Trio 2 (album)
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''Trio II'' is the second collaborative studio album by
Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...
,
Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...
and
Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
. It was released on February 9, 1999, by
Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/As ...
.


Background

A dozen years after the release of their Platinum, Grammy-winning '' Trio'' album, the country music supergroup returned with another in the same vein. The songs were recorded in 1994 by Parton, Harris and Ronstadt, but label disputes and conflicting schedules prevented their release at the time. Eventually, Ronstadt remixed five of the album's ten tracks (sans Parton's vocals) to include on her 1995 album, '' Feels Like Home''; "Lover's Return", "High Sierra", "
After the Gold Rush ''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
", "The Blue Train", and " Feels Like Home". In 1998, after Parton and Harris had parted ways with their respective labels, they decided to release the album as originally recorded. Childhood photos of Parton, Harris and Ronstadt were used for the album's cover when a photo shoot proved impossible due to their busy schedules.


Release and promotion

The album was released on February 9, 1999, and though scheduling conflicts would not allow for an extended concert tour, Parton, Harris and Ronstadt did a short promotional tour to support the album. The trio made appearances on ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
'', ''
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'', ''
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'', ''
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'', and ''
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''. Initially, there were no plans to release a single to country radio. "High Sierra" was issued to adult contemporary stations in January 1999 prior to the album's release and was also sent to country stations by mistake where it received some airplay. In April 1999, following strong sales of the album, three singles were released to country radio simultaneously; "
After the Gold Rush ''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
", " Feels Like Home" and "
Do I Ever Cross Your Mind "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" is a song by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. The song was written by Parton and was first released as a duet with Chet Atkins on his 1976 album, '' The Best of Chet Atkins & Friends''. Parton performed the son ...
". A music video was filmed for "After the Gold Rush" at a synagogue in New York City on March 25 and premiered April 13 on
Great American Country Great American Family is an American cable television network. Owned by Great American Media, it broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. It was originally established in ...
.


Critical reception

The album received positive reviews from music critics. ''
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'' reviewed the album in the February 6, 1999, issue and said, "''Trio II'' reprises the 1987 joint effort by these three stellar voices. George Massenburg's production is crystal clear and on target. The eternal appeal of such ethereal singing is best epitomized in the Carter Family's "Lover's Return", with its silvery guitar chimes winding around the Trio's sweet harmony singing. Dolly Parton's pop-ish "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" is rendered forever country by Emmylou Harris' trilling lead vocal. Neil Young's "After The Gold Rush" takes on a genuine fairy-tale quality in this shimmering version. Harris' lead vocal gives Donagh Long's "You'll Never Be the Sun" an anthemic quality, as does Linda Ronstadt's lead on Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home". Album closer is the O'Kanes' lovely "When We're Gone, Long Gone"." ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' gave the album a B+ and said that it "comes about 75 percent of the way" and is "very fine nonetheless." The ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' gave the album 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying that the "inspired reading of the Neil Young stalwart "After the Gold Rush" brings harmonies of celestial loveliness to Young's elegy to a passing era. Harris' signature vocal purity is a perfect match for Donagh Long's stunningly pretty love song "You'll Never Be the Sun." Ronstadt taps her formidable country-rock heritage in Jennifer Kimball and Tom Kimmel's "Blue Train" and Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home"." Writing for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, Becky Byrkit gave the album 3 out of 5 stars, calling the album "a gem along the beautiful lines of cubic zirconium, from the most well-intended and loving of real-deal songbird girlfriends." Patrick Carr of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' gave the album 3 out of 5 stars and said that "at its best, this mutual-admiration society works with a vengeance approaching the heavenly."


Commercial performance

The album peaked at No. 4 on the US ''
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''
Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...
chart and No. 62 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. The album also peaked at No. 4 in Canada on the ''
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
'' Country Albums chart. The album's first single, "High Sierra", was sent to adult contemporary stations in January 1999 and peaked at No. 90 on the ''RPM'' Country 100 chart. Following the album's strong sales, three singles were issued simultaneously to country stations in April 1999; "
After the Gold Rush ''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
", " Feels Like Home" and "
Do I Ever Cross Your Mind "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" is a song by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. The song was written by Parton and was first released as a duet with Chet Atkins on his 1976 album, '' The Best of Chet Atkins & Friends''. Parton performed the son ...
"; none of which received enough airplay to chart.


