POP MUSIC REVIEW : A Down-Home Dolly Shows Off Her Roots

Dolly Parton’s chief competitor in the banjo-pickin’-blond sweepstakes, Barbara Mandrell, had a hit in the early ‘80s with a song memorably titled “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.”

For her part, Parton--having spend the better part of the last dozen years concentrating more on her mainstream pop career than on her country roots--almost could have written a song expressing the opposite sentiment: “Now That Country Is Cool, I’m Not Country.”

Parton’s joyful public persona and autobiographical live show may have never belied her Smoky Mountain roots, but for what seemed the longest time her music did. On Wednesday night, though, Parton rode into the Universal Amphitheatre on the coattails of her best--and most countrified--album in years, “White Limozeen.”

And even if the concert seemed all too brief (at 80 minutes) and almost ignored the new album (only two songs from it were performed), the affair couldn’t help but be triumphant: One of country’s all-time preeminent singer/songwriters--indeed, one of the finest popular entertainers of recent years--and the musical climate, in happy synch at last.

The singer’s predictably spectacular gown may not much resemble the fabled “Coat of Many Colors” of her humble childhood--as recalled in an “Appalachian Memories” segment of the show early on--but she retains the ability to convince us that she’s still down home and happy under that slick, uptown exterior. Even if she’s somehow fooling us, what a feat.

When not lovingly nostalgic, the patter was amusing and gently self-deprecating: “I spent a lot of time out here last year keeping ABC No. 3,” she joked in reference to her astronomically expensive, failed TV variety show.

Suggesting that lots of show-biz friends were on hand, Parton made a point of thanking the paying fans: “I want you to know that I need that money. It’s amazing how much it costs to make a person look this cheap,” she said, reprising an old joke from her act that used to refer to her wig.

The song selection was geared toward memory lane, successfully incorporating both the country (“Jolene”) and pop (“Here You Come Again”) years.

Her neo-traditionalist “Trio” association with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris two years back was acknowledged with a rendition of that album’s “These Memories,” along with touching compositions from her hand that have been individually recorded by both Harris (“To Daddy”) and Ronstadt (“I Will Always Love You”).

It would have been a nice touch if the singer had wrapped up the evening by being as forthcoming about her life now as she was earlier on about her childhood; instead, we had to settle for a gospel medley of songs including “This Little Light of Mine,” which, given the power of Parton’s voice, was no small consolation prize.

Perhaps she feels that the title song of “White Limozeen” says it all, but the tune--a third-person story of “Daisy Mae in Hollywood” that sounds like it’s going to be a cautionary tale but ends up being just a cheerful success story--raises more questions about her celebrity than it answers. Certainly there’s more to her hyper-driven personality than meets the eye. But ours is not to question why she lets her little light shine, but to be thankful that she does.

Opening the two-night stand was Clint Black, a red-hot newcomer with a Top 10 debut album and a friendly, low-key style that’s fairly straight (as in George) and only a little randy (as in Travis). His enjoyable Western swing--augmented by plenty of fiddle and pedal steel--goes down as smooth as any drink you’d care to mention and sounds swell on the radio, but he appears not to have a shard of distinctiveness in his soul just yet.

Parton moves onto the Irvine Meadows stage Saturday, with Ricky Skaggs (the producer of “White Limozeen”) replacing Black in the opening slot.