''Something Special'' is the thirty-third solo studio album by American singer-songwriter

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 ...

. It was released on August 22, 1995, by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

and Blue Eyes records. In addition to seven new Parton compositions, the album includes updated versions of three classics from Parton's repertoire: " Jolene", "The Seeker", and "

I Will Always Love You "I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career, ...

", the latter of which was performed as a duet with

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist b ...

. The Gill duet, Parton's third recording of the song, reached number 15 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart, becoming Parton's highest charting single in four years. Additionally, it was named "Vocal Event of the Year" by the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...

Release and promotion

The album was released on August 22, 1995, by

and Blue Eye Records. To promote the album Parton made several television appearances. She appeared on the ''

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

'' on August 26 and performed "Something Special", "Jolene", and "I Will Always Love You" with Vince Gill. Following this performance, radio stations began giving Parton and Gill's duet of "I Will Always Love You" unsolicited airplay, causing it to debut on the ''

chart. Parton appeared on ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

'' on August 31 and performed "Something Special". She and Vince Gill performed "I Will Always Love You" on the 29th Annual

Country Music Association Awards The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony f ...

on October 4. Following their performance at the CMA Awards, the song was officially released as a single in November.

Critical reception

Upon its release, the album was met with mixed reviews from critics. A review from ''

'' said that "it's a bit distressing when the highlights of a new Dolly Parton album are new recordings of old material." The review went on to praise the re-recording of "I Will Always Love You" with Vince Gill, but felt that the "recent material pales here when contrasted with that duet and...older Parton compositions. The review concluded by saying, "The new stuff is good. The old stuff is great." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

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 ...

gave the album three out of five stars, describing the album as "something of a mixed bag." Like the review from ''Billboard'', Erlewine also felt that "the newer songs are fine, utthey pale in comparison with arton'sclassics." He went on to say that "if the new songs had been included on an album that only featured new material, they would have formed a strong record, but they take a back seat to Parton's older songs, which are more inspired and better-written." He concluded his review by saying that "the album provides several fine moments, even if it doesn't rank among her best works."

Track listing

Personnel

* Bob Bailey – background vocals *

Eddie Bayers Eddie Bayers (born January 28, 1949) is an American session drummer who has played on 300 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for fourteen years, has three times won the Nashville Music ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Steve Buckingham –

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

* Margie Cates – background vocals * Suzanne Cox – background vocals * Richard Dennison – background vocals *

Stuart Duncan Stuart Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo. Life Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band. He ...

–

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

* Paul Franklin –

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

* Steve Gibson – acoustic guitar *

– duet vocals on "I Will Always Love You" *

Owen Hale Owen Hale (Born July 15, 1948) is an American musician best known for playing drums with Lynyrd Skynyrd, on their album ''Twenty'' and the Lyve from Steel Town DVD concert. Hale left the group in 1998. He was also a busy studio drummer in Nashv ...

– drums * Vicki Hampton – background vocals * Yvonne Hodges – background vocals * Paul Hollowell –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

David Hungate William David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his T ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

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 ...

– background vocals *

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 ...

– background vocals *

Sonny Landreth Clide Vernon "Sonny" Landreth (born February 1, 1951) is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, and settled in Lafayette, Louisiana. He lives in Bre ...

–

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

* Randy McCormick – organ *

Terry McMillan Terry McMillan (born October 18, 1951) is an American novelist. Her work centers around the experiences of Black women in the United States. Early life McMillan was born in Port Huron, Michigan. She received a B.A. in journalism in 1977 from ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, shaker *

Brent Mason Brent Mason (born July 13, 1959) is an American, Nashville, Tennessee-based recording studio guitarist and songwriter, performing primarily country music. Guitar World Magazine listed him as one of the "Top Ten Session Guitarists of All Time". ...

– acoustic guitar,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

* Jimmy Mattingly – fiddle *

Steve Nathan Steven Jay Nathan is an American keyboardist. He is known for his session work in Muscle Shoals and Nashville studios. Biography Nathan was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. In 1977, Nathan moved to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. After touring wit ...

– piano * Louis Dean Nunley – background vocals *

Dale Oehler Dale Dixon Oehler (October 1, 1941 – November 5, 2018) was an American arranger, producer and pianist. Oehler's work fuses various elements to enhance several genre of music he worked on, including jazz, pop, country, R&B or easy listening. ...

– conductor, string arrangements *

– lead vocals *

Don Potter Donald Steele Potter (21 April 1902 – 7 June 2004) was an English sculptor, wood carver, potter and teacher. Don Potter was born in Newington, near Sittingbourne, Kent, the son of a school teacher, and attended a private school. He joined ...

– acoustic guitar * Chris Rodriguez – background vocals *

Matt Rollings Matt Rollings is a Grammy Award-winning American composer, keyboard player and record producer. Known mainly for playing in Lyle Lovett's Large Band, Rollings has worked with many artists, not all country. Matt won the 'Best Traditional Pop Voc ...

– organ, piano *

Brent Rowan Brent Rowan (born May 28, 1956 in Waxahachie, Texas) is an American session musician and record producer who works primarily in country music. Active since the 1970s, Rowan began working with John Conlee through the recommendation of record produce ...

– electric guitar *

Steuart Smith Steuart Smith (born 24 June 1952) is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, writer and producer from Arlington, Virginia, United States. He is a touring member of the American rock band Eagles, where he has performed as one of ...

– acoustic guitar * Duawne Starling – background vocals *

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis and ex-wife of songwriter Bob DiPiero. Tillis recorded unsuccessful p ...

– background vocals * Steve Turner – drums * Paul Uhrig – bass guitar *

Reggie Young Reggie Grimes Young Jr. (December 12, 1936 – January 17, 2019) was an American musician who was lead guitarist in the American Sound Studio house band, The Memphis Boys, and was a leading session musician. He played on various recordings with ...

– electric guitar

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Dolly Parton albums Albums produced by Steve Buckingham (record producer) Columbia Records albums