0:00:04 > 0:00:09# Jolene, Jolene Jolene, Jolene... #
0:00:09 > 0:00:12In the mid-'70s, Dolly Parton, the Tennessee mountain girl,
0:00:12 > 0:00:14was Nashville's leading female star.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Meanwhile, over in California,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20baby boomers were discovering their own kind of country.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24# I don't want your lonely mansion
0:00:24 > 0:00:27# With a tear in every room... #
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Linda Ronstadt, the West Coast country rock chick,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32was the biggest female pop star in America.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38And former folkie Emmylou Harris had gone from student to band leader
0:00:38 > 0:00:41and was taking country to the college crowd.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44# Oh, Amarillo
0:00:44 > 0:00:47# Now he won't come home no more... #
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Three women from different backgrounds,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53with different audiences, but sisters in song.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56# Silver threads and golden needles
0:00:56 > 0:00:59# Cannot mend this heart of mine... #
0:00:59 > 0:01:00Come in here.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03ALL: # Silver threads and golden needles
0:01:03 > 0:01:06# Cannot mend... #
0:01:06 > 0:01:09All of a sudden, it was like, "Oh, my goodness,
0:01:09 > 0:01:11"this is such a great sound!"
0:01:11 > 0:01:13It was like, "Bam!" That sound was there,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16and we just were all kind of shocked by it.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20# Well, he may know where I am sleeping
0:01:20 > 0:01:24# Then perhaps he'll wait for me... #
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Mainstream country had met West Coast cool
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and formed an unlikely alliance.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34'Emmy and Linda were both really shy and introverted girls.'
0:01:34 > 0:01:35Not Dolly. HE LAUGHS
0:01:35 > 0:01:37She was like shot out of a cannon.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Howdy, partners!
0:01:40 > 0:01:44For Dolly, it was a reaching out into a different audience.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49And for Linda and Emmylou, it was honouring the music of Dolly Parton.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51They could have come from different countries,
0:01:51 > 0:01:53but they all loved mountain music.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57She had this authenticity, with that mountain music, that we both loved.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00# Until the day
0:02:00 > 0:02:03# They lay me
0:02:03 > 0:02:07# Down. #
0:02:12 > 0:02:16'They came from Scotland and Ireland mostly.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18'Plainish people.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21'With dry humour and gunpowder tempers.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23'Sentimental, too.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28'Lovers of song and respecters of God.'
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Dolly Rebecca Parton was born and raised in East Tennessee,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34the fourth of 12 children. Growing up dirt poor,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37she had big ambitions and dreamt of becoming a star.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46She wrote her first song aged seven, and music was her route to the top.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49There's that mountain sound that those people sing.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52And that's just built in my whole body.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Those old mountain twirls and twists and things,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58it's just part of my Smoky Mountain DNA.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03In 1964, the 18-year-old Dolly headed to Nashville
0:03:03 > 0:03:05in the attempt to become a country star.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Everybody knew the Grand Ole Opry came from Nashville.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15It's kind of all the people that want to be on Broadway, it's like,
0:03:15 > 0:03:17"We want to go to New York."
0:03:17 > 0:03:20So if you're a country singer, you want to go to Nashville.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23To much of the rest of America, the South was stuck in the past.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26The home of hillbillies, where girl singers were second-class citizens.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Now, ladies and gentlemen, we'd like you to meet our little lady singer.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36She's an excellent songwriter, an outstanding artist.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40A very devoted wife and mother. A wonderful cook.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44She has a voice like an angel and a face to match.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Let's meet and greet our little lady singer, Loretta Lynn. Here she is.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54# I don't know your name
0:03:54 > 0:03:57# I wouldn't know your face
0:03:59 > 0:04:03# But you're out with the one I love
0:04:03 > 0:04:07# Out there someplace... #
0:04:07 > 0:04:10I loved Nashville because that's where I knew my dreams were
0:04:10 > 0:04:13going to come true, if they were going to come true at all,
0:04:13 > 0:04:14they were going to start there.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Dolly's combination of homespun songwriting and showbiz smarts
0:04:21 > 0:04:23made her popular with the Nashville audience,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25and she scooped a record deal.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28# Well, a good ways down the railroad track
0:04:28 > 0:04:30# There was this little old rundown shack
0:04:30 > 0:04:33# And in it lived a man I'd never seen
0:04:33 > 0:04:36# Folks said he was a mean and a vicious man
0:04:36 > 0:04:38# And you better not set foot on his land
0:04:38 > 0:04:41# But I didn't think nobody could be that mean... #
0:04:41 > 0:04:43I think Dolly always wanted to be a star,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47which I found incredibly sweet and innocent.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50You know, because she's done it. In an extraordinary way.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52But it comes from a place that's...
0:04:53 > 0:04:56When you're young and you have those dreams,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58and she was able to keep hold of that.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02'And now, in colour, it's The Porter Wagoner Show,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04'starring Porter Wagoner and the Wagonmasters,
0:05:04 > 0:05:06'with Speck Rhodes and Dolly Parton.'
0:05:06 > 0:05:09# We're so glad to see you Kinda wondered how you been... #
0:05:09 > 0:05:12And in 1967, Dolly became the girl singer
0:05:12 > 0:05:14for one of Nashville's biggest stars.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21Thank you, Dolly, and all the boys there, for helping me out.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Dolly Parton had cut her teeth
0:05:23 > 0:05:27as the featured female artist in The Porter Wagoner Show.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31It was a very traditional type of role for a female artist.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36Often they weren't headliners. Even, you know, by the late 1960s,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39only a handful of female artists had really headlined their own show.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45# It's a lesson too late for the learning
0:05:45 > 0:05:49# Made of sand, made of sand
0:05:49 > 0:05:53# In the wink of an eye my soul is turning
0:05:53 > 0:05:57# In your hand, in your hand... #
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Over on the East Coast, 19-year-old folk music lover
0:06:00 > 0:06:05Emmylou Harris was getting switched on to the music of this country duo.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08My brother was a big country music fan.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11And he said, "I want to play you something."
0:06:11 > 0:06:13And it was Dolly and Porter,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16but they were doing a Tom Paxton song, The Last Thing On My Mind.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19# I could have loved you better
0:06:19 > 0:06:21# Didn't mean to be unkind
0:06:21 > 0:06:25# You know that was the last thing on my mind... #
0:06:25 > 0:06:27I loved those duets with Porter.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30And of course Dolly's voice on that is so...
0:06:30 > 0:06:31When she sang with Porter,
0:06:31 > 0:06:35it was such a beautiful springboard for her voice.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37# My coat of many colours
0:06:37 > 0:06:40# That my papa made for me
0:06:40 > 0:06:43# Made only from rags
0:06:43 > 0:06:46# But I wore it so proudly... #
0:06:46 > 0:06:49When a young Linda Ronstadt visited Nashville,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52she discovered Dolly was smarter than she chose to appear.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55I was invited to the Grand Ole Opry when I was in Tennessee,
0:06:55 > 0:06:56and Dolly was on stage
0:06:56 > 0:06:59singing with about a million petticoats in her skirt,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03just stacked out to there, her hair all up to there and her high heels.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05And she just looked like a beautiful Christmas tree.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09I mean, it was just a sight to behold, she was gorgeous.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11# I know we had no money
0:07:11 > 0:07:13# But I was rich as I could be
0:07:13 > 0:07:16# In my coat of many colours
0:07:16 > 0:07:20# My momma made for me
0:07:20 > 0:07:22# Made just for me. #
0:07:22 > 0:07:25She said, "Don't think I'm dumb just because I'm so country."
0:07:25 > 0:07:29It had not occurred to me that she was dumb. Anything but, you know?
