Those Were the Days

by Dolly Parton

Overview

Ever since signing with Sugar Hill in 1999, Dolly Parton has been on a hot streak, putting out a steady stream of rootsy albums that found her creatively re-energized. It all started with the all-bluegrass Grass Is Blue, which won a Grammy in 2000, and she worked a similar territory on the subsequent Little Sparrow (2001) and started to branch out a bit with Halos & Horns (2002), which remained in the acoustic realm but wasn't as strictly bluegrass. Now, with Those Were the Days, she breaks free of bluegrass in the strictest sense by recording an album of her favorite songs from the '60s and '70s. While this isn't traditional bluegrass by any means, it's still rootsy acoustic music, due to both the instrumentation and choice of songs, which are, with the exceptions of Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover" and John Lennon's "Imagine," firmly within the folk and folk-rock tradition of the '60s. Parton has also styled Those Were the Days as a duet album, inviting the original singers or songwriters when they were available, and bringing in newer singers when they were not (like Nickel Creek providing harmonies on Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," Norah Jones and Lee Ann Womack for "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," and Keith Urban for "Twelfth of Never"). The arrangements are at once tasteful, imaginative, and relatively unsurprising -- there are no left hooks, no electric sitars, or wah-wah guitars (although there is the trademark electric guitar tremolo on "Crimson and Clover"), just vivid, successful, slight reworkings of familiar songs that make them sound fresh again. Since Parton has been making strong acoustic records for six years now, this doesn't have the same impact as Grass Is Blue, but that doesn't mean that Those Were the Days is a bad record. Far from it, actually -- it's yet another very good album, one with no weak spots, from a revitalized Dolly Parton, who has turned into one of the more reliable country music veterans of the 2000s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/08/2024
Label:	Imports
UPC:	0843563173107

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Dolly Parton   Primary Artist,Vocals,Vocal Harmony
Brenda Lee   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
George Jones   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
David Foster   Primary Artist,Piano,Guest Artist
Roger McGuinn   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals,Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Rhonda Vincent   Primary Artist,Vocals
Nickel Creek   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals
Yusuf   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic)
Porter Wagoner   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Mary Hopkin   Primary Artist,Vocals
Sean Watkins   Primary Artist
Judy Collins   Primary Artist,Vocals,Guest Artist
Lee Ann Womack   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals
Tommy James   Primary Artist,Vocals,Guitar
Kris Kristofferson   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals
Keith Urban   Primary Artist,Vocals
Joe Nichols   Primary Artist,Vocals,Vocal Harmony
Chris Thile   Primary Artist,Mandolin,Guest Artist
Sara Watkins   Primary Artist
Norah Jones   Primary Artist,Vocals,Guest Artist
Bryan Sutton   Guitar,Guest Artist,Guitar (Acoustic)
Tony Rice   Guitar,Guest Artist,Guitar (Acoustic)
Viktor Krauss   Guitar (Bass),Bowed Bass,Guest Artist
Dan Tyminski   Vocals
Mindy Smith   Vocals
Alison Krauss   Vocals,Guest Artist
Pam Tillis   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Terry Eldredge   Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Vocals (Background)
Bob Mater   Drums,Percussion
Angel Cruz   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Kristin Wilkinson   Strings
Dave Fowler   Bass
Connie Ellisor   Strings
David Talbot   Banjo,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Pamela Sixfin   Strings
David Davidson   Strings
Jamie Johnson   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Richard Dennison   Vocals,Toy Piano,Wurlitzer,Organ (Hammond),Vocals (Background)
Jim Grosjean   Strings
Vicki Hampton   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Kent Wells   Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background),Vocals,6-String Bass,Guitar (Acoustic)
Jeannie Seely   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Sam Bush   Mandolin,Guest Artist
Lisa Cochran   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Kathy Stewart   Vocals,Children's Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Jim Hoke   Harmonica
Mel McDaniel   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Jimmy C. Newman   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Catherine Umstead   Strings
Tommy Lee James   Guest Artist,Guitar (Electric)
Emily Webb   Vocals,Children's Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Billy Joe Walker, Jr.   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Danny Roberts   Vocals,Mandolin,Vocals (Background)
Anna Wilson   Vocals,Children's Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Monisa Angell   Strings
Andy Hall   Harp,Dobro,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Anthony LaMarchina   Strings
Terry Smith   Bass
Jack Jezzro   Strings
Drew Cline   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Chuck Tilley   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Kim Fleming   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Jimmy Mattingly   Fiddle
Lisa Bevill   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Gary VanOsdale   Strings
Jack Green   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Mary Kathryn Van Osdale   Strings
Jan Howard   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Paul Hollowell   Piano
George Hamilton IV   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Robert Bailey, Jr.   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Opry Gang   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Kid Connection Inc.   Vocals,Children's Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Kristin Bauer   Vocals,Children's Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Doctor Ming Wang   Erhu,Guest Artist
Tony Smith   Piano
Carole Neuen-Rabinowitz   Strings
Jon Mark Ivey   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Duane Hamilton   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Joey Schmidt   Accordion
Phoebe Cryar   Vocals,Children's Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Callie Cryar   Vocals,Children's Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Tom Howard   Strings
Alan Umstead   Strings
Sasha Vosk   Director
Ilya Toshinsky   Banjo,Dulcimer,Guest Artist
Jennifer O'Brien   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Stuart Duncan   Fiddle,Guest Artist

Technical Credits

Alan Silverman   Audio Engineer,Engineer
Glenn Taylor   Audio Engineer
Kelly Pribble   Audio Engineer,Engineer
Matt Boynton   Audio Engineer,Engineer
Steve Davis   Audio Engineer,Engineer
Patrick Murphy   Engineer
Steve Buckingham   Artist Coordination
Aya Takemura   Assistant Engineer
Bob Dylan   Composer
Kristin Wilkinson   Music Copyist
Carl Gorodetzky   Strings Contractor
Jimmy Wisner   Producer
Fred Foster   Composer
Gene Raskin   Composer
Dolly Parton   Arranger,Producer
Greg Lawrence   Assistant Engineer
Cat Stevens   Composer
Kent Wells   Music Coordinator
John Lennon   Composer
Pete Seeger   Composer
Joni Mitchell   Composer
Peter Lucia   Composer
Scott Kidd   Assistant Engineer
Tim Hardin   Composer
Tommy Lee James   Producer
David Angell   Assistant Engineer
Tommy James   Composer
Mike Casteel   Music Copyist
Kris Kristofferson   Composer
Gary Paczosa   Engineer
David Foster   Composer
Yusuf   Composer
Lori Casteel   Music Copyist
Kyle Dickinson   Assistant Engineer
James Timothy Hardin   Composer
Benny Quinn   Mastering
Ira Parker   Montage
Cheryl Riddle   Hair Stylist
Dennis Carney   Photography
Courtney Blooding   Assistant Engineer
Reed "Mountain Man" Taylor   Engineer
Wendy Stamberger   Package Design
Tony Smith   String Arrangements
Seeger, Petersen + Marsalis   Composer
Neil Devor   Engineer
Sarah Jane Schmeltzer   Engineer
Valorie Cole   Make-Up
Robert Behar   Wardrobe
Adam Dye   Assistant Engineer
Leslie Richter   Assistant Engineer
Tom Howard   Choir Arrangement,String Arrangements
Lisa Reagan   Composer
Rose Sanico   Wardrobe
J. Carter Tutwiler   Engineer
Lesli Halingstad   Assistant
Emily Bree Stevenson   Composer