Bringing together Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt for the album Trio was a truly inspired idea, and not simply because they were three of the finest voices in country and pop music at the time. While a gifted entertainer, Parton is also a business-savvy professional who will willingly set aside her gifts as a pure country singer if she thinks her audience would rather hear something like "Nine to Five." However, give her a stage for old-school country material, and she will always rise sublimely to the occasion. Similarly, some of Linda Ronstadt's finest work was on her early country-rock albums (especially Heart Like a Wheel), but she seems to operate best with strong collaborators; left to her own devices, she's just as likely to pick wrong-headed material in styles not comfortable to her, but in the right settings her gifts still dazzle. And while Emmylou Harris had as strong a track record as anyone in Nashville in the 1980s, it's obvious she loves to collaborate with others, and sings harmonies with the same rich and affecting beauty that she brings to her headlining gigs. So you take two gifted artists who need proper direction, team them up with an excellent collaborative artist, and the results should fall neatly into place. In truth, that's a formula as likely as not to fail, but on Trio the experiment works brilliantly. The three vocalists display an obvious affinity and respect for one another's talents, inspiring superb performances in one another, and while they all shine in their solo spots, some of the album's most pleasurable moments are when the three harmonize, with their distinct but equally impressive voices melding into a whole that's more than the sum of its parts. Harris, Parton, and Ronstadt also make the most of a set of fine songs (certainly a better program than Parton or Ronstadt had taken on in the studio in a while), and producer George Massenburg lined up a wonderfully subtle and intuitive backing group, with Ry Cooder, David Lindley, and Albert Lee picking gloriously without calling undue attention to themselves. In short, Trio is that rare example of an all-star collaborative effort that truly shows everyone involved to their best advantage, and it ranks with the best of all three headliners' work.

EMMYLOU HARRIS & DOLLY PARTON & LINDA RONSTADT
TRIO
(Warner Bros 25491)
February 26/1987
Produced by George Massenburg

John Starling, Ry Cooder - guitar
David Lindley - guitar/mandolin/autoharp/steel
Albert Lee - guitar/mandolin
Steve Fishell - steel/dobro
Leland Sklar, Kenny Edwards - bass
Russ Kunkel - drums
Bill Payne - piano/keyboards
Herb Pedersen - banjo
Marty Krystall - clarinet
Brice H. Martin - flute
Jodi Burnett, Dennis Karmazyn - cello
Ilene Novog - viola
Charles Veal - concertmaster

1.
PAIN OF LOVING YOU
(Dolly Parton - Porter Wagoner)
« © '71 Velvet Apple Music, BMI »

Oh the pain of loving you oh the mis'ry I go through
Never knowing what to do oh the pain of loving you

You just can't stand to see me happy seems you hurt me all you can
Still I go on loving you but I'll never understand
Oh the pain of loving you...
[ ac.guitar - steel ]
To love and hate at the same time the line between the two is fine
But too has bound me heart and soul so strong that I can't let you go
Oh the pain of loving you...
Oh the pain of loving you
**********
2.
MAKING PLANS
(Johnny Russell - Voni Morrison)
« © '63 Sure-Fire Music, BMI »

You say tomorrow you're going that's so hard for me to believe
I'm making plans for the heartaches cause you're making plans to leave
The tears for me will be falling like a tree shedding its leaves
I'm making plans for the teardrops cause you're making plans to leave
You're making plans to forget me I'm making plans to miss you
I'm getting ready to grieve
I'm making plans to be lonesome cause you're making plans to leave
[ viola ]
I'm making plans to be lonesome cause you're making plans to leave
I'm making plans to be lonesome cause you're making plans to leave
**********
3.
TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM
(Phil Spector)
« © '58 Mother Bertha Music, BMI »

To know know know him is to love love love him
Just to see him smile makes my life worthwhile
To know know know him is to love love love him and I do

I'll be good to him I'll bring love too him
Everyone says there'll come a day when I'll walk alongside of him
Yes just to know him is to love love love him and I do
Why can't he see how blind can he be
Someday he will see that he was meant for me oh ah
[ steel ]
To know know know him...
[ steel ]
**********
4.
HOBO'S MEDITATION
(Jimmie Rodgers)
« © '33 Peer International, BMI »

Tonight as I lay on a boxcar just waiting for a train to pass by
What will become of the hobo whenever his time comes to die
Has the Master up yonder in heaven got a place that we might call our home
Will we have to work for a livin' or can we continue to roam
Will there be any freight trains in heaven any boxcars in which we might hide
Will there be any tough cops or brakemen will they tell us that we cannot ride
Will the hobo chum with the rich man will we always have money to spare
Will they have respect for a hobo in that land that lies hidden up there
[ bnanjo - dobro ]
Will there be any freight trains...
**********
5.
WILDFLOWERS
(Dolly Parton)
« © '86 Velvet Apple Music, BMI »

