Getting Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, Kathy Mattea and Lorrie Morgan all in the same room for an interview must have been quite the feat back in the 1990’s.
Somehow, the late, great Burt Reynolds was able to get the four female stars of country together for an interview on his short-lived TV show Burt Reynolds Conversations With.
If you’ve never heard of the show, that’s okay, because I’m going to let you in on all you need to know about it.
Apparently, Burt Reynolds struck a deal with CBS when he signed on to be a star of the hit sitcom Evening Shade. If he did the show, he also wanted to do a talkshow along with it, so the network obliged and gave him four hours worth of time, which turned into four one-hour episodes airing in primetime.
How long did Reynolds’ show last? Well, it technically ran from 1991 to 1992, although there were only four episodes in total. Correct me if I’m wrong, but two episodes a year isn’t exactly a dynastic run.
That being said, the program did manage to create this a wonderful, roundtable moment with female country music legends Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, Kathy Mattea and Lorrie Morgan. It almost feels like we are uncovering a “lost tape” with this one, and to be honest, there’s not a whole lot of information about the program out on the internet.
Of the four episodes that exist, two were focused in one country stars (the other two featured legendary stars of Hollywood, like Jimmy Stewart). The country episodes were split into male and female stars, and the male-focused one was star-studded with the likes of George Jones, Randy Travis, Vince Gill and Alan Jackson.
The clip below is the female-focused episode, which consists of a group interview Parton, Mattea, Morgan, and Tucker at the historic Ryman Auditorium. If you have the time to watch the whole thing, you should. The tidbits that are offered by the country stars are interesting from the get-go. The conversation even opened up with Burt and Dolly talking about the film they did together in 1982 titled The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas.
Most of the show was conversation-driven (with Burt Reynolds leading the way), but you’re obviously not going to get that many talented country artists all in one room without a performance at some point. Throughout the episode, each artist had a chance to showcase one of their own songs – or songs that meant a lot to them.
Morgan performed her father’s famous song “Candy Kisses,” Tanya used her turn to share “Would You Lay With Me (In A Field of Stone),” and Kathy Mattea closed out the performances with a beautiful rendition of “Where’ve You Been.” As for Dolly, she was requested by Reynolds to play “I Will Always Love You,” and once it got to the chorus, all of the talented country stars joined in to help.
It’s a really cool moment in country music history, and the video itself even includes the commercials that originally aired with the program, which makes it that much more of a blast from the past: