As a big fan of Dolly Parton, her younger sister Stella has always been of slightly elevated interest to me than perhaps she would be for the wider population. Her voice is similar to Dolly’s, particularly on certain songs (although admittedly not as good), and she seemed to retain the more traditional, throwback sound when her sister looked towards poppier pastures. In 2013, however, she unveiled the new record ‘Resurrection’, the latest in a long line of compilation albums, except this time there was something new to gawp over: an album of dance remixes. Unfortunately, they were really, really bad ones, and this was made considerably worse by the promotional video Stella filmed as part of the project.
Also running alongside this, was that in the past decade or so Stella has been very vocal about a less than perfect relationship with her more popular sibling. Negative comments appeared in a 2006 biography of Dolly after the biographer conducted an extensive interview with Stella, which she later claimed to have been “twisted”, but her Facebook page increasingly seemed to become a place where she would rant and generally share bitterness. She would turn against long-time fans who politely disagreed with her on certain issues, and it seemed like she was buckling under the weight of a family member who simply achieved more commercial success than she did. It only requires a “Stella Dolly Parton” Google search to find the sheer amount of interviews she did with broadsheet journalists that aimed to paint her sister in a negative light. Last year she coerced Dolly into joining her for a performance at her Red Tent Conference in Nashville, and as a result bumped the ticket prices right up, which had been floundering. But if you watch this video of their performance carefully, it doesn’t sound like they were all too far from a cat fight even then.
This has, unfortunately, overshadowed a respectable music career and legacy that provided her a few chart hits back in the day, and a longstanding fan-base who remained loyal even through long periods waiting for new music. Then, out of the blue, a ten-track collection entitled ‘Buried Treasures’ arrived on Spotify and in her online store, consisting of songs that had been left on the shelf over the years. They haven’t been re-recorded; that clearly would have been too much effort. Instead they exist in their demo or forgotten studio form, ranging in era from the early 70s to the early 80s judging by the production techniques used across the tracks. Almost all of them are co-writes with her brothers and sisters, too – perhaps indicative of who exactly will still licence her their songs. Most of them are nice enough, centered around love and heartbreak themes, and I expect for diehard fans of Stella this is a decent addition to their collections (probably long-awaited, too). Unfortunately the songs that were clearly recorded in the 80s struggle to stand the test of time, and instead sound horrendously cheap and warbly. Take ‘Heart Don’t Fail Me Now’ – with a modern mix this wouldn’t be too bad, but as it is it’s hard to listen to. Even for its time it’s of pretty poor quality.
The same can be said for ‘He’s Still The Best’ and ‘The Man That Called Me Lady’, which admittedly are in considerably better shape but still suffer for being released as fresh in 2015, as the synthetic sound has not aged well. Too, however some of the older songs were stored, it seems some of the tracks have slightly warped. For example, ‘Don’t Put Me On’ wavers in and out of key, changes slightly in tempo for brief moments, and seems to drift away from the speakers and back again in the way that damaged old LPs can sometimes do. Possibly not the best track to place on a new album as is.
But perhaps this record and Stella’s career as it stands is best summed up in ‘Strumming My Guitar’. “Why can’t I write songs like Willie Nelson?” She sings on the ballad. “And why can’t I sing them like Emmylou? Sometimes I wish I looked like ol’ Lydia.” Despite being written and recorded many years ago, it sums up an apparently lifelong jealousy and bitterness that Stella has harbored, both for her sister Dolly and for the world around her. It’s a shame, really – I once defended her actions against Dolly fans, insisting to give her the benefit of the doubt. But sometimes you just have to admit that all is not as it should be.