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Dolly Parton was the Queen of Nashville, and now she had
0:07:38 > 0:07:42her eyes on a bigger prize, and nothing was going to stop her.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45She was definitely on the rise as a female country star.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49But the wider pop world didn't really know about her so much then.
0:07:51 > 0:07:52Up until this point in history,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55country music is sort of by and for adults.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58The music wasn't attractive to the vast youth market.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03'One, two, three, four!'
0:08:03 > 0:08:04FANS SCREAM
0:08:04 > 0:08:07While Dolly was conquering Nashville, the Beatles were
0:08:07 > 0:08:11igniting the rest of America, and a new generation was emerging.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15'But the pandemonium created by the 3,000 teenagers on hand
0:08:15 > 0:08:18'to greet the sortie of Britain's bristling Beatles
0:08:18 > 0:08:21'is something one might expect from a collision of planets.'
0:08:21 > 0:08:25Born in Arizona in 1946, the same year as Dolly Parton,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Linda Ronstadt was a classic '60s kid who'd grown up on '50s radio.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Across the border in Mexico were these huge transmitters,
0:08:34 > 0:08:37they could transmit stations that came from Tennessee
0:08:37 > 0:08:39or came from Chicago, came from New York.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43They would have been illegal if they had been on this side of the line, but they were across in Mexico.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52I listened to black gospel, white gospel, country music, rock'n'roll.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54And then of course tons of Mexican music,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57because we were right there on the border, my family is Mexican.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Everybody in my family played and sang,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02including my grandmother and my great-aunts.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05They'd all, you know, play anything from operatic arias
0:09:05 > 0:09:07to Mexican love songs.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09My sister would sing the latest Hank Williams songs,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11or the latest rock'n'roll songs.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13It was really great, I liked that. Very eclectic.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Linda left Tucson in 1964 after dropping out of college at 18,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26and went west, like so many of her generation.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39'60s kid Linda was drawn to Los Angeles and the Troubadour,
0:09:39 > 0:09:40which might as well have been
0:09:40 > 0:09:43a million miles away from the Grand Ole Opry.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47It was just the place to be seen and to play.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50And the main reason was that it had open mic night.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53# So you want to be a rock'n'roll star?
0:09:53 > 0:09:57# Then listen now to what I say
0:09:57 > 0:09:59# Just get an electric guitar
0:09:59 > 0:10:01# And take some time... #
0:10:01 > 0:10:05You could go and sort of audition and sing and perform
0:10:05 > 0:10:07on an open mic night, you know?
0:10:07 > 0:10:09And get a job there opening for some bigger act.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11# Then it's time to go downtown... #
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Everyone assumes when there's any kind of musical movement
0:10:14 > 0:10:17that the members of it all necessarily hang out together
0:10:17 > 0:10:19and know each other, and sing together and play together,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21and often it's not really the case,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24but in LA it was the case. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:10:24 > 0:10:25Everybody was there -
0:10:25 > 0:10:31Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Carole King, James Taylor, The Byrds...
0:10:31 > 0:10:34There was this huge hodgepodge of great writers,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38and everybody that came into LA would drift through the Troubadour.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41It was at the Troubadour that Linda's band, the Stone Poneys,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44were signed after being spotted performing at a hoot.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49# You and I travel to the beat of a different drum
0:10:49 > 0:10:53# Oh, can't you tell by the way I run
0:10:53 > 0:10:57# Every time you make eyes at me?
0:10:57 > 0:10:58# It's true... #
0:10:58 > 0:11:01It was Linda that stood out.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Somebody had told me that there was this amazing girl singer
0:11:04 > 0:11:10who was, like, had this voice of extraordinary power and beauty,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13and also, you know, sang in bare feet and short shorts
0:11:13 > 0:11:16and was incredibly hot, and it was all true.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18That was the first time I heard her sing,
0:11:18 > 0:11:19and I was completely blown away.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23# Saying I'm not ready for any person... #
0:11:23 > 0:11:26The main things that stand out about Linda's voice,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30and I think it's one of the iconic voices in American music
0:11:30 > 0:11:32of our time, is the power.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35# Oh, goodbye
0:11:35 > 0:11:39# I'll be leaving I see no sense... #
0:11:39 > 0:11:42For me, this is not a very large girl.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46She's a small girl and yet her voice is beyond powerful.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49That's what struck me about hearing her voice for the first time.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51I was just drawn to it.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53Ladies and gentlemen, the Troubadour
0:11:53 > 0:11:55is proud to present Linda Ronstadt.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58APPLAUSE
0:11:58 > 0:12:04In 1968, Linda left the Stone Poneys and set about finding her niche.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07The record company Capitol was a little confused about
0:12:07 > 0:12:10should she go pure country or should she do rock?
0:12:12 > 0:12:16So combining those two things helped Linda, I think,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20fuse the elements of country and rock into her style,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23and I think led to most of what she did later.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27This is a song I learned from Patsy Cline,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29and it's called I Fall To Pieces.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Linda embraced country, and she gave it a new kind of hipness,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37which saw it reaching out to the West Coast kids.
0:12:37 > 0:12:44# I fall to pieces
0:12:45 > 0:12:52# Each time someone speaks your name... #
0:12:52 > 0:12:54I always turn back to what was in the living room
0:12:54 > 0:12:57in my childhood home before I was aged ten.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59If I didn't hear it by the time I was ten,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01I really couldn't do it with any authenticity.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04MUSIC: Don't Think Twice, It's All Right by Joan Baez
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Born just a year after Linda and Dolly was a singer
0:13:10 > 0:13:13who would go on to become one of their greatest collaborators.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Emmylou Harris was raised a middle-class child of
0:13:16 > 0:13:18a military family in the suburbs of North Carolina.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Unlike Dolly and Linda, she didn't have a musical upbringing.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27I didn't grow up in a family where people sang. I was the only one.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29I was, kind of, the weirdo.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34# When the rooster crows at the break of dawn... #
0:13:34 > 0:13:37College student Emmylou was inspired by the music of John Baez
0:13:37 > 0:13:40and Bob Dylan, and the protest songs rallying against the unrest
0:13:40 > 0:13:42of mid-'60s America.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47# But don't think twice It's all right. #
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Aspiring folk singer Emmylou headed east
0:13:52 > 0:13:55to the Greenwich Village folk scene of the late '60s.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58# Calliope calling
0:13:58 > 0:14:03# Children are falling in line to ride on the merry-go-round
0:14:03 > 0:14:05# People are passing
0:14:05 > 0:14:07# Children are laughing
0:14:07 > 0:14:11# They want to ride on the merry-go-round... #
0:14:11 > 0:14:14'Folk music drew me in through the storytelling.'
0:14:14 > 0:14:16# Every ride is just the same... #
0:14:16 > 0:14:19'I decided to try to go to New York and try to be a folk singer
0:14:19 > 0:14:21'after dropping out of college.'
0:14:21 > 0:14:25# There is room for everyone... #
0:14:25 > 0:14:30There were so many of us at my age who had long hair and wanted
0:14:30 > 0:14:34to be Joan Baez, but there'll only ever be one Joan Baez.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38# Sometimes right and sometimes wrong
0:14:38 > 0:14:43# You'll end up where you belong... #
0:14:43 > 0:14:45I dabbled in country, but mainly I...
0:14:45 > 0:14:47To my shame, I kind of did it as a joke.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50563, 30, 30...
