CMT Blog: Archive

If you're a Dolly Parton follower like me, you know she is planning to take some time off these next couple of months. However, in usual Dolly fashion, she never really takes time off and despite her absence from the road, she will spending her free time writing more music, working on the 9 to 5 musical, helping Kenny Rogers with his television special, getting her nails done, etc. But there's good news for eager fans. On May 4, Legacy Recordings will be releasing a vintage inspirational album, Letter to Heaven: Songs of Faith and Inspiration.

Growing up singing in church and having a Pentecostal preacher grandfather, it comes as no surprise that Dolly's faithful roots have carried through to her music and songwriting. Letter to Heaven consists of 17 inspirational songs dating back to her early career in the 1970s. In fact, each track from her 1971 gospel album, Golden Streets of Glory, is on the album along with seven additional tracks including "Old Time Preacher Man," a song she and her aunt Dorothy Jo Hope co-wrote as a tribute to her grandfather. In 1970, Dolly and longtime musical partner Porter Wagoner took this tune to the Top 10. Her project also consists of original tracks like "Master's Hand," "The Golden Streets of Glory," "God's Coloring Book," "Sacred Memories" and "The Seeker," as well as celebrated gospel favorites like "Wings of a Dove" and "How Great Thou Art." The package also includes a previously unreleased track, "Would You Know Him," which she wrote with her aunt.

For me, the finest song is the beautiful "Comin' for to Carry Me Home," her take on the century-old hymn, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." When I was a little girl, my great-aunt and great-uncle would always request that I sing this song and unbeknownst to me, it was not because of my killer vocals. I'd proudly belt out, "I looked over Georgia and what did I see ..." To this day I still catch myself singing "Georgia" instead of "Jordan." I think this album is special because regardless if fans have ever heard these songs, they, too, will feel that warmth and homespun feeling in Dolly's music -- like a big comforting hug that assures us she'll be back soon.