How a feud with Dolly Parton almost killed a Linda Ronstadt classic
In principle, putting Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris in a room together was the makings of a sure-fire hit. Three women, genre-defining in their own leagues and universally adored by the masses, a recording studio, and an album to produce – ‘what could possibly go wrong?’, they thought. As it turned out, actually quite a lot, and the feud that ensued almost threatened to kill an instant classic tune.
The year was 1987, and after mulling the idea over for more than a decade, the three singers finally decided to get together and create a collaborative album, cleverly enough titled Trio. This was everything you’d imagine a record of such calibre to be – soaring compositions, masterful lyrics, and naturally more than a heavy dose of invigorating feminist power. The results showed themselves as Trio became critically acclaimed and scored the holy trinity a Grammy Award.
With such a storming success under their belts, it was understandable that the record label was more than keen to continue capitalising on the three-piece’s sonic collaborations, so a sophomore album was soon on the cards. But speaking about these plans in hypotheticals was a lot easier than actually trying to put them into place, particularly when it came to Parton and her seemingly unstoppable schedule. As Harris herself explained, “It’s very difficult to get in touch with Dolly … she has more people around her,” and as such, a solution was needed.
Ronstadt and Harris subsequently suggested that they record as a duo and have certain tracks featuring the country legend, but not to be outdone, Parton insisted that they either create their follow-up album as a full group or not at all. Then, even when she did eventually make it into the studio, the problems didn’t end there. Dubbing them as “The Three Tempers”, Parton took umbrage at their different working styles, particularly putting Ronstadt in the firing line when she said: “Ronstadt loves to work in the studio and works so slow, it drives me nuts. I wanted to say, ‘Wake up, bitch, I got stuff to do.’”
The tensions eventually began to boil over, and as a result, the future of the second album, even more creatively named Trio II, was put on the rocks. It took 12 years in total for it to finally come to fruition, being released in 1999, much to Parton’s distaste as she didn’t approve of the project as a whole. “They bitched a fit and dumped the greatest project ever … I was made to feel hurt, insulted, burdened with guilt … I would have lived up to my word but my word wasn’t good enough for them,” she sneered, leaving no illusion as to her real thoughts on the matter.
Despite her disgust, however, Parton had to somewhat eat her words when the record was nominated for ‘Best Country Album’ at the Grammys, along with the song ‘After the Gold Rush’ scooping the award for ‘Best Country Collaboration with Vocals’. In that vein, as much as you can imagine, Ronstadt doesn’t exactly have the most glowing character reference of Parton, she very diplomatically said that, “I think we are good colleagues … our relationship has always been based on a common love for traditional music … The sum is greater than the parts” – without resisting a dig that any suggestions of changing Parton’s ideas “would just roll off her … she does it her way and that’s it.”
It almost goes without saying that there was no Trio III after that, more than likely because none of Parton, Ronstadt, or Harris would oblige to putting themselves through that recording wringer again. No matter how fraught the sessions may have been, though, it is a hilarious testament to the sheer talent of each of them that despite the bitchiness and bickering that threatened to derail the entire thing, that the efforts of Trio and Trio II cemented the three-piece in the golden leagues, even if they’d rather to not be there with one another.