0:14:50 > 0:14:53At the dawn of a new decade, Nashville's country fell on
0:14:53 > 0:14:55one side of a divided nation -
0:14:55 > 0:14:58middle America versus the nation's youth.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03# We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee
0:15:05 > 0:15:09# We don't take our trips on LSD
0:15:12 > 0:15:17# We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street
0:15:19 > 0:15:23# Cos we like livin' right and bein' free... #
0:15:25 > 0:15:29But Emmylou was about to discover the poetry of classic honky-tonk.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33How I went from folk to country is Gram Parsons.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36MUSIC: Christine's Tune by The Flying Burrito Brothers
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Gram Parsons saw the soul in country
0:15:39 > 0:15:42and championed it in his own unique rock'n'roll way.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46# She's a devil in disguise
0:15:46 > 0:15:50# You can see it in her eyes... #
0:15:50 > 0:15:55Gram had a kind of a cult audience, you know, he...
0:15:55 > 0:15:57From The Byrds' Sweetheart Of The Rodeo,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00and then The Flying Burrito Brothers,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03there was definitely a, sort of,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05a country audience of kids who, like myself,
0:16:05 > 0:16:10hadn't really grown up with it, but Gram kind of made it cool.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12The Southern California country rock scene, you know,
0:16:12 > 0:16:17it was country music being played by longhairs for the first time,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20because, you know, Nashville was more conservative.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25# We're gonna hold on... #
0:16:26 > 0:16:29Wild child Gram was one of the West Coast rockers
0:16:29 > 0:16:31who took influence from Nashville's stars
0:16:31 > 0:16:34and wanted to find his very own girl singer.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38# We're gonna ho-o-o-old on... #
0:16:38 > 0:16:40We talked and he said, "I'm going to make a record
0:16:40 > 0:16:42"and I want to find someone to sing with."
0:16:42 > 0:16:44I said, "There's a wonderful woman working out of
0:16:44 > 0:16:47"Washington DC, Emmylou Harris. You need to call her up."
0:16:47 > 0:16:49# The mention of... #
0:16:49 > 0:16:53I was thinking to myself, "OK, well, let's see if she can cut it or not,"
0:16:53 > 0:16:56so I thought of one of the hardest country duets
0:16:56 > 0:16:58I could think of to do,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01which was That's All It Took.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05# I tried so hard
0:17:05 > 0:17:07# To let you go
0:17:07 > 0:17:09# But look... #
0:17:09 > 0:17:15And she just sang like a bird, and I said, "Well, that's it."
0:17:15 > 0:17:18And I sang with her the rest of the night,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20and then she just kept getting better and better.
0:17:20 > 0:17:26BOTH: # And when today I heard them say your name
0:17:26 > 0:17:31# That's all it took... #
0:17:32 > 0:17:34I just got into it, I mean,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and became a convert -
0:17:37 > 0:17:40almost obnoxious convert.
0:17:40 > 0:17:45He introduced her to the passion of...
0:17:45 > 0:17:48the poetry involved in country music.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51# Ooh
0:17:51 > 0:17:53# Las Vegas
0:17:53 > 0:17:57# Ain't no place for a poor boy like me... #
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Gram gave Emmylou country music.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Emmylou, in turn, gave Gram the most wonderful singer -
0:18:05 > 0:18:07duet singer - he could find.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09# Every time I hit your crystal city
0:18:09 > 0:18:12# You know you're gonna make a wreck out of me... #
0:18:14 > 0:18:16When I was learning about country,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18I felt, "This is something I'm really good at."
0:18:18 > 0:18:23You know, I felt like I had found my place, somehow.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26What she brought to him was a stability -
0:18:26 > 0:18:31a stable factor in getting him focused,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33cos I couldn't. I tried!
0:18:33 > 0:18:40MUSIC: Six Days On The Road by The Flying Burrito Brothers
0:18:40 > 0:18:42# Well, I pulled out of Pittsburgh
0:18:42 > 0:18:44# Rollin' down the eastern seaboard... #
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Emmylou paid her dues on the road with Gram and the Fallen Angels,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52and it was in a Texan honky-tonk
0:18:52 > 0:18:55that her friendship with Linda began in 1973.
0:18:55 > 0:18:56We were in Texas.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59We were in Houston with the Neil Young tour
0:18:59 > 0:19:01and I heard that Gram and Emmy were in town.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04We ran into their road manager in the lobby of the hotel,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06and so we all decided that we'd go down
0:19:06 > 0:19:08to see their show after our show.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15# It was 40 or 50 years ago
0:19:17 > 0:19:21# A big shot played with time... #
0:19:21 > 0:19:23And so we went to this biker bar where they were playing,
0:19:23 > 0:19:25and I was worried I wouldn't be able to hear Emmy properly,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27cos it was a really rowdy, noisy place,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30but the minute she started singing, the place just went dead quiet
0:19:30 > 0:19:34and everybody just had this worshipful attitude, you know?
0:19:36 > 0:19:42# When you saw him talk his way
0:19:42 > 0:19:46# Was when he showed his claws... #
0:19:46 > 0:19:49When the two of them were onstage, it was like a musical love affair.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51They were just so focused.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53They had their mics set so that they could look right at each other,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56you know? And they would just follow each other exactly.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59It was a lovely, lovely musical thing.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03# Ooh-ooh
0:20:03 > 0:20:06# The new soft shoe
0:20:11 > 0:20:16# Ooh, the new soft shoe
0:20:16 > 0:20:17# Yeah... #
0:20:17 > 0:20:20And I had a little fleeting moment when I thought,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22"She's doing what I'm doing but she's doing it better."
0:20:22 > 0:20:25And I thought, "I can feel jealous or I can just really love her
0:20:25 > 0:20:27"like everybody else does."
0:20:27 > 0:20:30# The new soft shoe... #
0:20:31 > 0:20:33The admiration was mutual.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36I had seen her in New York,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40in my struggling Joan Baez wannabe days in the Village
0:20:40 > 0:20:42and had seen her, actually, perform,
0:20:42 > 0:20:44was incredibly jealous,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and did not actually meet her.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50But Gram knew Linda, and I was introduced,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and that became a very important relationship for me,
0:20:53 > 0:20:54as a friendship.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59MUSIC: Boulder To Birmingham by Emmylou Harris
0:21:01 > 0:21:06# I don't want to hear a love song... #
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Their friendship deepened in September 1973,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14when Emmylou's mentor Gram died from an overdose at just 26 years old.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18# And I know there's life below me... #
0:21:18 > 0:21:23When Gram died, Emmylou, along with everyone else, was shattered.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27I'd thought I was going to spend quite a lot of my life
0:21:27 > 0:21:28singing with Gram.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34# And I don't want to hear a sad story
0:21:36 > 0:21:41# Full of heartbreak and desire... #
0:21:41 > 0:21:45I was the beneficiary of the fact that he went before me
0:21:45 > 0:21:49and, kind of, left me this, you know,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52this place that he had vacated.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56And I just had to figure out how to continue,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58and I had a lot of help.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00It was very hard on Emmy,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04and she came out to stay with me for a while in Los Angeles.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06Emmylou confronted her grief in song,
0:22:06 > 0:22:10and wrote the anthemic Boulder To Birmingham and played it to Linda.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13# I watched it burn... #
0:22:13 > 0:22:16She sat down in the living room and played me that song,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18I almost fell over.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20I mean, that's a really strong piece of material.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24# I would rock my soul
0:22:24 > 0:22:28# In the bosom of Abraham... #
0:22:28 > 0:22:32And it broke my heart that Emmy had to go through what she had to go through to write about it,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36but it really established her as a serious songwriter.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40# I would walk all the way
0:22:40 > 0:22:43# From Boulder to Birmingham
0:22:43 > 0:22:47# If I thought I could see
0:22:47 > 0:22:51# I could see your face... #
0:22:54 > 0:22:55# Well, you really got... #
0:22:55 > 0:22:57'Bringing me out to sing on her records,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59'having me come and sing at her shows -
0:22:59 > 0:23:01'she did a lot for me,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05'as the incredibly generous person that she is.'
