Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris to Release ‘Trio’ Box Set
A release date has officially been announced for a long-rumored collection that closes the book on one of the most successful collaborative music projects of the last half of the 20th century. On September 9th, Rhino will issue The Complete Trio Collection, a three-disc set compiling tracks by the holy musical trinity of Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. The collection spotlights material recorded for two best-selling LPs (1987’s Trio and its 1999 follow-up, Trio II) and will feature a 20-track bonus disc of previously unreleased material and alternate takes.
The Complete Trio Collection will consist of newly remastered versions of the original albums, which sold five million copies and earned three Grammys when they were initially released. The third disc includes rare gems such as “Waltz Across Texas Tonight” (penned by Harris with Rodney Crowell) from 1994, and “Grey Funnel Line,” “White Snow” and “Pleasant As May,” all from the 1986 sessions. The set also spotlights the trio’s breathtaking harmonies with an a capella version of “Calling My Children Home,” the bluegrass gospel tune Harris recorded for her live At the Ryman album.
Although each of them had enormous success as solo artists, when Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris first sang together in the Seventies they captured a blended sound that was nothing short of otherworldly. While they fully intended to translate their musical chemistry to record, with three divergent careers (not to mention recording for three separate record labels), sessions were executed and aborted until they finally got underway in earnest early in 1986. When Trio was released, it topped the country album chart for five weeks and was a Top Ten entry on the Billboard 200. The trio’s charming and delicate reworking of the Phil Spector classic, “To Know Him Is to Love Him,” reached Number One on the country chart. Trio earned the threesome a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and the LP was nominated alongside U2, Prince, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson for Album of the Year, going on to sell four million copies.
Sessions for Trio II began in 1994 and included their ethereal take on Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush,” with additional songs from Randy Newman (“Feels Like Home”), A.P. Carter (“Lover’s Return”) and Harley Allen (“High Sierra”), all of which Ronstadt remixed and issued (without Parton’s vocals) on 1995’s Feels Like Home.
Also being released on September 9th will be the single-disc My Dear Companion: Selections From the Complete Trio Collection, which features a mix of songs taken from the three-disc set and Farther Along, a double-LP set of all the bonus material from the Complete Trio Collection. Trio II will also be released on vinyl for the first time.
The Complete Trio Collection Track Listing:
Disc One – Trio
1. “The Pain of Loving You”
2. “Making Plans”
3. “To Know Him Is To Love Him”
4. “Hobo’s Meditation”
5. “Wildflowers”
6. “Telling Me Lies”
7. “My Dear Companion”
8. “Those Memories of You”
9. “I’ve Had Enough”
10. “Rosewood Casket”
11. “Farther Along”
Disc Two – Trio II
1. “Lover’s Return”
2. “High Sierra”
3. “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind”
4. “After the Gold Rush”
5. “The Blue Train”
6. “I Feel the Blues Movin’ In”
7. “You’ll Never Be The Sun”
8. “He Rode All The Way To Texas”
9. “Feels Like Home”
10. “When We’re Gone, Long Gone”
Disc Three – Bonus Material
1. “Wildflowers” (Alternate Take unreleased 1986)
2. “Waltz Across Texas Tonight” (Unreleased 1994)
3. “Lover’s Return” (Alternate Mix – Unreleased)
4. “Softly and Tenderly” (Unreleased 1994)
5. “Pleasant As May” (Unreleased 1986)
6. “My Dear Companion” (Alternate Take 1986)
7. “My Blue Tears” (Unreleased 1998)
8. “Making Plans” (Alternate Take 1986)
9. “I’ve Had Enough” (Alternate Mix 1986)
10. “Grey Funnel Line” (Unreleased 1986)
11. “You Don’t Knock” (Unreleased 1986)
12. “Where Will the Words Come From” (Unreleased 1985)
13. “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind” (Dolly Lead – Alternate Take 1994)
14. “Are You Tired of Me” (Unreleased 1986)
15. “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”
16. “Mr. Sandman”
17. “Handful of Dust” (Unreleased 1993)
18. “Calling My Children Home” (Unreleased Acapella Version 1986)
19. “White Snow” (Unreleased 1986)
20. “Farther Along” (Alternate Mix 1986)
My Dear Companion: Selections From The Trio Collection
1. “The Pain of Loving You”
2. “My Dear Companion”
3. “To Know Him Is To Love Him”
4. “Telling Me Lies”
5. “Farther Along”
6. ” Lover’s Return”
7. “After the Gold Rush”
8. “The Blue Train”
9. “You’ll Never Be the Sun”
10. “When We’re Gone, Long Gone”
11. “Waltz Across Texas Tonight” (Unreleased 1994)
12. “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind” (Dolly Lead – Alternate Take 1994)
13. “Wildflowers” (Alternate Take 1986)
14. “Calling My Children Home” (Unreleased a capella Version 1986)