I don’t remember now how I first discovered Trio, the record Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmyloud Harris put out together in 1987, but I know I bought it on tape because I can remember both the garish pink cover, and the number of times I carefully cued up various tracks for mixes. I acquired it again recently – digitally, this time – when I went on an Emmylou Harris collecting tangent and realized I had missed it, somehow, when I was filling in other digital gaps.
I liked the whole thing, by and large – I can also remember singing along (hand stapled firmly to forehead) to The Pain of Loving You and Those Memories of You at various times in high school – but my favorite track is, was, and ever shall be Wildflowers. If (when) I get a tattoo, “no regrets for the path that I chose” will be a part of it. Of course that’s now, when I’ve been walking a while and had some time to actually make some choices; then, it was more about the hope of invoking the appearance of the path.
In any case, bursting with enthusiasm and keen to share it with all of y’all, I then went to YouTube to find a video and on first skim it seemed like there were precious few for the original song. (The two quasi-live performances are 1) a clip from a movie and 2) a clip that appears to be the result of pointing the camera at the tv set and pressing record.) A little bit of further digging pulled up this, which at least as a slideshow of pictures of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt through the years:
http://youtu.be/aDxrQFrGipo
Because I am a magpie, though, I got distracted from my main search by all of the cover versions that I found. The following are a few of the highlights:
This version, by The Clear Branch, is probably the most faithful to the original overall, and the beautiful voice you are about to hear belongs to Signe Salvesen, who moved from Norway to the hills of East Tennessee to study mountain music. She’s accompanied by Clint Riddle (guitar, banjo, mandolin), originally from Decatur, Alabama, with a background in Delta blues.
In this version, which features just Ginny White and her guitar and was recorded at the New Harmonies Exhibit, Culp Building, Johnson County Historical Society in Warrensburg, Missouri, it’s stripped down to its barest essentials and transformed into something quite like a hymn.
http://youtu.be/-DZH58V8D6A
This one, performed by Tuva and The Far-Out Orchestra, and recorded in the Privaten Cafè in Holmsbu, Norway, occupies the patch of ground where indie rock and bluegrass overlap, and tends to slide more towards the indie rock end of the spectrum. Tuva Andersen has a rich, full and flexible voice, and it shines here.
This one, by the Sandy Bottom Bluegrass Band (according to YouTube, they are: Neil – Mandolin, Ken – Guitar, Steve – Dobro, Wayne – Banjo, Rick – Bass, and Denise – Autoharp), of Florida, is a solidly bluegrass rendition; the instrumental underpinning is perhaps a hair or two richer than the original.
As I was exploring, I also got to thinking about who I’d like to hear cover this song. Gillian Welch and Dar Williams sprang to mind first, and I spent a good ten minutes contemplating who I’d make the third part of that trio before I decided on Lucinda Williams, though I think Neko Case and/or Alison Krauss might also work well there.
And then my thoughts took a more critical turn. You know it is kind of plinky. Couldn’t we fuzz that up a little bit? Give it some muscle? said I to myself, and IÂ shuffled my mental deck of voices some more, and came up with Courtney Love, which was actually kind of a stumbling block because the pairings that seem to me to be obvious there (Kim Gordon and Kim Deal) are, shall we say, complicated. Though on further reflection, I’ve decided swapping in, say, Pink and Shirley Manson might produce just the right kind of fireworks.
Now tell me, dear readers, who would you pick?