0:23:05 > 0:23:08This was right before everything broke through for Linda,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11you know, who became the biggest rock star in the world.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14# Feelin' better
0:23:14 > 0:23:16# Now that we're through
0:23:16 > 0:23:21# Feelin' better cos I'm over you... #
0:23:21 > 0:23:24With the addition of Peter Asher as Linda's manager and record producer,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28her retro song choices and polished sound saw her star ascend.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31# Oh, you're no good You're no good
0:23:31 > 0:23:32# You're no good
0:23:32 > 0:23:35# Baby, you're no good
0:23:35 > 0:23:37# I'm going to say it again
0:23:37 > 0:23:40# You're no good You're no good... #
0:23:40 > 0:23:41She was doing both styles at that time,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44both the rockier stuff and the country stuff,
0:23:44 > 0:23:49and so radio embraced that single and it was a big, big hit.
0:23:49 > 0:23:55# When will I be loved? #
0:23:55 > 0:23:58She had hit single after hit single, huge tours...
0:23:58 > 0:24:02She was - no argument about it -
0:24:02 > 0:24:05the biggest female artist in rock at the time.
0:24:05 > 0:24:11# When will I be
0:24:12 > 0:24:16# Loved? #
0:24:16 > 0:24:20Meanwhile, Emmylou was forging a solo career out of California,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23leading a hot band and an eclectic songbook that took in
0:24:23 > 0:24:26classic country and rock'n'roll.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29She brought to the country music audience, maybe,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33a more younger take on, you know, what a country singer,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36a young female country singer, could be.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39# Oh, Amarillo
0:24:39 > 0:24:41# What you want my baby for? #
0:24:41 > 0:24:46As far as country-slash- rock-and-roll fusion happening,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49that was a really electrifying band.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51They could really play,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54and Emmylou was right out in front of that
0:24:54 > 0:24:57just with an enormous amount of energy
0:24:57 > 0:25:00and an enormous amount of focus.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03The sisterhood was set to expand when Emmylou and Linda discovered
0:25:03 > 0:25:08they shared a mutual appreciation of the girl from Tennessee.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11There weren't that many girl singers out there, so, you know,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15you'd think, "This is a like soul. I want to know who influences her.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17"Who is the most important person?"
0:25:17 > 0:25:21She wanted to know that about me and our answer was Dolly Parton.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25APPLAUSE
0:25:25 > 0:25:28# Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
0:25:28 > 0:25:30# Jolene
0:25:30 > 0:25:35# I'm begging of you Please don't take my man
0:25:36 > 0:25:39# Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
0:25:39 > 0:25:42# Jolene
0:25:42 > 0:25:45# Please don't take him just because you can... #
0:25:45 > 0:25:47Back in the South, as Linda and Emmylou were taking country to
0:25:47 > 0:25:51a rock crowd, Dolly was about to take classic country to the world.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54We'd both heard Jolene on the radio and gone,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57"Oh, my God, this girl can really sing." You know?
0:25:57 > 0:25:59She was singing like she was singing, I was just knocked out.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01# Your smile is like a breath of spring
0:26:01 > 0:26:04# Your voice is soft like summer rain
0:26:04 > 0:26:07# And I cannot compete with you, Jolene... #
0:26:07 > 0:26:09Sort of like that.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11We loved her songwriting.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14But we... Mainly we loved her voice.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16# Nothin' I can do to keep from cryin'... #
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Dolly's voice goes into that incredibly beautiful,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21lovely, sparkly place.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23# Oh, and I can easily understand
0:26:23 > 0:26:25# How you could easily take my man
0:26:25 > 0:26:30# But you don't know what he means to me, Jolene... #
0:26:30 > 0:26:33In 1974, after seven years with Porter,
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Dolly decided to go it alone.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Nashville's Music Row is buzzing today over
0:26:37 > 0:26:39yesterday's bombshell announcement -
0:26:39 > 0:26:43the $3 million lawsuit by Porter Wagoner against Dolly Parton.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46The suit charges Dolly with breach of contract.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Dolly had a lot of faith in herself.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Dolly believed she could do it on her own.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53It was very nervy, though,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56for a woman in country music to do what she did,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59which was to break out of her mentor's shadow,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01which was Porter Wagoner, leave his show,
0:27:01 > 0:27:06go out on her own as a solo artist and try to make it on her own.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Dolly got herself big-time LA management
0:27:08 > 0:27:11and went Hollywood with her own country show.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Ladies and gentlemen, Dolly Parton. APPLAUSE
0:27:15 > 0:27:18The attitude in Nashville at the time was,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20"Well, she's leaving country music and we don't like her,"
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and, you know, this and that. And Dolly famously said,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26"I'm not leaving country - I'm taking it with me,"
0:27:26 > 0:27:28which is exactly what she did.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30# Jolene
0:27:30 > 0:27:31# Jolene... #
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Country was the blue-collar sound of the rural South, so it seemed
0:27:34 > 0:27:39unlikely that a cool country curator would be captivated by Dolly.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43This next song, um, is written by Dolly Parton.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49She did Dolly's song Coat Of Many Colours every night,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52and, you know, her eyes would sparkle.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55You know, like, "I'm doing a Dolly Parton song."
0:27:55 > 0:27:57# Back through the years
0:27:57 > 0:28:01# I go wanderin' once again
0:28:02 > 0:28:07# Back to the seasons of my youth I recall... #
0:28:07 > 0:28:10'Coat Of Many Colours was... It had become'
0:28:10 > 0:28:12one of my favourite songs when I got into country.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16And, of course, there was a certain folk element to Dolly, too,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19because a lot of her writing was very storytelling.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22# Momma sewed the rags together
0:28:22 > 0:28:25# Sewin' every piece with love
0:28:25 > 0:28:29# She made my coat of many colours
0:28:29 > 0:28:32# That I was so proud of... #
0:28:32 > 0:28:34To her audience, you know,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37which was counterculture audience, really, at the time,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40it was like, "And I'm introducing you to this great artist
0:28:40 > 0:28:42"that you may not know about."
0:28:42 > 0:28:45# Though we didn't have much money
0:28:45 > 0:28:47# I was rich as I could be... #
0:28:47 > 0:28:50I had no idea they knew me or liked me.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53I just remembered loving their records.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55# Momma made for me... #
0:28:55 > 0:28:59A shared interest in harmony led to them becoming friends.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02I first invited Dolly when she came out to California,
0:29:02 > 0:29:05cos she was still living in Nashville, and when I knew
0:29:05 > 0:29:08she was coming over, the first thing I did was call Linda.
0:29:08 > 0:29:09I said, "I'll be right there,"
0:29:09 > 0:29:12so I got in my car and zoomed over as fast as I could.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14And, you know, they were sitting on the sofa talking,
0:29:14 > 0:29:17and I came in, and we talked for a second, then the guitar came out.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19And they were all excited to meet me.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21I was all excited to meet them.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23And so we said, "Well, we have to sing something."
0:29:23 > 0:29:25And we started singing the Carter Family song,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Bury Me Beneath The Willow.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33# Bury me beneath the willow
0:29:33 > 0:29:36# Under the weeping willow tree
0:29:36 > 0:29:41# Where he may know where I am sleeping
0:29:41 > 0:29:45# And perhaps he'll weep for me... #
0:29:45 > 0:29:47And all of a sudden, it was like,
0:29:47 > 0:29:52"Oh, my goodness! This is such a great sound."
0:29:52 > 0:29:55And it was like, bam! That sound was there, and we were just...
0:29:55 > 0:29:57We were all kind of shocked by it. We just went,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00"Wow, that's really something that's different from what we usually do
0:30:00 > 0:30:03"with other musicians that we jam and play and sing with."
