Pure & Simple

Dolly Parton may have spent a good portion of her career being treated as a novelty act, the sweet hillbilly girl with the big smile and the big hair, but it's clear she's had the last laugh. Very few country acts working today have approached Parton's career longevity, and at 70 years old she's still a force to be reckoned with. She doesn't have to play the summer state fair circuit, she hasn't had to re-record her back catalog, she's now acknowledged as a great singer and excellent songwriter, and as much as she likes to pretend she's a dumb blonde, she's a wealthy multi-media magnate who has played the game her own way and won. In 2016, Dolly Parton makes music in large part because it's good for her brand, but her album Pure & Simple is also the work of someone who still has fun writing and recording new stuff, and is still putting her heart and soul into her work. Parton co-produced Pure & Simple with Richard Dennison and Tom Rutledge, and she wrote and arranged all ten tr