Discussion: Recommend a Track

Tonight’s Recommend a Track, “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?”, has been recorded three times by its songwriter Dolly Parton.  First, as a solo tune, it was the B-side to the 1982 version of “I Will Always Love You.”   Then in 1990, it was cut as a duet with Randy Travis on his album Heroes and Friends.

Tonight’s recommendation is the third recording of the song, this time with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. Finally, the song is recorded in a pure country style, with Harris singing lead.  It’s the best showcase for one of Parton’s best lyrics.

What’s your recommendation tonight?

12 Comments

  1. It’s a Roger Miller song from the mid sixties “Train of Life”.

    I was introduced to this song earlier this year where it was given excellent treatment by Laura Cantrell on her collection of travel themed songs: Trains and Boats and Planes.

    The country musical arrangement on Laura’s version is wonderful, but it is also simply one of those outstanding songs that, all too often, manages to capture my own mood.

  2. I recommend a track from the Lorrie Morgan and Sammy Kershaw duet album I Finally Found Someone, a great ballad called ‘Be My Reason’. I’ve always been a fan of both of their voices and their delivery of this stone country love song is perfect ear candy.

  3. Hey Kevin – Happy as hell you are promoting my favorite singer, but I think you are talking about “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?”…I think “When Someone wants to Leave” is a great song, as well, for the record…what a great line – “When someone wants to leave as bad as you want them to stay…”
    I think “Do I Ever…” might have been recorded by Chet Atkins as well…

  4. Thanks for the catch, Sheldon.

    I love this version too. I’ve, shamefully, listened to these Trio albums for the first time this week and I am in heaven! With all of the music I own I just can’t believe I overlooked them before Kevin mentioned them in an email to me last Sunday. I knew they existed, but never bothered purchasing them before now, and they’re exactly the kind of music I love, particularly the first one, though the second one has its bright spots as well (Kevin’s recommendation, for one).

  5. Hey Leeann, yeah – I agree with you – once in a while I’ll pull out the original Trio cd and pop it in the ol’ cd player and wonder why this masterpeice isn’t on everybody’s best-of list (maybe it is…) So many great songs on it…I can’t even name one now, ’cause the next one is just as good! (Makin’ Plans comes to mind)

    J.R – Sammy and Lorrie sound great together, but alas, country radio put the brakes on the sales for that CD.

    I want to recommend a track I promise you will like – Porter and Dolly’s final recording – from Porter’s “Grand Old Gospel 2008” CD the track is called “Drifting Too Far from the Shore” They played the song at Porter’s funeral at the Opry House… (while listening, check out Dolly doing her own harmony on her solo lines…)

  6. Tonight, the track I recommend is (surprisingly, right?) a song on Carnival Ride by Underwood. I am extremely angry with the label for passing up this song (rumor is that the song won’t be released) because nearly all of her concert reviews applaud this song. She has even been compared to Carpenter. The song is “I Know You Won’t,” and it’s the standout track from Carnival Ride. Listen to her version at the opry though, that is where the magic happens.

  7. I absolutely love “I Know You Won’t”!! Thanks for posting that, just what I needed to hear right now. Funny how you run across the kind of song you need to hear at just the right time.

  8. I know this is two days late, but I still feel like posting it here.

    I’ll recommend “The Lighthouses Tale” by Nickel Creek from their debut album. The song is a sad narrative from the point of view of a lighthouse (sounds weird right?) about his keeper and his lover. She dies, he cries, and jumps off the lighthouse. Here’s the opening of the song:

    “I am a lighthouse worn by the weather and the waves
    I keep my lamp lit to warn the sailors on their way
    I’ll tell a story, paint you a picture from my past
    I was so happy but joy in this life seldom lasts”

    It sounds silly on paper, but in music it’s very sad and real. With the all acoustic instruments, Chris Thile’s superb mandolin and singing, as well as small touches of three part harmony on the renditions of the chorus, it makes for an amazing song from an amazing band.

  9. Sheldon is correct. Dolly’s 1982 version was her second recording of the tune, not her first. (And it appeared on her album “Heartbreak Express” that year in addition to being the B-side to the “I Will Always Love You” single from “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas” soundtrack.) Her first recording of the song was as a duet with Chet Atkins in 1976. The third recording, with Randy Travis, was actually a trio with the two of them and Chet Atkins. This makes the version with Linda and Emmylou her fourth recording. In addition there is a fifth version — in 1987, RCA Records remixed the 1982 version of the song with different instrumentation as a “new” version for “The Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 3.”

  10. I posted my favorite 25 Dolly Parton songs last night and I made a mistake on one of them. I am so sorry about that. I included THE BLUE TRAIN as one of my favorites but that is not correct. The correct song title is I FEEL THE BLUES MOVIN’ IN, which is a great bluegrass song, with Dolly Parton as the lead vocal. This song has been recorded by other artists, like Del McCoury but I like Dolly’s version which appears on this album. It is pure magic!

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