0:30:03 > 0:30:04Let's do it again.
0:30:04 > 0:30:10ALL: # Won't you bury me beneath the willow... #
0:30:10 > 0:30:13In 1976, the trio took their sound public
0:30:13 > 0:30:15when Dolly invited them onto her show.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17That particular episode was different
0:30:17 > 0:30:19than all of the other Dolly episodes.
0:30:19 > 0:30:25The other Dolly episodes had kind of fakey banter and jokes and junk
0:30:25 > 0:30:29and this one, of all of the shows in that series,
0:30:29 > 0:30:31was the most purely musical.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33My momma used to sing a song called The Sweetest Gift,
0:30:33 > 0:30:35when she was a little girl,
0:30:35 > 0:30:37and she loved the record that you and Linda had on it and
0:30:37 > 0:30:40she asked me if I'd have you sing it today, so would you do that? Sure.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44Well, OK. This is for your momma. Right. And for mine.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50# One day a mother... APPLAUSE
0:30:50 > 0:30:54# ..went to a prison
0:30:54 > 0:31:00# To see an erring but precious son
0:31:00 > 0:31:03# She told the warden
0:31:03 > 0:31:06# How much she loved him... #
0:31:06 > 0:31:09Linda came from a singing family and you certainly came from
0:31:09 > 0:31:13a singing family. I definitely did, yeah. So I was really loving it.
0:31:13 > 0:31:20# She did not bring to him a parole or pardon
0:31:20 > 0:31:23# She brought no silver Brought no... #
0:31:23 > 0:31:25As eager students of Dolly,
0:31:25 > 0:31:29Emmylou and Linda were excited by what she added to the music.
0:31:29 > 0:31:34The uniting thread is the mountain heritage.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37The Appalachian sound that Dolly just brings naturally to the music,
0:31:37 > 0:31:39because that's who she is.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41# ..a mother's smile
0:31:41 > 0:31:47# She left a smile you can remember
0:31:47 > 0:31:55# She's gone to heaven from heartache free... #
0:31:55 > 0:32:00'She had this authenticity for that mountain music that we both loved,
0:32:00 > 0:32:02'but didn't feel we had the right...'
0:32:02 > 0:32:05Yes, we would sing it, but she was the real deal.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07# ..and e'er will be... #
0:32:07 > 0:32:11She came out of the foothills and mountains of eastern Tennessee,
0:32:11 > 0:32:19with the real thing and I think, if you add that to the mix of...
0:32:19 > 0:32:25Emmy and Linda's relationship, it's like there's the...
0:32:25 > 0:32:28your gender's Mount Rushmore!
0:32:28 > 0:32:35# The sweetest gift A mother's smile
0:32:35 > 0:32:37# The sweetest gift
0:32:37 > 0:32:44# A mother's smile... #
0:32:44 > 0:32:48APPLAUSE Ooh, I love that!
0:32:48 > 0:32:50'We really enjoyed each other's company.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52'It just seemed fun at the time.'
0:32:52 > 0:32:55I don't remember there being any trauma
0:32:55 > 0:32:58or worrying about the lighting or anything, because we were so young
0:32:58 > 0:33:01and we knew we looked good and we didn't have to worry about anything.
0:33:01 > 0:33:02SHE LAUGHS
0:33:02 > 0:33:04Where are you?
0:33:04 > 0:33:07What are you doing in the audience?
0:33:07 > 0:33:09It's the only way we could get anything to eat.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12Oh, ha-ha! And we wanted to see the show from here.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14'Dolly Parton is larger than life
0:33:14 > 0:33:17'from the moment you lay eyes on her.'
0:33:18 > 0:33:21She was exotic!
0:33:21 > 0:33:26Er, taking nothing away from Linda or Emmylou,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29they were kind of girl next door,
0:33:29 > 0:33:31they were the really cute girls from down the street, you know,
0:33:31 > 0:33:33who could sing like birds.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38# Play a song for me Applejack, Applejack
0:33:38 > 0:33:42# Play a song for me and I'll sing... #
0:33:42 > 0:33:46It wasn't only the viewers that were treated to this unlikely grouping.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50Musically, it opened up a whole new audience for all involved.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57# I'd go down to Applejack's just almost every day, we'd sit and... #
0:33:57 > 0:34:01'Although we were mismatched, in the worlds we came from,'
0:34:01 > 0:34:04once we opened our mouths to sing, you know,
0:34:04 > 0:34:08even though we didn't look like we would fit together,
0:34:08 > 0:34:11when you heard us, you felt it and you saw it.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16# Play a song for me Applejack, Applejack
0:34:16 > 0:34:20# Play a song Let your banjo ring... #
0:34:21 > 0:34:24'The idea of Linda and Dolly and Emmylou
0:34:24 > 0:34:27'appearing on television together was a big deal.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29'It drew in three disparate audiences.'
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Linda brought her audience, er, Emmy hers
0:34:32 > 0:34:34and Dolly, of course, it was her show.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38Clap your hands with us! # Play a song for me... #
0:34:38 > 0:34:41I think television did things like that for commercial reasons,
0:34:41 > 0:34:45but artistically, it ended up being incredibly helpful
0:34:45 > 0:34:47to all three of them as well.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou, for Dolly, were street cred.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53'Really intense street cred.'
0:34:53 > 0:34:56# Play a song for me... #
0:34:56 > 0:34:57'For Linda and Emmylou,
0:34:57 > 0:35:02'it was honouring the authenticity of the music of Dolly Parton.'
0:35:02 > 0:35:04Look, this is a brilliant artist,
0:35:04 > 0:35:06you know, and I think the rest of the world
0:35:06 > 0:35:08has come around to that point of view.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12I think Emmy and Linda just saw it before the rest of the world did.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14Aw!
0:35:14 > 0:35:17APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:35:18 > 0:35:21That buzz, we just felt...
0:35:21 > 0:35:24At that moment, we all said, "We have to make a record!"
0:35:24 > 0:35:26We just wanted to do it for the music and we didn't know that
0:35:26 > 0:35:29it would be successful, we didn't care, we just wanted to do it.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32SHE LAUGHS We figured we'd earned the right.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37In 1979, setting time aside from their solo careers, the trio began
0:35:37 > 0:35:41laying down tracks with Emmylou's husband, producer Brian Ahern.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44# Mr Sandman
0:35:44 > 0:35:46# Bring me a dream
0:35:46 > 0:35:50# Make him the cutest that I've ever seen... #
0:35:50 > 0:35:52But it soon became obvious
0:35:52 > 0:35:56that, musically, the approach they took wasn't working out.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59We got above our raison a little bit, because, all of a sudden,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02we thought, "Man, we could make a great pop record."
0:36:02 > 0:36:04# ..I'm so alone... #
0:36:04 > 0:36:06But Brian just said, "This is a mistake.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09"This should almost be an acoustic record."
0:36:09 > 0:36:12It just wasn't how we had hoped to hear ourselves.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14It wasn't the right setting.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17We all kind of agreed. He's a very good producer,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20but it just, you know, it was a swing and a miss.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23So, we kind of retreated into our corners
0:36:23 > 0:36:25to figure out what to do next.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28In the early '80s, their careers continued on.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31Emmylou's passion still lay in roots country
0:36:31 > 0:36:34and she relocated to Nashville.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36# Well, it comes to he who waits, I'm told
0:36:36 > 0:36:41# But I don't need it when I'm old and grey
0:36:41 > 0:36:43# Yeah, I want it today... #
0:36:44 > 0:36:48Linda, meanwhile, continued to prove she was a musical jukebox
0:36:48 > 0:36:51with her versatility as she moved into the '80s...