Accolades

The album was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Country Album The Grammy Award for Best Country Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the country music genre. Honors in ...
. "
After the Gold Rush ''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
" won the
Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to quality country music collaborations for artists who do ...
.
42nd Annual Grammy Awards The 42nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1999. Nominations were announced on January 4, 2000. Santana was the main r ...
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Best Country Album The Grammy Award for Best Country Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the country music genre. Honors in ...
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After the Gold Rush ''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
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Best Country Collaboration with Vocals Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...
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Track listing


Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes. * Emmylou Harris – lead and harmony vocals * Dolly Parton – lead and harmony vocals * Linda Ronstadt – lead and harmony vocals, strings (4), string arrangements (4) *
Robbie Buchanan Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob or Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003. People Given name Robbie *Robbie Amell (born 1 ...
– acoustic piano (4, 8, 9),
Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
(5),
Hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...
(9) * Helen Voices – synthesizers (4) * Mark Casstevens – acoustic guitar (1, 2, 3, 5-9) *
Carl Jackson Carl Eugene Jackson (born September 18, 1953) is an American country and bluegrass musician. Jackson's first Grammy was awarded in 1992 for his duet album with John Starling titled "Spring Training." In 2003 Jackson produced the Grammy Award-wi ...
– acoustic guitar (1, 2, 3, 6, 10) *
Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher ...
– electric guitar (5, 8, 9), acoustic guitar (7, 8),
mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
(9) * John Starling – acoustic guitar (10) *
David Grisman David Grisman (born March 23, 1945) is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acoustic mu ...
– mandolin (1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10) * David Lindley
autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...
(1) *
Ben Keith Bennett Keith Schaeufele (March 6, 1937 – July 26, 2010), better known by his stage name Ben Keith, was an American musician and record producer. Known primarily for his work as a pedal steel guitarist with Neil Young, Keith was a fixture of ...
pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
(5) *
Roy Huskey, Jr. Roy Milton Huskey (December 17, 1956 – September 6, 1997) was a prominent United States, American upright bass player in country music from Nashville, Tennessee. Huskey performed alongside musicians such as Chet Atkins, Garth Brooks, Johnny ...
– bass (1, 6), double bass (2, 3, 10) *
Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...
– bass (5, 8, 9) *
Edgar Meyer Edgar Meyer (born November 24, 1960) is an American bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. He has won five Grammy Awards and been nominated seven times. Meyer is a member of the Telluride Bluegrass ...
– double bass (7) * Larry Atamanuik – drums (3) *
Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...
– drums (5, 6, 8, 9, 10) *
Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with ...
– fiddle (2, 3, 6, 10) *
Dennis James Dennis James (born Demie James Sposa, August 24, 1917 – June 3, 1997) was an American television personality, philanthropist, and commercial spokesman. Until 1976, he had appeared on TV more times and for a longer period than any other televi ...
glass harmonica The glass harmonica, also known as the glass armonica, glass harmonium, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the armonica or harmonica (derived from , ''harmonia'', the Greek word for harmony), is a type of musical instrument that uses a ...
(4) * David Campbell – strings (4, 7, 9) Production * George Massenburg – producer, recording, mixing * John Starling – co-producer * Nathaniel Kunkel – recording * Kevin Scott – recording assistant * Linda Ronstadt – mixing *
Doug Sax Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including ''The Wall''; Ray Charles ...
– mastering * The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California) – mastering location * Gail Rosman – production assistant * Janet Stark – production assistant * Michael Hagegood – art administration * John Brenes – production archivist * Lyn Bradley – art direction, design *
John Kosh John Kosh, known simply as Kosh, is an English art director, album cover designer, graphic artist, and documentary producer/director. He was born in London, England and rose to prominence in the mid-1960s while designing for the Royal Ballet a ...
– art direction, design


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Singles


Certifications


References

{{Authority control 1999 albums Linda Ronstadt albums Emmylou Harris albums Dolly Parton albums Asylum Records albums Collaborative albums Albums produced by George Massenburg Sequel albums