The Complete Trio Collection

History

Longtime friends and admirers of one another, Parton, Ronstadt and Harris first attempted to record an album together in the mid-1970s, but scheduling conflicts and other difficulties (including the fact that the three women all recorded for different record labels) prevented its release. Finally a collaboration effort went to full fruition, being produced by George Massenburg. When Trio was released in early 1987, it spawned four huge Country hit singles - including the Country #1 remake of the Phil Spector penned 1958 hit by The Teddy Bears, "To Know Him Is To Love Him". The album hit #1 on the US Country album chart - where it held for five consecutive weeks - and #6 on the main Billboard album chart. It won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It was also nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy alongside Michael Jackson, U2, Prince and Whitney Houston as well as best country song for "Telling Me Lies". It was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

A dozen years after the release of their multi-Platinum, Grammy-winning Trio album, the country music supergroup returned with another in the same vein. Five of the ten tracks on this album first appeared on Linda Ronstadt's 1995 album Feels Like Home, minus Parton's vocals. These five tracks were "Lover's Return", "High Sierra", a cover of Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" (with Valerie Carter and string arrangements by David Campbell), "The Blue Train" (a Top 40 solo hit for Ronstadt), and the title song to the Ronstadt album, the Randy Newman-composed "Feels Like Home". The Gold-selling album reached the Top Five on Billboard's Country Albums chart as well as #62 on Billboard's main album listing.

The songs were actually recorded in 1994 by Parton, Ronstadt and Harris, but label disputes and conflicting schedules of the three women prevented its release at the time. Eventually, Ronstadt remixed the five above-mentioned tracks (sans Parton's vocals) to include in Feels Like Home. In 1999 (after Parton and Harris had parted ways with their respective labels), they decided to finally release the album as originally recorded. Though it yielded no hit singles (mainstream U.S. country radio had long since dropped most artists approaching or over the age of 50 from their playlists by the late 1990s), Trio II was certified Gold by the RIAA, and won the trio another Grammy Award in 2000.

Track listing

previously released on Harris' 2007 compilation Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems. previously released on Harris' 1977 album Blue Kentucky Girl. previously released on Harris' 1981 album Evangeline.

Charts

The album also reached number 1 on the UK Country Compilations Chart and has remained on the top of the chart for 16 consecutive weeks.