Dolly Parton: Purely and Simply a Singing Legend

Dolly Parton's Pure & Simple is everything that can go right with a country music album. Every song was written by Dolly herself, adding a personal touch that is often missing when artists record songs written by other people. The music itself spans across decades, from Dolly's regular use of spoken word (which isn't something country listeners have regularly heard in years), to more upbeat songs with basic chord patterns that call to mind the country music of the '90s. There's music for fans of any country music era on Pure & Simple. 

Most of the album is stripped back to acoustic guitar, piano, steel guitar, and light percussion, which brings the subject matter to the forefront. Though Pure & Simple doesn't cover material as heavy as Lori McKenna's The Bird & the Rifle, that would be the album I would liken it to as far as production is concerned. Other instruments make appearances, but aren't so prevalent that it changes the stripped down feeling of the album in general. Overall, the production is excellent. Some songs are firmly entrenched in the sound of the '70s, such as "Say Forever You'll Be Mine," a classic tune the first appeared as the title track on a Dolly Parton/Porter Wagoner duet album in 1975, while songs like the title track could have arose from any era.

As far as subject matter is concerned, what strikes me most of all is that every song appears to be a song about love in its many capacities. Some tracks follow trajectories we've heard before, but the combination of Dolly's writing and singing raise them up a few notches. In the hands of lesser vocalists or writers, songs like "Pure and Simple" and "Kiss it (And Make it All Better)" would have been disastrous. I'm not sure if I've ever heard an entire album dedicated to love songs, but I must say that had I known what it was before listening to it, I'd have wagered that Pure & Simple would be overly cheesy and melodramatic. I'm happy to say that simply isn't the case.

As a vocalist, there are very few artists in Dolly Parton's league of musical prowess, spanning across genres. From the uniqueness of her voice, to her excellent use of vocalizations and techniques like vibrato, there just aren't many singers with her capabilities. She has this uncanny ability to make every note interesting. She can hit surreal high notes with ease, which is most evident on the album closer "Forever Love." There simply aren't many vocalists like Dolly Parton out there anymore.

While there are plenty of upbeat songs on Pure & Simple, it's the moments in which Dolly slows things down that shine the most. The aforementioned "Forever Love" crawls along beautifully to backing strings, while "Tomorrow is Forever" takes its sweet time and establishes itself as the deepest lyrical masterpiece on the album. "Can't Be That Wrong" is another standout, and touches on cheating in an unexpected way. To be frank, if Dolly were to write an album of songs like these three, I'd buy two copies right away because I'm sure I'd wear out the first in a matter of weeks.

Overall, Pure and Simple is a very good album that does a great job of spanning Dolly's career in the production and offers many differing perspectives on love. 8/10

*Written by Kellen Dobmeier, edited by April Dahlgren

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