The Winning Hand

Recorded for Monument in 1983 thanks to the leniency of the artists' respective labels, Brenda, Dolly, Kris & Willie brought together Brenda Lee, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson for a double album of duets featuring every possible combination of the four, as well as a handful of solo numbers. Certainly a delight for fans of the individual performers, this album is nonetheless too redolent of a various-artists anthology to truly succeed as a piece. Much of the music is highly enjoyable, however, particularly the Dolly and Kris novelty, "Ping Pong," and Brenda and Dolly's duet on What Do You Think About Lovin'." As a bizarre bonus, Johnny Cash provided the half-poetry, half-prose liner notes.