Dolly Parton, Jeannie C. Riley Recordings Added to Grammy Hall of Fame
The Recording Academy has announced its 2019 additions to the Grammy Hall of Fame. Dolly Parton's 1971 classic "Coat of Many Colors" and Jeannie C. Riley's iconic 1968 hit "Harper Valley P.T.A." are among this year's inducted works.
Parton and Riley's songs are two of 2019's 25 additions to Grammy Hall of Fame. The list of added musical works also includes Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," selections from Aerosmith, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Tom Petty, and many more iconic songs and albums. Inductees into the Grammy Hall of Fame are selected from across the musical genre spectrum and represent a sampling of recordings that have shaped the culture.
"The Grammy Hall of Fame is proud to be a pillar of musical excellence and diversity year after year, honoring some of the most iconic recordings of all time," Recording Academy President and CEO Neil Portnow says in a press release. "We’re honored to add these masterpieces to our growing catalog and are delighted to celebrate the impact they’ve had on our musical, social and cultural history."
"Coat of Many Colors," Parton's autobiographical hit song, was added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2011. Parton originally wrote the song in 1969, on Porter Wagoner's tour bus; she recalls in her 1994 memoir, My Life and Other Unfinished Business, that because she couldn't find any paper, she scribbled the lyrics on the back of a dry-cleaning receipt, which is now on display at her Dollywood theme park in East Tennessee.
Written by Tom T. Hall, "Harper Valley P.T.A." earned Riley the 1968 Grammy Awards trophy for Best Country & Western Vocal Performance and the CMA for Single of the Year, and landed her at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Hot 100 charts in 1968. She was her the first woman to find that chart success, and the only one, until 1981, when Parton topped the charts with "9 to 5."
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