Review: 'Vinyl Me, Parton' Record of the Month, 'Little Sparrow'

by Ben Childers

Image credit: Vinyl Me, Please

The second record in Dolly's 'Vinyl Me, Parton' subscription is Dolly's Grammy-nominated 2001 album, Little Sparrow. The album is pressed on beautiful Lavender Galaxy vinyl, housed in a double gatefold jacket. The album jacket is printed on sturdy matte finished cardboard. The matte finish is a nice touch and is reminiscent of the packaging of the US digipack CD pressing from 2001. With mastering handled by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound, the album has never sounded better. Rounding out this first-time vinyl release is new online liner notes written by Nashville-based writer, Brittany McKenna. Check out the unboxing video at the end of this review!

Little Sparrow makes a great follow-up to last month's My Tennessee Mountain Home. Where My Tennessee Mountain Home almost solely focuses on Dolly's childhood, Little Sparrow touches on all aspects of her life and career. The second album in Dolly's critically acclaimed bluegrass trilogy, Little Sparrow sees Dolly putting her own bluegrass touch on gospel and rock, mixed in with bluegrass and folk music. The album's melding of these genres creates what Dolly has termed "mountain music."

Little Sparrow is among my favorites in Dolly's discography. This is an album that I come back to often during walks at the Natchez Trace or on a drive toward Cades Cove in the Smokies. It's the perfect album to listen to in nature. I actually don't remember the first time I heard the album, but the bluegrass trilogy has been among my favorites since I was first discovering Dolly's music.

The album opens with the title track, "Little Sparrow". This is an original Dolly composition which she wrote to sound like an old-timey mountain song. She said she drew inspiration for the song from "Fair and Tender Maidens" and "Silver Dagger" (which she recorded on The Grass Is Blue in 1999) and based it on "that theme of the mistreated, broken love affair." Track 2 is Dolly's Grammy-winning cover of Collective Soul's "Shine". Dolly was inspired to cover this song after hearing the song on the radio with her husband, Carl. She said she had always thought when hearing the guitars that it would make a great song "with just a mandolin or some simple sound with that." Side A closes out with a cover of the Louvin Brothers classic, "I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby", which was written by Autry Inman. Dolly had previously recorded this song as a duet with Porter Wagoner for their 1969 album, Always, Always.

Side B begins with an updated version of "My Blue Tears, a song Dolly originally wrote and recorded for her 1971 album, Coat of Many Colors, and would later provide harmony vocals, along with Emmylou Harris, on Linda Ronstadt's cover for her 1982 album, Get Closer. One of Dolly's best compositions, this new version is an album highlight. A cover of Steve Young's "Seven Bridges Road" follows. It had been previously covered by Eddy Arnold, Joan Boaz, and the Eagles, among others. Dolly said in her track-by-track of the album in 2001 that she chose to record the song because she had always loved it, but had never heard the harmony sung by girls. The Isaacs provide harmony on this version and it is a definite album highlight. "Bluer Pastures" was almost the album's title track. The song tells the story of someone who left home and their partner to find better things, but in the end comes back home disappointed, hoping their partner will still be waiting. Side B closes with "A Tender Lie", a song so filled with emotion that Dolly said she cried the first time she heard it.

"I Get a Kick Out of You" opens Side C. Written by Cole Porter, the song was originally performed in the 1934 Broadway musical, Anything Goes. Dolly said she was inspired to cover the song after hearing her husband play a Frank Sinatra recording of it. "Mountain Angel" follows and is one of my favorite Dolly songs of all time (and one of Dolly's favorites on the album). About a young girl who never recovers from a  broken heart, it is one of the best story songs Dolly has ever written. If there is ever a season two of Dolly's Heartstrings series on Netflix, I hope this song is included. "Marry Me" ends Side C and is a fun, up-tempo song in an old-fashioned barn dance style.

Side D begins with an updated version of Dolly's 1970 song, "Down from Dover". In this new version there is an additional verse which was omitted from the original on The Fairest of Them All. Dolly explained in the 2001 track-by-track that the original song was so long that Porter asked her to remove some of the verses and that she was happy to finally be able to present the song in its entirety. The next track is "The Beautiful Lie", an Amazing Rhythm Aces cover. The penultimate track is a hauntingly beautiful cover of the gospel standard "In the Sweet By-and By", featuring verse sung in Irish by Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh of Irish group Altan. The album closes with a short instrumental reprise of "Little Sparrow" with some vocalizing my Dolly.

Little Sparrow was produced by Steve Buckingham and is dedicated to Dolly's father, Robert Lee Parton, who passed away two months before the album's release. It is a beautiful album and one of my favorites. The undeniable heart of the bluegrass trilogy, it is an absolutely essential Dolly album.

Next month will see the 'Vinyl Me, Parton' reissue of Dolly's 2014 studio album, Blue Smoke.

If you haven't already, sign-up for Vinyl Me, Parton today!

Click here to read Dolly's complete 2001 track-by-track of the album on the Internet Archive.

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Ben Childers is the administrator of The Dolly Parton Discography. A native of Tupelo, Mississippi, he grew up taking family vacations to the Smokies and Dollywood. His love for Dolly and her music reached a fanatical level in April 2013. After spending countless hours researching and cataloging Dolly's musical output, he decided to open a website dedicated to her discography.

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