This is the third page of a Dolly Parton discography, looking at her best-of collections, tribute albums, film appearances and Dolly-related webpages...

Dolly Parton "The Best Of Dolly Parton" (RCA, 1970)

Dolly Parton/Porter Wagoner "The Best Of Porter Wagoner And Dolly Parton" (RCA, 1971)

Dolly Parton "Just The Way I Am" (RCA-Camden, 1972)
Lesser-well known album tracks from early in Dolly's career (1967-70). Folks might not automatically hum these songs if they came up on the radio, but they're still dern fine tunes.

Dolly Parton "The World Of Dolly Parton" (Monument, 1972)

Dolly Parton "The Best Of Dolly Parton" (RCA, 1975)

Dolly Parton "Dolly Parton's Greatest Hits" (RCA, 1982)

Dolly Parton "Collector's Series" (RCA, 1985)

Dolly Parton "I Will Always Love You And Other Greatest Hits" (Columbia, 1996)
Dolly's hits from 1989-95, when she was signed with Sony's Columbia label... Includes some duets with stars of the day, such as Billy Ray Cyrus ("Romeo"), Ricky Van Shelton ("The Rockin' Years") and Vince Gill (the title track, a rerecording of "I Will Always Love You") as well as later hits such as "White Limozeen."

Dolly Parton "The Essential, Volume One" (RCA Nashville, 1996)
Dolly Parton "The Essential, Volume Two" (RCA Nashville, 1997)
Ah, Dolly. The first volume is really godawful, heavy on the 1980s, which were not her best years. There's only one great song one here ("I Will Always Love You"), and it doesn't outweight the drek. But Volume Two is tasty, with all kinds of stuff from the '60s and '70s which is much more representative of Dolly as we'd like to remember her. The updated, single-volume RCA Country Legends collection is a big, big improvement.

Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner "The Essential" (RCA Nashville, 1997)
AWESOME. Dolly started off her career as the "girl singer" on the Porter Wagoner show, replacing the equally hickalicious Norma Jean. Porter certainly helped Dolly find her voice as a traditonally-oriented artist in a countrypolitan town. The duets they recorded when they were still musical partners are mostly pretty good, a lot better than you might think... and the song selection on this collection (culled from the zillions of duet albums they put out together) is great. Well worth checking out, especially since it isn't likely to stay in print forever.

Dolly Parton "The Legendary Dolly Parton" (BMG-Australia, 2000)
A budget-priced 3-CD set that covers a wide swath of Dolly's best material. When I actually pick up a copy, I'll give y'all a more full report.

Dolly Parton "Mission Chapel Memories: 1971-1975" (Raven, 2001)
This is a totally delicious collection focussing exclusively on Dolly's early '70s work on RCA, when, quite frankly, the gal was on fire! Starting off with "Coat Of Many Colors," this disc gathers two dozen of Parton's gems, including, yes, "Jolene" and "The Bargain Store," but more importantly mining the rich, deep reservoir of her other, less well-known material. The pacing of this album is perfect, and the songs are well selected, showing Dolly at her most relaxed, and at the peak of her creativity. Of all the Parton best-ofs out there today, this one may actually be the most fresh-sounding and rewarding. Highly recommended!

Dolly Parton "RCA Country Legends" (Buddah, 2002)
This disc is a huge improvement over the lackluster Parton best-ofs in the Essential (reviewed above). Here, at last, we have a retrospective that's as sexy and cool as Dolly herself, dishing out one great song after another. This set dispences with the pop crap and zooms in on the country tunes, It's really all killer, no filler, and is the kind of best-of that an uber-hick like Dolly Parton really deserves. Highly recommended. If they come out with a second volume that is equally as good as this one, I'll pick it up, too!

Dolly Parton "The Ultimate Dolly Parton" (BMG/RCA, 2003)
Nice! This collection is noteworthy in that while it has the big, classic tracks ("Jolene," etc...) it also includes a lot of Dolly's '80s pop crossover material, ranging from irresistible "9 To 5" to other, less fondly-recalled hits. Pretty much every song on here pegged out at #1 on the charts... Which, of course, begs the question of all the other, great songs that must have fallen by the wayside. The Mission Chapel Memories compilation reviewed above would make a perfect companion to this disc.

Various Artists "Pickin' On Dolly Parton: A Bluegrass Tribute" (CMH, 2003)

Various Artists "JUST BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN: SONGS OF DOLLY PARTON" (Vanguard, 2003)
A slick tribute album featuring an all-star cast with a few questionable entries... I mean, who am I to begrudge Me'Shell N'Degeocello, Melissa Etheridge or Joan Osborne their chance to pay homage to the great Dolly P.? Still, it doesn't mean I have to get into what they record. There are some more down-to-earth artists on here, such as, well -- Alison Krauss, I guess, and Norah Jones, who displays a growing flair for countrified material. Emmylou's version of "To Daddy" is included as well, but that's actually a bit of a disappointment, since it's over 25 years old (you'd think she could contribute something new to her old buddy's tribute album...) The most adventuresome track may be from Sinead O'Connor; the best is certainly from Dolly herself, singing the lively title track (and the title of her first solo album on RCA), reminding us again why she's such a roots music goddess. Shelby Lynne, Shania Twain, Kasey Chambers and Allison Moorer are also all on here, in case anybody asks...

Dolly also has an extensive film career... When I get the free time, I'll add info about her Hollywood career as well. Stay tuned! (In the meantime, Dollyon-line.com has a succinct set of capsule reviews for everything from 9 To 5 on down...