Track Listing

1. Better Get to Livin'
2. Made of Stone
3. Drives Me Crazy
4. Backwoods Barbie
5. Jesus & Gravity
6. Only Dreamin'
7. Tracks of My Tears
8. Lonesomes
9. Cologne
10. Shinola
11. I Will Forever Hate Roses
12. Somebody's Everything

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5574 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Parton's first mainstream album in 17 years appeals to all her fans without sounding insincere or compromising. The title track, a fiddle-and-piano colored two-beat that's a sympathetic bit of autobiography, belies her campy doll-like cover pose. The debut single "Better Get to Livin'" is a page from her own upbeat canon, and when she's downhearted in the steel-guitar weeper "The Lonesomes" and the cocktail lounge arrangement "Made of Stone," she draws on the influence of earlier country queens like Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline. Parton's vocal tones remain equally pure, distinctive, and captivating over grinding six-string power chords as she blasts out Fine Young Cannibal's "Drives Me Crazy." She's especially affecting on a faithful rendition of Smokey Robinson's "The Tracks of My Tears." The bottom line is that Parton's one of America's greatest enduring vocal stylists, whether she's revisiting her roots in bluegrass or making commercial hay. --Ted Drozdowski

Customer Reviews

What is Wrong With Radio?
Dolly Parton has been making solid to brilliant albums for decades and we don't have to go into her crossover appeal that paved the way for Shania or how the Dixie Chicks have ridden her bubbly sheen of country to their own genre bending career, but we need to talk about how Country Radio has smacked this woman in the face and ignored her for helping to sustain it and bring in new listeners.

Dolly's new disc is great with some truly outstanding cuts. She didn't pen every song on the disc and there are covers. "Tracks of my Tears" sticks close to the Smokey Robinson original but I love it. Dolly's almost innocent vocal and the opening lines of that song fit her personality perfectly, giving a hidden wink and nod to the lyrics.

"Drives Me Crazy" gets a bit of a rework, more of a barn burner; it's cute and you won't skip it when you hear it. But the true foot stomper is "Shinola" Dolly's kiss off number with grit and wit -- showing Gretchen Wilson and Miranda Lambert how to kick a man out like a mule, but with class.

Then there are the outstanding songs. "Cologne" is worth the price of the disc alone, building from a sweet opening sigh then straight into a relationship where what most likely attracted the lover must be repressed to conceal their relationship. Then there is "Made of Stone," a 180 to the previous number, scorned love and with desperation in her voice with swelling back up singers pushing her along -- PERFECTION!

"The Lonesomes" and "I Will Forever Hate Roses" are the rest of the best. Dolly doesn't seem to be updating her sound, begging for radio acceptance. But it sounds like a great Dolly Parton album that somehow went unreleased when she was at her mainstream peak.

So many great country artists are just being ignored on the radio. She gets the ovations, she puts the butts in the seats, but when will radio give what listeners want? We want Dolly dang it!

BY FAR, One of the best this year
No exaggeration. Surrounded by other new releases this month that are not nearly as dynamic, "Backwoods Barbie" is a standout, and perhaps one of the greatest new releases this year. It has been a long time since I've purchased an album and listened to it without using the skip button. Every track is solid. For those of you who may not be a fan of this artist, forget this artist for a minute. It is simply the best in modern Country music. After spending the last few years exploring Bluegrass music, Dolly parton has returned to country, but this time somehow you can feel she's brought all she has learned from her vast musical history.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!
Dolly's "Backwoods Barbie" cd has so many great songs on it, and a little bit of something for a variety of musical tastes. The title track is a pure country Dolly autobiographical tune, while "She Drives Me Crazy" is a lot of fun for anyone who was young when the original version was released. "Jesus and Gravity" is such a wonderful, spiritual song, and probably will be up next to "He's Alive" out of her greatest gospel songs. Dolly sings her heart out on every song and puts so much emotion into each one. The overall feel of it is like her early 90's album "Hungry Again", but updated with a lot more musical styles, including the blues number "The Lonesomes". And I can't forget to mention the upbeat "Shinola" in which Dolly gives off some sass! I've been waiting for this cd for a while and I was not disappointed!