0:36:51 > 0:36:54# I know something about love
0:36:54 > 0:36:58# You gotta want it bad If that guy's got into... #
0:36:58 > 0:37:01..adding New Wave and even the Great American Songbook
0:37:01 > 0:37:03to her repertoire.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07# I have got a crush
0:37:08 > 0:37:12# My baby, on...
0:37:12 > 0:37:17# You. #
0:37:22 > 0:37:25CHEERING
0:37:25 > 0:37:28In 1980, Dolly's ambition had paid off.
0:37:28 > 0:37:29She'd topped the charts around the world
0:37:29 > 0:37:32and was even a hit in Hollywood with her new pop sound.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35# I tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen
0:37:35 > 0:37:37# Pour myself a cup of ambition
0:37:37 > 0:37:40# Yawn and stretch and try to come to life... #
0:37:40 > 0:37:44I think of it as Dolly finally, like kicking the ball through the...
0:37:44 > 0:37:46through the field goal. It's like she...
0:37:46 > 0:37:48she had the touchdown with that one.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50# ..from 9 to 5
0:37:50 > 0:37:52# Workin' 9 to 5
0:37:52 > 0:37:54# What a way to make a livin'
0:37:54 > 0:37:56# Barely gettin' by
0:37:56 > 0:37:58# It's all takin' and no givin'
0:37:58 > 0:38:01# They just use your mind
0:38:01 > 0:38:03# But they'll never give you credit
0:38:03 > 0:38:05# It's enough to drive you
0:38:05 > 0:38:08# Crazy if you let it... #
0:38:10 > 0:38:12Like Dolly, in the mid-'80s,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15country music was obsessed with crossover and Nashville's Music Row
0:38:15 > 0:38:19was accused of being too slick and pop orientated.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23# I'm going to bop with you, baby all night long
0:38:23 > 0:38:25# I'm going to bop the night away... #
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Through the late '70s and into the '80s,
0:38:27 > 0:38:31country music went through a few boom and bust cycles.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34# Hello, Detroit auto workers
0:38:34 > 0:38:38# Let me thank you for your time... #
0:38:38 > 0:38:40The more it becomes an entertainment type of commodity
0:38:40 > 0:38:44the less, you know, true to its kind of country music roots
0:38:44 > 0:38:45the music itself became.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48# Hello, Pittsburgh... #
0:38:48 > 0:38:49It was a time when, you know,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51country music had sort of lost its identity.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55# You work a 40-hour week for a livin'... #
0:38:56 > 0:38:59By 1986, Dolly had acquired international stardom
0:38:59 > 0:39:03and, despite their crazy schedules, the trio decided it was time
0:39:03 > 0:39:07to reunite and finally make the album they wanted.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09APPLAUSE AND CHEERING Yeah!
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Well, look at us cowgirls! Howdy, pardners! Howdy, Dolly!
0:39:15 > 0:39:19APPLAUSE CONTINUES You know... Thank you, folks.
0:39:19 > 0:39:20APPLAUSE DIES DOWN
0:39:20 > 0:39:23Now, this is a real big treat for me,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25because everybody, since I started the show,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28has wanted to know where Linda and Emmy are, because everybody kind of
0:39:28 > 0:39:30thinks of us as sisters, and you finally made it.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33We were all on different labels, we all had different managers,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37we all were scattered to the wind, all had obligations and tours,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41so we worked for years trying to pull off the first Trio album.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45This past year, Linda called Emmy and me up and said,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49"Let's do this album before we get so old we can't sing!"
0:39:49 > 0:39:51LAUGHTER Or nobody's interested! Yeah!
0:39:51 > 0:39:53So we did the album...
0:39:53 > 0:39:56The friends wanted to bring back old-time mountain music just when
0:39:56 > 0:40:00it was slipping out of reach, but not everybody was on board.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02I don't think anybody liked the idea of three women singers,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05I don't think anybody liked the idea of us being not in a niche.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07It wasn't rock and roll, it wasn't country,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10it wasn't this, wasn't that, it was old-timey music.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13ACOUSTIC INTRO PLAYS
0:40:16 > 0:40:22# Oh, the pain of loving you... #
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Trio was recorded in 1986 at Complex Studios in Los Angeles,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29with George Massenburg chosen as the producer
0:40:29 > 0:40:30to focus on their harmonies.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33The inspiration was to, as much as possible,
0:40:33 > 0:40:39capture that thing that they felt in just singing together live
0:40:39 > 0:40:44and comfortable and happy and just thrilled
0:40:44 > 0:40:48with the sounds that came out in a very live, very small context.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57The artists hand-picked some of the very best session players
0:40:57 > 0:40:59to capture their stripped-back sound.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Dolly Parton, Emmylou and Linda Ronstadt
0:41:03 > 0:41:06are going to sing three-part harmony and then, there's a bunch of people
0:41:06 > 0:41:09that they really like to play with and I said, "Ooh, that's good!"
0:41:09 > 0:41:14And you get paid too! "OK! Well, that's fine with me.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17"That's just fine with me. Sign me up, sign me on."
0:41:23 > 0:41:28I was a little nervous maybe. I mean, we're all kind of on edge
0:41:28 > 0:41:31when you're working with people like that, you know,
0:41:31 > 0:41:33you want to do it right and... HE LAUGHS
0:41:33 > 0:41:37..you don't want to be the one who's going to mess up, you know.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40And especially when they have... when their ideas,
0:41:40 > 0:41:45their musical ideas, are pretty much better than your own, you know.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49WOMAN: A poet once said that
0:41:49 > 0:41:55something in a hill child dies when he goes down to level land.
0:41:58 > 0:41:59The trio wanted the album
0:41:59 > 0:42:03to evoke the old-timey songs of the mountains.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07We were chasing more agrarian music, you know, from the times that people
0:42:07 > 0:42:10really actually lived in the country and were more isolated.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12GOSPEL SINGING
0:42:12 > 0:42:15People sang together. The family sang together.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18They were, you know, stuck on these mountains, with valleys between 'em.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20GOSPEL SINGING CONTINUES
0:42:22 > 0:42:26Women in Appalachia were the song savers,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29were the song preservers, in the folk tradition.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32They're the ones that saved the old ballads,
0:42:32 > 0:42:34which are often from feminine points of view.
0:42:34 > 0:42:40# I once did have a dear companion
0:42:40 > 0:42:45# Indeed I called his love my own... #
0:42:45 > 0:42:49I like to call it parlour music, the kind of thing that women might do
0:42:49 > 0:42:52in the 19th century - when their household chores are finished,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55they might have a few precious moments to sit down on the sofa
0:42:55 > 0:42:59and harmonise together and sort of share your sorrows and your joys.
0:42:59 > 0:43:05# ..and dreaming in some soft repose... #
0:43:05 > 0:43:07'It's such a mournful song.'
0:43:07 > 0:43:10The first Jean Ritchie rendition of that,
0:43:10 > 0:43:12that Alan Lomax got... It's so mournful! ..it's so sad!
0:43:12 > 0:43:14Yeah. And it's within that tradition of
0:43:14 > 0:43:18female Appalachian songs, where they're just longing for some lover
0:43:18 > 0:43:21that's never going to come back... Yeah.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25..and the Trio took that and then they kind of raised it.
0:43:25 > 0:43:32# Oh, have you seen my dear companion?
0:43:32 > 0:43:38# For he was all this world to me... #
0:43:38 > 0:43:40'There's a lot of light and hope in it. Mm-hm.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43'Even with this sad lyric, you feel like it's...'
0:43:43 > 0:43:47these women mourning a lover, but kind of they're together... Yeah!
0:43:47 > 0:43:49..and they're going to hold each other up.
