Dolly Parton and Ricky Skaggs would work together on several occasions prior to his producing Dolly’s “White Limozeen” album. Skaggs performed on her remake of the Beatles’ “Help!” for an album a decade earlier, and Dolly joined him in a duet on Ricky’s “Don’t Cheat In Our Hometown” collection. Skaggs was the logical choice to serve as producer on Dolly’s next album once she decided to renew her mountain roots in the late 1980s.
Dolly believed that Ricky had a better understanding of who she was more than anyone else. He grew up in eastern Kentucky, while she was similarly raised in east Tennessee, both areas in the Appalachian Mountain range. Skaggs was familiar with the Irish-English-Dutch influence in music that was prevalent in that part of the nation. When Dolly felt she was ready to make a true country album in a big way again, she believed it was important to have somebody at the helm who had a full understanding of her musical background.
