Album cover. Sugar Hill / Blue Eye (SUG-CD-3998) (2004)
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Live and Well is a live album by Dolly Parton. It was released on September 14, 2004, by Sugar Hill Records and Blue Eye Records. The album was recorded in December 2002 during a performance at Dollywood's Celebrity Theater. A DVD of the performance was released alongside the album. The record was produced by Dolly with Gary Smith and her band, The Blueniques. It peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
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Track listing
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Disc 1
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Disc 2
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Background
Dolly embarked on her first tour in 10 years in support of her 2002 album, Halos & Horns. The sold-out Halos & Horns Tour played 25 shows throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. The performances at Dollywood's Celebrity Theater were recorded for a planned television special that never materialized, eventually being released on CD and DVD in 2004 as Live and Well.
Recording
The album was recorded on December 12 and 13, 2002, at the Celebrity Theater at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Release
Live and Well was released September 14, 2004, on CD. A DVD of the concert was released alongside the album. The album was reissued digitally by Dolly Records on April 10, 2020.
Critical reception
Will Harris of PopMatters writes, "Live and Well is a document of Parton's 2002 tour, released simultaneously on CD and DVD, and, unlike a lot of live albums, this is a proper souvenir of one of her concerts, complete with the chatter between numbers that's so often cut from live records. Obviously, this is good news for her fans, many of who probably weren't able to catch one of those performances (she only did 14 shows); for others, however, it has its ups and downs." Uncut says, "the return-to-the-mountain bluegrass of recent years ("The Grass Is Blue", "Shine", "Little Sparrow", "I'm Gone") is brilliantly served by one of the most irresistible forces in the history of country." David McPherson of Exclaim! writes in his review that "Live and Well confirms that musically and physically Parton is just that; as this country crooner approaches 60, she is still as energetic and youthful as ever." The Austin Chronicle's Christopher Gray writes, "Ebullient as ever, Parton's banter is as much fun as the music; cornier than an Iowa silo, she's full of zingers." Hal Horowitz of AllMusic gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stars. He concluded that "although this effectively documents the gig and the star's irrepressible personality, better editing could have reduced the album to a stunning single disc instead of a bloated and occasionally inconsistent double."
Commercial performance
The album debuted and peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart dated October 2, 2004. It charted for 14 weeks. It also peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart and number 161 on the Billboard 200. The album reached number 169 on the UK Albums Chart.
Accolades
The Live and Well DVD was certified Gold by Music Canada on November 5, 2004, for sales of 5,000 copies.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album liner notes.
Performance
- Dolly Parton – lead vocals
- The Blueniques
- Gary Davis – acoustic guitar, banjo
- Richard Dennison – harmony vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar
- Randy Kohrs – harmony vocals, dobro
- Jimmy Mattingly – fiddle
- Brent Truitt – mandolin
- Steve Turner – drums
- Jay Weaver – upright bass
- Kent Wells – harmony vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Production
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Other personnel
- Bambi Breakstone – clothing design
- Dennis Carney – photography
- Sue Meyer – design
- Judy Ogle – wardrobe
- Cheryl Riddle – hair