As is frequently the case with covers albums, the songs with the best melodies come through best, meaning that the immediate standouts on this disc are Melissa Etheridge's slow-burning, hesitant version of "I Will Always Love You" and the "Jolene"-by-way-of-nineties-singer-songwriter-sensibilities offered by a newcomer, Mindy Smith. (I also liked the Kasey Chambers take on a song called "Little Sparrow", though the melody is strikingly similar to that of Chambers' own (rather fab, though perhaps, as it now turns out, unoriginal) duet with Paul Kelly, "I Still Pray".)
I'm not particularly familiar with Dolly Parton's back catalogue, but this cd has been another factor causing me to re-evaluate the caricature buxom blonde overblown good ol' fashioned country singer image of her that I've been carrying around for as long as I can remember, because these songs, as interpreted by an impressive rollcall of female pop/country artists (Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, Shania Twain, Emmylou Harris, Sinead O'Connor and others) are quality, and the respect that all of the musicians associated with the disc obviously have for her is remarkable.
