Just Because I'm a Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton

DOLLY PARTON Just Because Im A Woman (2003 US 13-track CD album featuring well known artists covering Dollys tracks includes tracks from Melissa Etherisge Joan Osborne Shania Twain and Emmylou Harris also includes the title track performedby Dolly herself complete with lyric booklet picture sleeve SUG-CD-3980-A)

It’s Joan Osborne who sums it up best in the promotional material accompanying this tribute album: " Dolly Parton is a gifted artist cleverly disguised as a media superstar and sex bomb." Osborne’s got it right. Beyond and beneath Parton’s well-publicized and oft-caricatured curves and angles, lurks the heart and soul of one of modern country music’s very best songwriters--the best, perhaps, since the great Loretta Lynn. In fitting celebration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Just Because I’m A Woman, Parton’s very first solo album, contemporary leading ladies of country and pop, including Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, Shania Twain, Joan Osborne, Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris, and Sinead O’Connor have offered up worthy new interpretations of some of Parton’s classic compositions. That said, some of the highlights here are from lesser-known singers: Mindy Smith’s haunting rendition of "Jolene," Kasey Chambers’ bitter-sweet take on "Little Sparrow," and Allison Moorer’s tender turn on "Light Of A Clear Blue Morning." --Bob Allen