CD Review

Tribute albums are always a mixed bag of perfect matches, interesting transformations, and totally inappropriate interpretations. Of course, it would be nice to just ignore the originals and focus on their respectfully created reincarnations in and of themselves, but that’s just not going to happen. Tributes are made with the original artist in mind, so it’s only natural that any judgment passed should be made likewise.

On Just Because I’m a Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton, most of the recreations can be casually tossed into the box marked “faithful interpretations.” Joan Osborne takes on “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind” and mixes in a pinch of folk, but just enough to sweeten the original recipe a bit, and up-and-comer Mindy Smith’s ghostly interpretation of “Jolene” adds a new dimension to Parton’s plea for mercy from an adulterous rival without changing the heart of the song. Few women would be as fitting to a Dolly Parton tribute as Emmylou Harris, and her Nashville version of the bittersweet Smokey Mountain tune, “To Daddy,” sounds like it was tailor-made for her perfect country voice.

In fact, the only real smudge upon an otherwise perfectly polished collection is Melissa Etheridge’s outright butchering of “I Will Always Love You.” There is a reason Whitney Houston was the only one to cover the song since 1968. Etheridge, unfortunately, doesn’t have the pipes to take on this vocal masterpiece, and her effort to talk her way through it only makes matters worse. Combined with a heartless drum machine beat and tin can electric guitars, her ill-advised attempts at tribute quickly turn to travesty.

But while Etheridge’s detour falls flat on its face, Allison Moorer and Me'Shell N'Degeocello lose the easy road and find themselves looking upon beautiful new undiscovered vistas. The feather-light guitar and occasional piano twinkling of Moorer’s “Light Of a Clear Blue Morning” drift in and out of the lifting fog of perfectly layered electronic atmospherics like an eagle in the strengthening light of a cloudy valley morning. Then N’Degeocello effectively rewrites “Two Doors Down” with her signature funk stomp, making it hard to believe the song ever left Parton’s lips.

But the risks inherent in these Moorer and N’Degeocello songs would be a little too much to stomach if there weren’t other, more traditional readings of Parton’s songbook. “Coat Of Many Colors” shows just how badly Shania Twain’s beautifully smoky voice has been ruined by the overproduction of the pop-country sludge she usually churns out. Matched up with Alison Krauss and Union Station, whose bluegrass take of “9 to 5” is just about perfect - she sounds more like Tanya Tucker than herself, and she seems to slip into bluegrass a lot easier than a lot of her stage outfits. Norah Jones’s powerful, smoky whisper is the perfect compliment to the bluesy denial of “The Grass Is Blue,” and even Sinead O’Connor’s Irish lilt sounds just right on “Dagger Through the Heart.”

But Just Because I’m a Woman is ultimately more successful than most tribute albums because it’s filled with quality songs. It would be pretty hard to make them sound bad, and most of the artists on the album do it one better. For the most part, their own visions are balanced with a deeply felt respect for the originals, and the final product becomes a true homage in the unique voice of the performer. This is one tribute album that should appeal to newcomers, while managing to placate—and sometimes even please—hardcore Dolly devotees.