0:43:49 > 0:43:55# I'd join the wild birds in their crying
0:43:55 > 0:44:02# Thinking of you and your sweet face... #
0:44:02 > 0:44:05'Preserving these songs... Yeah. ..and bringing them into'
0:44:05 > 0:44:10a new generation that might not listen to the old things,
0:44:10 > 0:44:12you know, I think that it's...
0:44:12 > 0:44:15and I don't know who's doing that today.
0:44:15 > 0:44:22# Oh, have you seen my dear companion?
0:44:22 > 0:44:30# He was all this world to me. #
0:44:31 > 0:44:34I'm very sentimental about all those songs.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36Linda and Emmy had done research
0:44:36 > 0:44:38on those things to find a lot of that stuff,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41because they came from, like I say, a different world than I did.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45I came from that place and so those songs were embedded in my psyche,
0:44:45 > 0:44:49in my soul, in my heart, in my mouth, you know.
0:44:49 > 0:44:54# There's a little rosewood casket
0:44:54 > 0:45:00# Resting on a marble stand... #
0:45:00 > 0:45:04'Of course, those are the songs that I can sing the best, I think,'
0:45:04 > 0:45:07even though I like thinking I can do all kinds of stuff,
0:45:07 > 0:45:12but the truth is my truest gift really is that...
0:45:12 > 0:45:14that sound that really comes from the mountains,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17that is so true to who I truly am and how I grew up.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22# ..read them o'er for me tonight... #
0:45:22 > 0:45:25We wanted to bring that part of her voice,
0:45:25 > 0:45:29that part of Dolly, back into Appalachia,
0:45:29 > 0:45:34and using it to our purposes too, having Dolly's voice there,
0:45:34 > 0:45:38and just Dolly's presence there, made us authentic.
0:45:40 > 0:45:46# Last night as I lay on the boxcar
0:45:46 > 0:45:53# Just waiting for a train to pass by... #
0:45:53 > 0:45:56It became clear that the magic of the Trio was what they had
0:45:56 > 0:45:59discovered ten years previously - the blend of their voices.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02'Dolly, Linda and Emmy all had different voices -
0:46:02 > 0:46:05'decidedly different voices - but when they sang together,'
0:46:05 > 0:46:09their complexities dovetailed in ways that were
0:46:09 > 0:46:12at once idiosyncratic and incredibly beautiful.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17# Will there be any freight trains in heaven?
0:46:19 > 0:46:25# Any boxcars in which we might hide? #
0:46:25 > 0:46:29They all had distinctive personalities
0:46:29 > 0:46:32in their voices, qualities,
0:46:32 > 0:46:36and I think that's what makes a really good, interesting blend.
0:46:36 > 0:46:41If you can blend, and have your own voice and put your own stamp on it,
0:46:41 > 0:46:42it's truly magical.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49# Will we always have money to spare? #
0:46:49 > 0:46:53There's a vibration that happens and, to me, it's very spiritual.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56It's like something else enters the room. Mm-hm.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58And that's like the overtone, but to me, it's just
0:46:58 > 0:47:03this vibration of otherness that lifts the whole thing.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06It's just an accident of nature. It's genes.
0:47:06 > 0:47:07You know, how our voices combined,
0:47:07 > 0:47:10they just happened to fill up parts of...
0:47:10 > 0:47:13Each person filled up a part that the other person didn't have.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16I think we sound like sisters. You never know.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18There are those groups that are not family,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21but they sound like they are, and when you can come across
0:47:21 > 0:47:23that combination, you've got something really good.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26CHATTER AND LAUGHTER
0:47:26 > 0:47:30As the Trio all approached their 40th birthday, they chose a song
0:47:30 > 0:47:32looking back to the girl groups of their teenage years
0:47:32 > 0:47:35as a song dedicated to the men in their lives,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38the Phil Spector song To Know Him Is To Love Him.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42ALL: # To know, know, know him
0:47:42 > 0:47:47# Is to love, love, love him
0:47:47 > 0:47:51# Just to see him smile... #
0:47:51 > 0:47:55A certain movie director was asked to direct the promo for the song.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59Well, you know, it was kind of like, "We should make a music video,"
0:47:59 > 0:48:02and I was going out with this guy that made films, so he could do it.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04It was that way, it was very casual.
0:48:08 > 0:48:09You know, I was the boyfriend,
0:48:09 > 0:48:12so, you know, I was sort of like the fly on the wall,
0:48:12 > 0:48:15but, you know, they would sit around and, a lot of the times,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19they'd talk about the loves lost or the love for a new boyfriend,
0:48:19 > 0:48:22or the new this, and all that kind of stuff, so there was a lot of that
0:48:22 > 0:48:26that they actually were living and they're very romantic about it.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29You know, it's... It's sort of Jane Austen-ish,
0:48:29 > 0:48:34if I can, like, put that there. HE LAUGHS
0:48:34 > 0:48:38# ..love, love, love him And I do... #
0:48:38 > 0:48:41They are strong, brilliant women,
0:48:41 > 0:48:46who had had a variety of relationships with men
0:48:46 > 0:48:52and had emerged from all of these as, er, victorious.
0:48:52 > 0:49:01# Why can't he see I...? #
0:49:01 > 0:49:05LINDA: 'Emmy has a real heartbreak sound in her singing. It's like a...
0:49:05 > 0:49:08'Like I said, like she's pleading for her life and her sanity.'
0:49:08 > 0:49:12# Someday, he will see... #
0:49:12 > 0:49:15'Music has always had such an effect on me.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19'I think it opens up the vistas of our soul and our heart'
0:49:19 > 0:49:24and our humanness, it connects us to people and makes us feel that
0:49:24 > 0:49:29somehow we all, one way or another, share the same human experience.
0:49:29 > 0:49:38# Those memories of you still haunt me, every night... #
0:49:38 > 0:49:42Each singer has their own history and their own where they're from
0:49:42 > 0:49:45and what they do and, you know, it's not just the voices.
0:49:45 > 0:49:51'It's the culture behind the voices that blend and their struggles.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54'You know, they all had struggles.'
0:49:54 > 0:49:57ALL: # ..they lay me down
0:49:57 > 0:50:01DOLLY: # In dreams of you... #
0:50:01 > 0:50:03LINDA: 'Dolly has a sound like a heartbroken child, you know,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06'like you've just absolutely smashed her hopes or something.'
0:50:06 > 0:50:08And she's strong, she's going to carry on,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11but she just has this heartbroken disappointment.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14# But you're not there
0:50:14 > 0:50:17# And I'm so lonesome... #
0:50:17 > 0:50:20'We got very emotional ourselves many times
0:50:20 > 0:50:24'when we were singing certain songs. You know, we would feel it!'
0:50:24 > 0:50:25And when you get that much feeling,
0:50:25 > 0:50:28I mean, if you've got any feelings at all,
0:50:28 > 0:50:32it's going to kind of overflow, so that's what you hope to do.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34A decade after its conception,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37the acoustic country album was released and it flew in the face
0:50:37 > 0:50:41of the contemporary formulaic pop produced in Nashville at the time.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45There was some resistance to putting the record out at the beginning.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49It was not a slam dunk. You'd think it would be, but it wasn't.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53It hit Nashville like a bomb! They loathed it!
0:50:53 > 0:50:57# For at least I could run They just died in the sun... #
0:50:57 > 0:50:59They did play it on the radio.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03We didn't know, but we believed there was a market for this.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07Country was the way we pushed it. It got a lot of play, I think,
0:51:07 > 0:51:11also on adult contemporary and middle of the road stations
0:51:11 > 0:51:13and some, like, cool FM stations, you know.
0:51:13 > 0:51:18People were listening to country music that really weren't country.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20They really didn't like the twangy stuff.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24You know, they didn't like the steel guitars, and this was not that.
