On This Day in 1976, Dolly Parton Introduced Country Music to a Supergroup That Would Release a Platinum Debut Album a Decade Later

On this day (April 27) in 1976, Dolly Parton welcomed her friends Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt to her TV show, Dolly. During the episode, they performed together for the first time. Behind the scenes, they had started working on a collaborative album. However, several roadblocks forced them to shelve the project for more than a decade.

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By the time Parton, Ronstadt, and Harris took the stage in front of a national TV audience, they were already friends. Moreover, they admired one another’s work. At the same time, they were three of the most popular women in country music. So, their musical partnership made sense. The business end of the music business made them put their eventual album on hold.

At the time, all three artists were recording for different labels. Parton was on RCA Victor, Harris was recording for Reprise, and Rondstadt was signed to Asylum. While Reprise and Asylum were both earned by the Warner Music Group, the future trio’s contractual obligations kept them from releasing an album.

[RELATED: Behind the Album: How Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris Formed an Unbeatable ‘Trio’]

“At the time, it was such an exciting idea that everybody got bent out of shape over it,” Parton told Cashbox. “All the managers and all the record labels, and everybody had a different opinion on what we should do. At the time, Linda was real hot with her rock and roll stuff and everybody thought, ‘Well, it’d be crazy to have Linda Ronstadt on a record not cash in on doing some rock things,” she added.

“It was obvious to us from the very beginning that it was a very traditional sound, that it wasn’t a particularly modern sound, and we like that,” Ronstadt told the publication.

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt Swapped Songs

The meddling from management and label executives didn’t keep Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris out of the studio. They recorded several songs during the 1970s. While their collaborative album, Trio, wouldn’t be released until the mid-1980s, some of the songs from the early sessions appeared on their solo albums.

“Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” appeared on Harris’ Blue Kentucky Girl. Harris also released “Mr. Sandman” and “Evangeline” for her album Evangeline. Later, “Palms of Victory” appeared in Harris’ Songbird box set. “My Blue Tears” appeared on Ronstadt’s Get Closer.

The Trio Album

Finally, after more than a decade, they released Trio in March 1987. Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt were able to make the album they wanted to release with no interference from managers or label executives. “Honest to god, we don’t care if the radio never plays this record,” Ronstadt said. “We are happier if it does, because if the record sells, we can go and make another record, and we’d like to do that. But we didn’t take any of that into consideration. In fact, we deliberately did not take any of those things into consideration,” she added. “And we deliberately did not invite anyone else to make suggestions. We wanted to do what we wanted to do.”

Trio spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart. Additionally, it peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. It has received Platinum certification from the RIAA.

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