Wonderful compilation of Parton's hard-core country years when she was still performing together with Porter Wagoner - all the material here is from 1971-1975 so it precedes her later pop crossover period and shows why country audience loved her so much.
Almost all material here are hand-picked gems written by either Parton or Wagoner - quality of songwriting is very high and songs are little stories about heartbreak, joy, religion or occasional autobiographic vignette ("Coat of many colors") that romanticizes hungry childhood years. What is very interesting here is that Porter and Wagoner were absolutely on the same wave-lenght and its difficult to recognize who wrote what, they both had soft spot for sentimental stories and strong melodies, in fact some of Wagoner's stuff is so strong (explosive "Highway headin' south") that I am surprised he actually gave it away to anybody. Behind that cutesy looks, Parton was a excellent songwriter and bursting with ideas - not all of the songs here were hits but this gives them "hidden gems" spark and spark they do, like a sunny Sunday afternoon. Just listen some forgotten numbers here, like "Pleasant as May" and she is coming across as almost overwhelmingly gifted artist, I mean she was this beautiful young woman with incredibly pretty voice AND was writing her own songs. "Highway headin' south" is such a joyous, rousing country-gospel that it is worth price of CD alone.
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