Trio (1987 album)
Trio is a collaborative album by American singers Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris. It was released on March 2, 1987, by Warner Bros. Records. The album has platinum certification in the U.S. for sales of one million copies, and has total worldwide sales of approximately four million. A second collaborative album, Trio II, was released in 1999.
Trio
March 2, 1987
January–November 1986
- The Complex (Los Angeles)
- Woodland (Nashville)
- Ocean Way (Los Angeles)
38:24
Background[edit]
Longtime friends and admirers of one another, Parton, Harris, and Ronstadt 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.[1]
Some of the fruits of those aborted 1970s recording sessions did make it onto the women's respective solo albums.[1] "Mr. Sandman" and "Evangeline" appeared on Harris' album Evangeline and Parton's "My Blue Tears" was included on Ronstadt's 1982 album Get Closer. Rodney Crowell's "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" was on Harris' Blue Kentucky Girl album. "Palms of Victory", another track from the aborted 1970s sessions, was included on the Harris' 2007 box set Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems.
Parton and Ronstadt also recorded a version of the traditional ballad "I Never Will Marry", which appeared on Ronstadt's 1977 Simple Dreams album, though that was recorded separately from these sessions, as was Ronstadt's cover of Hank Williams' "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)", from Heart Like a Wheel, on which she was joined by Harris. During this time, Ronstadt and Harris also covered a number of Parton's compositions — Harris covered "Coat of Many Colors" and "To Daddy", and Ronstadt recorded "I Will Always Love You"—for inclusion on their various solo albums during the mid- to late-1970s. Parton, in turn, covered Harris' "Boulder to Birmingham", including it on her 1976 album, All I Can Do.
Finally, a collaboration effort came to fruition, being produced by George Massenburg. When Trio was released in March 1987, it spawned four hit singles–including a remake of Phil Spector's 1958 hit by the Teddy Bears, "To Know Him Is to Love Him".
Commercial performance[edit]
The album peaked at No. 6 on the main U.S. Billboard Top 200 Album chart. It peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart for five weeks. In Canada, the album peaked at No. 4 on the RPM Top Albums chart. In Sweden, it peaked at No. 29 on the Sverigetopplistan Albums Top 60 chart, and in the U.K. it peaked at No. 60 on the Official Charts Company UK Albums Chart.
The album's first single, "To Know Him Is to Love Him", was released in January 1987[6][7] and peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. The single also peaked at No. 1 in Canada on the RPM Country Singles chart. The second single, "Telling Me Lies", was released in May 1987[8] and peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, No. 35 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart and No. 6 in Canada on the RPM Country Singles chart. "Those Memories of You" was released as the third single in August 1987[9] and it peaked at No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and No. 1 in Canada on the RPM Country Singles chart. The album's fourth and final single, "Wildflowers", was released in March 1988[10] and peaked at No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and No. 8 in Canada on the RPM Country Singles chart.