On October 27, RCA Nashville/Legacy Recordings will release Dolly, a four-CD box set with 99 tracks spanning Dolly Parton’s illustrious music career. Starting today on NPR, you can stream several songs for free with your morning coffee.
NPR hosts, reporters and bloggers selected their favorite ten tracks from Dolly, and offer personal commentary about each one. Their picks are available for free, on-demand listening now through October 27 here.
The preview features first listens to classic Parton songs and seven previously unreleased tracks. Each song is accompanied by anecdotes and reflections from NPR’s resident Parton fans: Weekend Edition host Scott Simon tells why he thinks “My Tennessee Mountain Home” is one of the great songs of all time, “Monkey See” blogger Linda Holmes reveals how “Islands in the Stream” helped the art of karaoke, arts reporter Neda Ulaby gives a portrait of “Jolene” and NPR Music’s Frannie Kelley says “Baby I’m Burnin’” is pure kick-up-your-heels joy.
Other free streaming albums available on NPR at this time include The Swell Season’s Strict Joy (until October 27) and One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur, the soundtrack album by Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Son Volt’s Jay Farrar. Hurry up though — today is the last day to stream that one.