The Grass Is Blue

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And Nora Jones sang a song which I did not even know that Dolly had written, The Grass is Blue.

And I was like, inside I was just weeping because she was sitting there so happy and whatever.

And she's just one of those people that if you were lucky enough to truly, truly get to know her and know who she was, your life was richer for that.

She was trying to play the game for a while.

The part of her career that people miss is that she goes, you know, i'm not i don't want to keep up with the times anymore uh there's a new wave of people that i'm not going to compete with i'm going to go back to what i do best the records she made in the last 25 years there's a lot of really rootsy stuff on there where dolly's being dolly again going back to her early days in the 60s and 70s when she was writing these incredibly uh powerful songs kind of in a roots kind of vein um the the albums i particularly love the one she did in the late 90s and early 2000s there was the a grammy-winning record called the grass is blue and then the follow-up in 2001 called little sparrow those records are terrific she's got members of uh allison krauss's band uh performing on those uh records so real bluegrass real bluegrass stuff and and you know she knows that stuff inside and out she's returning to her roots in southern the southern appalachians you know She covers the Leuven Brothers on a track from The Grass is Blue.

Now, the Leuven Brothers were a key part of her upbringing.

This brother duo was writing these incredibly hardcore, powerful songs, so I think they influenced her songwriting and her sound early on.

This song, Cash on the Barrelhead, you know, she covers it on The Grass is Blue.

I went back and listened to the Leuven Brothers version.

It's obviously a classic.

She was trying to play the game for a while.

The part of her career that people miss is that she goes, you know, i'm not i don't want to keep up with the times anymore uh there's a new wave of people that i'm not going to compete with i'm going to go back to what i do best the records she made in the last 25 years there's a lot of really rootsy stuff on there where dolly's being dolly again going back to her early days in the 60s and 70s when she was writing these incredibly uh powerful songs kind of in a roots kind of vein um the the albums i particularly love the one she did in the late 90s and early 2000s there was the a grammy-winning record called the grass is blue and then the follow-up in 2001 called little sparrow those records are terrific she's got members of uh allison krauss's band uh performing on those uh records so real bluegrass real bluegrass stuff and and you know she knows that stuff inside and out she's returning to her roots in southern the southern appalachians you know She covers the Leuven Brothers on a track from The Grass is Blue.

Now, the Leuven Brothers were a key part of her upbringing.

This brother duo was writing these incredibly hardcore, powerful songs, so I think they influenced her songwriting and her sound early on.

This song, Cash on the Barrelhead, you know, she covers it on The Grass is Blue.

I went back and listened to the Leuven Brothers version.

It's obviously a classic.

I know she has been a huge influence and inspiration for a lot of people.

And just a little personal note that, you know, her passing made me want to go back and listen to The Grass Is Blue.

That record was a real kind of turning point for me with Bluegrass.

I'd been listening to Bluegrass for a while and I knew some stuff.

But hearing...

The Grass is Blue and just that collection of songs and her vocals and the bunch of people that played on that really sort of got me another level into Bluegrass and I will always, always love that record.

It will always have a very special place in my heart.

So I just wanted to say something about that.