Dolly Parton Revealed the Album That Would Always Be Special to Her, Even If It Didn’t Sell ‘a Nickel’s Worth’
In 1977, Dolly Parton released New Harvest … First Gathering, the first album she ever self-produced. The album was a success amongst fans and critics alike and helped Parton cross over to the pop charts. She shared why it meant so much to be able to release an album like this, and why it wouldn’t have mattered to her if it didn’t sell a single copy.
Dolly Parton shared why one album meant a great deal to her
After years of working with Porter Wagoner on his show and as her producer, Parton stepped out on her own with New Harvest … First Gathering. She said the experience of producing the album was very important to her.
“Even if it doesn’t sell a nickel’s worth, it will always be my special album, because it was the first time in my whole life I got to do something totally on my own,” she told Alanna Nash in the book Dolly.
She explained that the album represented a major turning point in her career. She had to move on from her partnership with Wagoner and let go of her family band. While she said it was painful, she knew it was the right decision and the resulting album proved this to her.
“I didn’t feel the people I was involved with were dreamin’ as big as I was,” she said. “In certain areas, I was workin’ under pressure. It broke my heart to have to relieve several people, but I had to do it. This is by far the best thing I’ve ever done. It was the first chance I had to have total musical freedom and self-expression — the first time I’ve ever produced anything.”
She described it as an album of ‘pure love’
Parton explained that she liked New Harvest … First Gathering so much because it was unlike anything she had done before.
“[I]t’s the first thing I’ve done of this nature, and it’s not the only kind of thing I’m ever gonna be doin’,” she said. “I just wanted to do these things because I’ve done the others. And in the next albums to come I’ll be doin’ the kind of things I did in this album, in addition to the things I’ve always done — simpler things, and not so big on production. I’ll go back to simplicity and production.”
She added that while she may return to simpler albums, she would always feel proud of the work she put into New Harvest … First Gathering.
“It’s one of the greatest, most fulfillin’ things of my life,” she said. “There was just so much joy in it. It’s an album of pure old love, as far as I’m concerned.”
Dolly Parton said she felt stifled while working on other albums
The joy of self-producing an album was particularly sweet after years of feeling creatively stifled. After Parton ended her working relationship with Wagoner, he spoke negatively about her to the press. Parton said that while he acted like she blindsided him, he knew that she had been eager to grow on her own.
“Me and Porter fought all the time. We’ve fought for years,” she said. “I tried to tell him what I was trying to do. I tried to tell him my dreams and plans, but it was too touchy a thing. I had to go because we couldn’t share it together because he wouldn’t accept it … I have my own kind of respect and admiration for him. But he knows better than to make it sound like I just left, that he didn’t know why. My dreams were so big that they were turning into nightmares because I didn’t have anyone to help me carry them out.”