0:51:24 > 0:51:29This was real mountain music, so it was perfect, and I think we sold,
0:51:29 > 0:51:32like, four million records on the dang thing!
0:51:32 > 0:51:37# When a flower grows wild it can always survive
0:51:37 > 0:51:43ALL: # Wildflowers don't care where they grow... #
0:51:43 > 0:51:46Trio went on to win Country Music Association awards,
0:51:46 > 0:51:49Academy of Country Music awards, Grammy Awards,
0:51:49 > 0:51:51gold record, platinum record!
0:51:51 > 0:51:55Four hit singles! It could not have been more successful. It was a...
0:51:55 > 0:51:58It was a masterpiece that was a commercial success. What a concept!
0:52:00 > 0:52:03After proving Nashville wrong with the success of Trio,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06the three tried to regroup, but it didn't run so smoothly
0:52:06 > 0:52:08and it took 13 years to release their next album.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13Naturally, none of the people that were in charge of us professionally
0:52:13 > 0:52:15were eager to do something that would take more time
0:52:15 > 0:52:17and make less money and be more trouble,
0:52:17 > 0:52:20so it was just really hard to get that happening,
0:52:20 > 0:52:22but we wanted to do it, cos we liked the music.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24# ..that matters
0:52:25 > 0:52:28# Is the love that we share
0:52:28 > 0:52:32# And the way that we care
0:52:32 > 0:52:34# When we're gone
0:52:34 > 0:52:37# Long gone. #
0:52:37 > 0:52:40The trio stuck to its successful formula
0:52:40 > 0:52:44and Trio II was eventually released in 1999,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47following rumours of unharmonious struggles between the artists.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50One of us may be having a single coming out, so they said,
0:52:50 > 0:52:53"No, we can't put a Trio out!" It was those kind of things.
0:52:53 > 0:52:54It was more things, aggravations,
0:52:54 > 0:52:59brought on by other people or just things that couldn't be helped.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04# And when we're gone, gone... #
0:53:04 > 0:53:06But we loved each other,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10and Linda and Emmy are very close, they've stayed very, very close.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12# The only thing that will have mattered... #
0:53:12 > 0:53:14'It didn't affect my friendship with Emmy.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17'I mean, it just was a hard business thing,'
0:53:17 > 0:53:20that's all, you know. There are reasons those things happen
0:53:20 > 0:53:21and you just have to accept them.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24Er, can we look forward to a Trio III?
0:53:24 > 0:53:27Well, we'd like to. You can look forward to it.
0:53:27 > 0:53:28We're looking forward to it.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31And if this one does well enough for the record label to afford us
0:53:31 > 0:53:34to do it, that'd make a difference too, so get out and buy this record!
0:53:34 > 0:53:37We need the money. It costs a lot to look this cheap!
0:53:37 > 0:53:39LAUGHTER
0:53:39 > 0:53:42And, following Trio's release, there was a resurgence
0:53:42 > 0:53:45and a return to country roots and old-time music.
0:53:47 > 0:53:54# I am a man of constant sorrow... #
0:53:54 > 0:53:57It did have influence on things like O Brother, Where Art Thou?,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00which also was a breakthrough in country music.
0:54:00 > 0:54:02It was so wacky!
0:54:02 > 0:54:05But it was a similar kind of music that the Trio is.
0:54:05 > 0:54:11It was that back to roots, the real deal stuff, you know.
0:54:11 > 0:54:12And it exploded!
0:54:19 > 0:54:22After our album came out, then Ricky Skaggs had a huge hit
0:54:22 > 0:54:24with traditional stuff and then it became...
0:54:24 > 0:54:27I think that our album really paved the road for
0:54:27 > 0:54:29people like Alison Krauss later on, you know.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34# Till I find my way back to my heart
0:54:34 > 0:54:40# For there's no-one but me gonna take my part... #
0:54:40 > 0:54:47Alison Krauss has popularised that particular traditional sound -
0:54:47 > 0:54:52really soulful-sounding music - that Linda and Dolly and Emmy
0:54:52 > 0:54:55were plugged into before these artists came along.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09Trio III was not to be, when, in 2012, the trio realised
0:55:09 > 0:55:12they could never sing together again.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16When I heard that Linda had Parkinson's and she wasn't going
0:55:16 > 0:55:19to be able to sing, I mean, it cut me like a knife.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24It just killed me, and I can only imagine how she must feel!
0:55:24 > 0:55:30# White snow
0:55:30 > 0:55:34# In a deep sleep... #
0:55:34 > 0:55:36This is kind of bittersweet,
0:55:36 > 0:55:39because there will be some things that people have not heard before
0:55:39 > 0:55:42that were recorded when she was still in her prime
0:55:42 > 0:55:47and that gorgeous voice was there for all the world to share in.
0:55:47 > 0:55:53# ..purple black sky... #
0:55:55 > 0:55:57I think that showing Linda Ronstadt,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00you know, at the height of her powers as a singer,
0:56:00 > 0:56:04and in the company of these wonderful collaborators,
0:56:04 > 0:56:07will remind people what a force she was.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11# Oh, that boy of mine
0:56:11 > 0:56:13# By my side... #
0:56:13 > 0:56:16'I did so many different kinds of music, you know.'
0:56:16 > 0:56:19It all came to me from the living room of the house that I grew up in,
0:56:19 > 0:56:22or it came from the radio or from my sister or brother,
0:56:22 > 0:56:26so it was just one of the other influences that I've absorbed.
0:56:26 > 0:56:28I'm just grateful I got a chance to do it.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31# Well, I'll never be blue
0:56:31 > 0:56:36# My dreams come true
0:56:36 > 0:56:48# On Blue Bayou. #
0:56:48 > 0:56:52APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:56:55 > 0:56:57Linda, Emmylou and Dolly were
0:56:57 > 0:57:00pioneers in bringing different cultures and music together
0:57:00 > 0:57:04and raising the game for women in the country tradition.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07The Trio now is, er...is legendary.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09You meet these young women today
0:57:09 > 0:57:13that, to them, they're formative musical figures.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16Whether or not they'd describe themselves as feminists,
0:57:16 > 0:57:22they so absolutely and clearly were, you know, way ahead of their time
0:57:22 > 0:57:24in their determination to forge their own career,
0:57:24 > 0:57:28regardless of what anybody else thought they should be.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31People, I think, will look back when they're studying music...
0:57:31 > 0:57:33Well, you like to think those kind of things,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36like, when you're gone, how will you be remembered?
0:57:36 > 0:57:38But I'd like to think, like, in school, in music school,
0:57:38 > 0:57:41I think people will point to that Trio
0:57:41 > 0:57:44and it'll have the best of all three of us.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46I'll treasure it till the day I'm gone,
0:57:46 > 0:57:51which we're old enough to be any day now, but... Any day now!
0:57:51 > 0:57:53Knock on wood!
0:57:53 > 0:57:56# You don't knock You don't knock, you just walk on in
0:57:56 > 0:57:58# The door The door to Heaven's den
0:57:58 > 0:58:01# There's love There's love and joy for you
0:58:01 > 0:58:04# To share To share the whole day through
0:58:04 > 0:58:07# I know I know my friends are there
0:58:07 > 0:58:10# To rest To rest in the Heaven's nest
0:58:10 > 0:58:12# You don't knock...
0:58:12 > 0:58:19# You just walk on in. #
0:58:26 > 0:58:28'From the heights of the Scottish Highlands
0:58:28 > 0:58:32'to the shores of East Anglia, I've travelled across Britain...'
0:58:32 > 0:58:33We got a fish!
0:58:33 > 0:58:35'..to learn about the food I cook for my family...'
0:58:35 > 0:58:38Tell me, what is so good about these potatoes?