Blue Smoke

Album: Blue Smoke (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This upbeat breakup song about splitting up and getting gone is the title track of Dolly Parton's 42nd album. She told Billboard magazine that the name of the record had been floating around inside her head for a while. "When I first started doing my bluegrass stuff, I always thought that would make a great title for a bluegrass band," she said. "I didn't do anything with that, but I loved the title. So, I thought 'I need to write a song about 'Blue Smoke' of some kind, and wondered what that would be. I thought maybe a train, so I wrote it a long time ago. Then, when I put together a tour and an album, that song kept coming back to me."

    "Of course, it also represented the blue smoke that rises off the Smoky Mountains," Dolly continued. "It was just one of those things where it kept coming around and coming around, plus the other part of it was there were so much bluegrass influences. It just seemed to fit all those things."
  • Blue Smoke debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Surprisingly it was Dolly's first solo long player to reach the Top 10 of the all format tally. She'd previously also reached #6 in 1987 with Trio, her collaboration record with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.

Rock Stars of Horror

Rock Stars of HorrorMusic Quiz

Rock Stars - especially those in the metal realm - are often enlisted for horror movies. See if you know can match the rocker to the role.

Gary LeVox

Gary LeVoxSongwriter Interviews

On "Life Is A Highway," his burgeoning solo career, and the Rascal Flatts song he most connects with.

Shawn Mullins

Shawn MullinsSongwriter Interviews

"Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins on "Beautiful Wreck," beating the Devil, and his writing credit on the Zac Brown Band song "Toes."

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

Dave Pirner of Soul AsylumSongwriter Interviews

Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.