In truth, and given the popularity of the three singers involved - Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris - it’s no wonder that their first album, Trio, and their second and final album, Trio II, ended up being released 12 years apart!

That said, and with the 30th anniversary of that very same debut album on the horizon, Rhino has just released a Deluxe Reissue of the album. Featuring both of the studio albums together, as well as 20 tracks of rare and unreleased music from the vaults, The Complete Trio Collection: Deluxe Edition is truly as good as it gets for all fans of these three uber-talented ladies.

Disc One - Trio I
1. "The Pain of Loving You"
2. "Making Plans"
3. "To Know Him Is To Love Him"
4. "Hobo's Meditation"
5. "Wildflowers"
6. "Telling Me Lies"
7. "My Dear Companion"
8. "Those Memories of You"
9. "I've Had Enough"
10. "Rosewood Casket"
11. "Farther Along"

Disc Two - Trio II
1. "Lover's Return"
2. "High Sierra"
3. "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind"
4. "After the Gold Rush"
5. "The Blue Train"
6. "I Feel the Blues Movin' In"
7. "You'll Never Be The Sun"
8. "He Rode All The Way To Texas"
9. "Feels Like Home"
10. "When We're Gone, Long Gone"

Disc Three - Bonus Material
1. "Wildflowers" (Alternate Take unreleased 1986)
2. "Waltz Across Texas Tonight" (Unreleased 1994)
3. "Lover's Return" (Alternate Mix - Unreleased)
4. "Softly and Tenderly" (Unreleased 1994)
5. "Pleasant As May" (Unreleased 1986)
6. "My Dear Companion" (Alternate Take 1986)
7. "My Blue Tears" (Unreleased 1998)
8. "Making Plans" (Alternate Take 1986)
9. "I've Had Enough" (Alternate Mix 1986)
10. "Grey Funnel Line" (Unreleased 1986)
11. "You Don't Knock" (Unreleased 1986)
12. "Where Will The Words Come From" (Unreleased 1985)
13. "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" (Dolly Lead - Alternate Take 1994)
14. "Are You Tired of Me" (Unreleased 1986)
15. "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues"
16. "Mr. Sandman"
17. "Handful Of Dust" (Unreleased 1993)
18. "Calling My Children Home" (Unreleased Acapella Version 1986)
19. "In A Deep Sleep" (Unreleased 1986)
20. "Farther Along" (Alternate Mix 1986)

The first album, the original album released in 1987, sold over 4 million copies worldwide and also received several awards, including two Grammy Awards. The history of this album is actually rather fascinating because longtime friends and admirers of one another, Parton, Ronstadt and Harris actually first attempted to record an album together in the mid-1970s. But due to scheduling conflicts and other difficulties (including the fact that the three women all recorded for different record labels) they never got to make the release.

That said, some of the fruits of those aborted 1970s recording sessions did make it onto the women's respective solo recordings. "Mister Sandman" and "Evangeline" appeared on Harris' album Evangeline and Parton's "My Blue Tears" was included on Ronstadt's 1982 album Get Closer.

Other cuts also made their way out and about over the years, before finally a collaboration effort went to full fruition. Produced by George Massenburg, when Trio was released in early 1987, it spawned four huge Country hit singles - including the Country #1 remake of Phil Spector's 1958 hit by The Teddy Bears, "To Know Him Is To Love Him". The album hit #1 on the US Country album chart - where it held for five consecutive weeks - and #6 on the main Billboard album chart.

It also won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It was also nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy alongside Michael Jackson, U2, Prince and Whitney Houston as well as best country song for "Telling Me Lies". It was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. "Palms of Victory," another track from the aborted 1970s sessions, was included on the 2007 Emmylou Harris box-set Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems.

Phew! I mean come on, now that's something for an album to be spread so wide, for so long, to be held up for some many years, for tracks to be aborted, and yet for the final effort to be as lauded as it eventually was, for sure.

As aforementioned, Parton, Ronstadt, and Harris released a second album, Trio II, a dozen years after the release of their multi-Platinum, Grammy-winning Trio album. The country music supergroup returned with another in the same vein here, with five of the ten tracks on the album first appearing on Linda Ronstadt's 1995 album Feels Like Home. These five tracks were "Lover's Return", "High Sierra", a cover of Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" (with Valerie Carter and string arrangements by David Campbell), "The Blue Train" (a Top 40 solo hit for Ronstadt), and the title song to the Ronstadt album, the Randy Newman-composed "Feels Like Home". The album reached the Top Five on Billboard's Country Albums chart as well as #62 on Billboard's main album listing.

For those not in the know, the ten songs were actually recorded in 1994 by Parton, Ronstadt and Harris, but label disputes and conflicting schedules of the three women prevented its release at the time! Eventually, Ronstadt remixed the five above-mentioned tracks (sans Parton's vocals) to include in Feels Like Home. In 1999 (after Parton and Harris had parted ways with their respective labels), they decided to finally release the album as originally recorded.

Though it yielded no hit singles (mainstream U.S. country radio had long since dropped most artists approaching or over 50 from their playlists by the late 1990s), Trio 2 was certified Gold by the RIAA, and won the trio another Grammy Award in 2000.

Now, and despite being touted as "complete", this 3CD set is actually missing four (4) recordings that feature the trio. Those four tracks are "Light of the Stable", "Evangeline", "My Blue Tears" and "Palms of Victory". Now, for all us perfectionists, the wonderful third CD here compiles 20 alternate takes and unreleased material from those sessions. Released worldwide on September 9th, 2016, by Rhino Entertainment, The Complete Trio Collection: Deluxe Edition is diamonds all the way, of that have no fear.