The wide chasm between an artist’s perception of their work and the public’s perception of their work has been around since the first human said, “Hey, look at this thing I made.” This phenomenon is undoubtedly true in the music industry, with musicians often preferring songs and albums that didn’t perform well in a commercial sense—and, conversely, hating the songs and albums that did. Dolly Parton experienced this age-old realization after the release of her 38th studio album, Little Sparrow, Sugar Hill and Blue Eye Records put out on January 23, 2001.
Like she had done so many times before in her decades-long career, Parton drew upon her childhood in the east Tennessee mountains for inspiration. Her father, Lee Parton, died three months before she put out Little Sparrow, and the album was a way to honor both her father and her Appalachian upbringing. Songs included originals like the title track, “Mountain Angel”, and “Down from Dover”, in addition to standards like Cole Porter’s “I Get a Kick Out of You”.
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Though it would be an overreach to claim Parton’s album wasn’t successful, it was a far cry from a chart-topper. But in the country icon’s eyes, it was some of her best work yet. (So it goes.)
Dolly Parton Believed This 2001 Album Was Among Her Best Work
Dolly Parton said of her 38th studio album, “I believe Little Sparrow has more depth, breadth, and soul than all of the other albums I have done. Hopefully, it captures the best of everything I’ve ever lived or felt, written or sung. I also think this is Steve Buckingham’s best work as a producer. I hope you enjoy it. You know how every parent thinks their kids are the prettiest, how every person thinks their hometown and their home team is the best, and how every singer-songwriter thinks that the album that they just finished is the best they’ve ever done? Well, I think that, too.”
When an artist is so firmly rooted in a specific genre that typically exists outside of the Billboard Top 40 (in this case, country), we often measure their success by how well they crossed over into the world of pop music. By that measure, Little Sparrow wasn’t quite a crossover success, barely making the Top 100 on the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at No. 97. In the country music world, the album performed expectedly better, peaking at No. 12 on both the Top Country and Top Bluegrass charts. The album also garnered Parton a Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance for the album’s second track, “Shine”. So, it definitely got its due.
Still, to think that Parton would call Little Sparrow some of her deepest work while she continues to be known for pre-2000 hits like “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” just goes to show how different art looks to the artist versus the one who is observing it.
Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images
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