The album is a collection of covers of 1960s and 1970s folk and pop songs performed in a bluegrass style, some featuring the artists who originally recorded them.

Parton had performed several tracks intended for the album on the Hello, I'm Dolly Tour in 2004,[2] including "Blue Smoke", "I Dreamed About Elvis", "Me and Bobby McGee", and "Imagine".

Parton confirmed to the Knoxville News-Sentinel that guest performers on the album would include folk legends Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell.

[6] While speaking at a CMA Music Festival press conference in June 2005, Parton announced that she had been in the studio finishing up her next album and expected it to be released in October.

[7] In a June 2005 article for the New York Post, gossip columnist Liz Smith published a list of guest artists for the album including Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Keith Urban, Joni Mitchell, Sean Lennon, Yusef Islam, David Foster and Joe Nichols.

[8] Following the articles publication, Steve Buckingham stated that Sean Lennon, Yusuf Islam and Sarah McLachlan had been approached about recording for the project, but none had confirmed their participation.

He also noted that Joni Mitchell, who was originally to appear on the album, had to cancel her recording session due to an illness in her family.

[9] The month of July also saw the confirmation of Nickel Creek, Rhonda Vincent, Kris Kristofferson, Roger McGuinn, Mary Hopkin, Alison Krauss, and Yusef Islam's participation on the album.

[9] Parton told Jon Stewart in an interview on Daily Show to promote the album that she had invited Bob Dylan to sing on "Blowin' in the Wind", but that he declined.

Parton's cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" with David Foster was released as an iTunes exclusive single on September 27 and serviced to country, bluegrass, and adult contemporary radio stations on November 7.

"Both Sides Now" with Judy Collins and Rhonda Vincent began receiving unsolicited airplay in November and was subsequently released as the album's second single in December.

"[18] Writing for Paste, Dave Simms said, "Each song’s effectiveness increases in proportion to its bluegrass content, which seems to relax Dolly and bring out the subtler, more believable inflections in her considerable vocal arsenal.

He goes on to say that it looks as if Parton may have been "latching onto the majority support for the Iraq war shortly after it began, then turn[ed] against it in the wake of shifting public sentiment."

Perhaps when she affirms her devotion to both patriotism and peace, she's seeking to underscore that those notions are not mutually exclusive, despite the tendency to differentiate them in the current political climate.

And maybe, when she sings John Lennon's words, she's acknowledging, in the face of her own devout faith, that it's vital to accept the differing beliefs of others."

He called the title track "lettuce-limp" and said that it sounds "every bit as authentic as a three dollar bill and as much fun as a root canal in a back street dentist's office."