted between here and a blog on Friends Reunited in 2006 were an early sign of that.

Some of that was through listening to friends and siblings own recordings which alongside the radio tended to inform my ability to find what I really liked rather going with what my peers listened to.

My tastes are broad as they are go deep, no surprises then the physical media collection is pretty big both vinyl and compact disc/super audio cd.

Country music was a big influence on me, my parents loved Country apart from Jazz so we had many country albums, individual and greatest hits ones about and I wasn't opposed to plaything them myself when they weren't around.

One was Dolly Parton who died Tuesday after having cancer for a short period

Born Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean (née Parton; January 19, 1946 she was  an American singer-songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur. 

Frequently dubbed the "Queen of Country", she was one of the most honoured country performers in history, earning eleven Grammy Awards and three Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, six Golden Globes and a Tony Award. 

She was also known for her cultural influence and philanthropy via Dollywood and the Dollywood Foundation. With more than 100 million records sold, she is is among the best-selling music artists of all time.

Born into poverty, she wrote her first song at age six, performed regularly on TV by age ten, made her first recording at age eleven, and becoming  a professional songwriter at age sixteen. 

After writing songs for others, she released her debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly (1967), starting a nearly 60-year career releasing in total some 49 studio albums and writing more than 3,000 songs, including "I Will Always Love You" (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper and an international success for Whitney Houston that sold 24 million copies worldwide), "Jolene", "Coat of Many Colors", and "9 to 5".

Her songs were seldom in the third person, always first talking about life as she had lived and experienced it and through that having a special meaning though that authenticity to all of us who heard them

She made a huge difference through her investment in her native Tennessee and though her many works to tackle illiteracy and inequality, donating money for the development of a covid vaccine and promoting it when some in the United States refused to accept what medical science had to offer during that terrible period in recent history.

Personally I am saddened by her loss for what she offered as a performer but perhaps more for her sense of humanity and her willingness to use her position to do everything she could to help those less fortunate.

Looking Up with Ringo

While a storm ranges around us here, something of another sort of storm from the one who started out drumming for Rory Storm before taking over from Pete Best to be the Beatles drummer before upon that bands end, issuing a good number of solo albums and singles.

A few days ago Ringo released a brand-new country music album, 'Look Up', produced and co-written by T Bone Burnett. This is an stunning collection features 11 original songs, recorded this year in Nashville and Los Angeles.

The story goes Ringo asked one of his acquaintances to write a song for his next EP. That friend later returned with nine tunes, all with a country flavour and instead of selecting just one, he decided he liked all of them, which led to him recording each one and turning it into his first album for six years. 

With assistance from Molly Tuttle, guitarist Billy Strings, Alison Krauss, four piece Indie band Lucius and sister duo Larkin Poe, Ringo realises his love of country music by issuing his first LP of such in over five decades since a Beaucoup Of Blues in 1970.

Time On My Hands is the most played track on the likes of Boom Radio, being a great advertisement for just how well these songs and the arrangements really suit his voice making this one of his best solo albums ever and one I'd strongly recommend on its own merits.