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On This Day in 1987, Three Legendary Voices Finally United for a No. 1 Country Album a Decade in the Making (And Sold Millions)
On this day (May 14) in 1987, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris were at No. 1 with their debut album Trio. The LP was roughly a decade in the making. They had attempted to record a collaborative project in the 1970s. However, scheduling conflicts and contractual obligations halted its release. Fortunately, their desire to collaborate didn’t fade.
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Parton, Ronstadt, and Harris started working on an album together in the mid-1970s. All three artists were at high points in their careers. As a result, it seemed like the perfect time for them to make a collaborative album. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards. Their busy solo careers led to many scheduling conflicts. Even if they’d found the time to get together to record a full album, they were all on different labels, which made releasing a collaboration complicated, if not impossible.
The roadblocks weren’t enough to keep them from trying, though. They held several recording sessions in the 1970s. Some of those songs even appeared on Ronstadt and Harris’ solo albums. Parton even teased the new group by inviting her collaborators to appear on her TV show. The trio performed “The Sweetest Gift” during an April 1976 episode.
Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris Finally Record Trio
“Honest to God, we don’t care if the radio never plays this record,” Ronstadt told Cashbox. “We’re happier if it does, because if the record sells, we can go make another record, and we’d like to do that. But we didn’t take any of that into consideration,” She added. “We deliberately did not invite anyone else to make suggestions. We wanted to do what we wanted to do.”
That resolve paid off. Trio was No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart for five consecutive weeks. It also reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 5 million copies worldwide. The album brought Parton, Ronstadt, and Harris the Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It also picked up Album of the Year from the ACM Awards and Vocal Event of the Year at the CMA Awards. Moreover, it led to another collaborative album in the 1990s.
Featured Image by Susan Watts/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
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