The hills were alive with wildflowers and I was as wild even wilder than they
For at least I could run they just died in the sun and I refused to just wither in place
Just a wild mountain rose needing freedom to grow
So I ran fearing up where I'd go
When a flower grows wild it can always survive wildflowers don't care where they grow
And the flowers I knew in the fields where I grew
Were content to be lost in the crowd
They were common and close I had no room for growth
And I wanted so much to branch out
So I uprooted myself from home ground and left
Took my dreams and I took to the road
When a flower grows wild it can always survive wildflowers don't care where they grow
[ ac.guitar ]
I grew up fast and wild and I never felt right in a garden so different from me
I just never belonged I just longed to be gone so the garden one day set me free
I hitched a ride with the wind and since he was my friend
I just let him decide where we'd go
When a flower grows wild it can always survive wildflowers don't care where they grow
Just a wild mountain rose seeking mist'ries untold no regret for the path that chose
When a flower grows wild it can always survive wildflowers don't care where they grow
Mhm hm hm mhm...
Wildflowers don't care where they grow
**********
6.
TELLING ME LIES
(Linda Thompson - Betsy Cook)
« © '85 Chappell & Co, ASCAP »

They say a woman's a fool for weeping a fool to break her own heart
But I can't hold the secret I'm keeping I'm breaking apart
Can't seem to mind my own business whatever I try turns out wrong
I seem like my own false witness and I can't go on
I cover my ears I close my eyes
Still hear your voice and it's telling me lies telling me lies

You told me you needed my company and I believed in your flattering ways
You told me you needed me forever nearly gave you the rest of my days
Should've seen you for what you are should never have come back for more
Should've locked up all my silver brought the key right to your door
I cover my ears...
[ strings ]
You don't know what a chance is until you have to seize one
You don't know what a man is until you have to please one
Don't put your life in the hands of a man with a face for every season
Don't waste your time in the arms of a man who's no stranger to treason
I cover my ears...
I cover my ears...
I cover my ears...
**********
7.
MY DEAR COMPANION
(Jean Ritchie)
« © '76 Geordie Music, ASCAP »

Oh have you seen my dear companion for he was all this world to me
I hear he's gone to some far country and that he cares no more for me
I wish I were a swallow flying I'd fly to a high and lonesome place
I'd join the wild birds in their crying thinking of you and your sweet face
[ mandolin - ac.guitar ]
Oh have you seen my dear companion for he was all this world to me
But now the stars have turned against me and he cares no more for me
Oh when the dark is on the mountain and all the world has gone to sleep
I will go down to cold dark waters and there I'll lay me down and weep
Oh have you seen my dear companion oh have you seen my dear companion
Oh have you seen my dear companion oh have you seen my dear companion
For he was all this world to me
**********
8.
THOSE MEMORIES OF YOU
(Alan O'Bryant)
« © '78 Bill Monroe Music, BMI »

Those memories of you still haunt me every night when I lay down
I'll always love you little darling until the day they lay me down

In dreams of you my body trembles I wake up and call your name
But you're not there and I'm so lonesome without your love I'd go insane
Those memories of you...
[ ac.guitar - viola ]
I close my eyes and you're there with me your kiss I feel your face I see
It's not your lips now that drive me crazy it's just your haunting memory
Those memories of you...
Until the day they lay me down
**********
9.
I'VE HAD ENOUGH
(Kate McGarrigle)
« © '81 Garden Court Music, ASCAP »

Love it's not I who didn't try hard enough hard enough
And this is why I'm saying goodbye I've had enough I've had enough
Love you don't see the pain in me that's plain enough plain enough
You're never here to catch the tears I cried for us I cried for us
I'll take my share but I'll be fair there's not much stuff easy enough
And if you choose I'll break the news this part is tough so very tough
[ piano ]
I've tried and tried to put aside the time to talk but without luck
So I'll just pin this note within your coat and leave the garden gate unlocked
[ cello ]
And this is why I'm saying goodbye I've had enough I've had enough
**********
10.
ROSEWOOD CASKET
(Avie Lee Parton)
« © '71 Song Yard Music, ASCAP »

There's a little rosewood casket resting on a marble stand
With a packet of old love letters written by my true love's hand
Go and bring them to me sister read them o'er for me tonight
I have often tried but could not for the tears that filled my eyes
When I'm dead and in my casket when I gently fall asleep
Fall asleep to wake in heaven dearest sister do not weep
[ mandolin ]
Take his letters and his locket place them gently on my heart
But this golden ring that he gave me from my finger never part
There's a little rosewood casket resting on a marble stand
With a packet of old love letters written by my true love's hand
[ ac.guitar - mandolin ]
**********
11.
FARTHER ALONG
(W.B. Stevens - Jesse Randall Baxter)
« © '38 Bridge Building Music, BMI »

Tempted and tried we're oft made to wonder why it should be thus all the day long
While there are others living about us never molested though in the wrong
When death has come and taken our loved ones it leaves our home so lonely and drear
Then do we wonder why others prosper living so wicked year after year
Farther along we'll know all about it farther along we'll understand why
Cheer up my brother live in the sunshine we'll understand it all by and by
[ piano ]
Faithful till death said our loving Master a few more days to labor and wait
Toils of the road will then seem as nothing as we sweep through the beautiful gates
Farther along we'll know all about it...
Yes we'll understand it all by and by
**********