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Over the weekend, Dolly Parton’s 1979 album, Great Balls of Fire, turned 44 years old. The album came out during a time when the country star was making big changes to her career. She had plans of becoming a superstar, and needed to get her music heard by a wider audience. So she put out some music that wasn’t necessarily true to her roots. Let’s take a look back at the 1979 album and what Parton thought about it.
Dolly Parton’s ‘Great Balls of Fire’
Parton’s Great Balls of Fire came out on May 28, 1979, released by RCA Victor. It was the artist’s 21st solo studio album. The album was produced by Gregg Perry and Dean Parks; Parton and Charles Koppelman acted as executive producers.
Certified Gold in the U.S., Great Balls of Fire performed well. It reached number four on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and number 40 on the Billboard 200. The single “You’re the Only One” topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and single “Sweet Summer Lovin’” reached number seven.
In addition to four songs written by Parton, the album includes the covers: “Great Balls of Fire,” by Jerry Lee Lewis and a bluegrass spin on The Beatles’ “Help!”
Great Balls of Fire undoubtedly featured the new sounds Parton was experimenting with at the time — rock and pop, in particular. But the singer’s tried and true country and bluegrass sound is present as well.
Dolly Parton said in 1980 that she wasn’t proud of her last few albums
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1980, Parton’s interviewer, Chet Flippo, told her: “To be frank, I didn’t like your last few albums.”
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“To be even franker, neither did I!” Parton laughed. “But, the thing is, it got me where I wanted to be. Now you will like, you will like the next one, because I finally got myself to a point where my personality was strong enough.”
It all started after Parton left The Porter Wagoner Show. She was finally able to do what she wanted to, artistically, on her own. The only problem was, she wasn’t selling nearly as many records as she would have liked. So she got herself some new management and made a plan to be heard by a wider audience.
“I went all out and tried to find good management, which I did, and to record stuff that I don’t particularly even like and am not even particularly proud of, other than the fact that it worked,” she said.
Some of the ‘Great Balls of Fire’ Artist’s fans felt she was abandoning country music
During the late ‘70s, when Parton was making big career strategy moves, some of her early fans felt she was abandoning her country roots.
“When I first got the bigger band and started doin’ more rocky things, some people hollered, ‘Do your country, we don’t need your rock ‘n’ roll,’” Parton told Playboy Magazine in 1978. “I don’t do rock ‘n’ roll. I knew what I was tryin’ to do and I didn’t have time to try to explain it to them.”
The accusation greatly upset Parton, who told Cosmopolitan in 1979: “What really hurts me is when people are layin’ on that I’m changin’ my music,” she said. “I’m goin’ pop. . . Well, basically, I’m still country. The smart ones saw what I was doin’. . . the other ones. . . Well, I could kill those people and bust their heads. My show will always be me!”
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