No Dolly Parton thread? Well then -- classic or hyperclassic?

dolly parton though
is one of our very best
songwriters ever

talk about someone
who's still trying new stuff now
forty years later!

Hey now, that tribute album Kozelek coordinated gives me a new respect for the man.

I am listening to "The Bargain Store" right now and damn that's a good song.

..And she was great on Saturday Night Live - when she told folktales her mamma used to tell her and her siblings, about Hoss and Little Joe ..

There's a good ep in last year's album.

Knew about her back? I wanna know about her front! HI-YO!

Oh, does anybody know the best comp to get??????

Well, this one I just got is called Ultimate Dolly Parton, release date this year, hour long. But those who know her work better might suggest something else.

Remind me to have you killed.

Sally Timms does a nice version of "Down From Dover." When I saw her a few years ago, she prefaced it by recounting a fantasy of running off to be lovers with Dolly and resting her head on Dolly's breasts.

One of my friends has interviewed her several times for assorted publications. One time, while they were walking and chatting, she turned a corner ahead of him and rammed his elbow with her breasts. "Oops," she said, "I didn't leak on you, did I?"

And the log-cabin reproduction at Dollywood of her childhood home is affecting despite the cheesiness, because you stick your head in there and try to imagine a couple of grown-ups and 10 kids all running around and it really is kind of amazing and it does tell you something about her resilience and also her affection for the place.

"Coat of Many Colors" made me all misty-eyed when I was a kid. (er, still does, actually.)

Amazing film, stellar soundtrack!

hmmm. interesting. what would she leak I wonder?

at least, i think it's dolly.

i can't offhand remember specific lyrics, i heard it on the radio a while back.

it's one of her uptempo, rocking, likely 70's/early 80's songs.
the lyrics were somewhere like a cross between "here you come again" and "why'd you come here lookin' like that."

please help.

Here you come again
Just when I’m about to make it work without you
You waltz right in the door
Just like you done before
And wrap my heart ’round your little finger
Here you come again
Just when I’m about to make it work without you
You look into my eyes
And light those dreamy eyes
And pretty soon I’m wonderin’
How I came to doubt you
All you gotta do
Is smile that smile
And there go all my defenses
Just leave it up to you
And in a little while
You’re messin’ up my mind
An’ fillin’ up my senses

Here you come again
Lookin’ better than a body
Has a right to
An’ shakin’ me up so
That all I really know
Is here you come again
An’ here I go

All you gotta do
Is smile that smile
And there go all my defenses
Just leave it up to you
And in a little while
You’re messin’ up my mind
An’ fillin’ up my senses

Here you come again
Lookin’ better than a body
Has a right to
An’ shakin’ me up so
That all I really know
Is here you come again
An’ here I go

it's a more uptempo, rocking song.

the lyrics that strike me as similar are pretty much "here you come again." the song i'm trying to recall has a lot of attitude in it.

i'm racking my brain.

My friend Eric said "This is going to make your hair stand on end" and played me the record. It made my hair stand on end.

Dover is a city in Stewart County, in the Clarksville metro area.

It is the county seat. The community is in the Central Standard time zone.

The latitude of Dover is 36.487N. The longitude is -87.838W.

The estimated population, in 2003, was 1,471.

Why'd you come in here lookin' like that
In your cowboy boots and your painted-on jeans
All decked out like a cowgirl's dream
Why'd you come in here looking like that

Here comes my baby
Draggin' my heart behind
He's drivin' me crazy
Who says love is blind
He's got a wanderin' eye and a travelin' mind
Big ideas and a little behind
Out with a different woman every night
But I remember when he was mine

Why'd you come in here lookin' like that
In your high heeled boots and your painted-on jeans
All decked out like a cowgirl's dream
Waltzing right in here lookin' like that
Why'd you come in here lookin' like that
When you could stop traffic in a gunney sack
Why you're almost givin' me a heart attack
When you waltz right in here lookin' like that

I just can't stand it
To see him on the town
He's out slow dancing
With every girl around
I'm a softhearted woman he's a hardheaded man
And he's gonna make me feel just as bad as he can
He's got himself a mean streak a half a mile wide
But now he's dancing on this heart of mine

Why'd you come in here lookin' like that
In your high heeled boots and your painted-on jeans
All decked out like a cowgirl's dream
Why'd you come in here lookin' like that

Why'd you come in here lookin' like that
In your high heeled boots and your painted-on jeans
All decked out like a cowgirl's dream
Why'd you come in here lookin' like that

Why'd you come in here lookin' like that
When you could stop traffic in a gunney sack
Why you're almost givin' me a heart attack
When you waltz right in here lookin' like that
Why'd you come in here lookin' like that

have been listening to dolly parton all day (and the great trio record). it's cool to suddenly step into about 7 acres of beautiful music.

her recent bluegrass record is AWESOME

The demo of "My Blue Tears" is better than the studio version.

Hey, which is the better album: The Grass is Blue or Halos and Horns?

is anybody bummed that she feels the need to have all that shit done to her face?

i have only heard grass is blue, and I like it.

all the plastic surgery stuff -- it's strange, because for someone else, it would seem freakish, but something about dolly parton just seems so normal and grounded that she could do almost anything, and I would still think she was pretty cool.

and Trio record is greatness

The demo of "My Blue Tears" is better than the studio version.
ysi??

i agree re: surgery. doesn't bother me in the least. she seems like the coolest woman ever.

and the music, wow. subtle and moving at the same time that it is incredibly poppy and fun.

trio is breeeaaaataking!!!

wee listened to Hard Candy Christmas on xmas night the other night, and it was just perfect. perfect.

Getting sued by your own fans for lip syncing your entire show, classic or superclassic?

what??

???

Oh this might not have made the intl press but a few thousand people who attended her Rotterdam (i think) show are trying to get their 80 euro back after discovering obv lip syncing.

I haven't heard about that, but seems to be a common complaint on her recent tour.

The demo of "My Blue Tears" is better than the studio version.
ysi??

-- Lingbert, Saturday, 8 September 2007 03:26 (3 months ago) Link

all the plastic surgery stuff -- it's strange, because for someone else, it would seem freakish, but something about dolly parton just seems so normal and grounded that she could do almost anything, and I would still think she was pretty cool.

I saw her on Larry King, and a caller asked if she'd had any work done. Without missing a beat, she said, "Hey, whenever's something saggin', baggin', or draggin', I gotta do what I can." Brilliant.

Major props for including "Imagine" in her sets when pro-war sentiment was at a fever pitch ('02-'03).

new album - "Backwoods Barbie" on Dolly Records

apparently it's her first mainstream country record in 15 years

Is Jack White involved?

i certainly hope not

Sanneh gave it thumbs-up on Sunday.

It's my favorite album of the year so far, for whatever that's worth. (And I've never been an absolutely huge Dolly fan either, for whatever that's worth, though I've loved some of her songs in the past, for course -- mainly the poppier ones, like "9 to 5" and "Romeo" etc. Reviewed the new one for emusic, but review's not up there yet.)

I pretty much like the straight country Dolly, around '70 on RCA. The new one--the songs where she's dispensing homilies I can do without, but "I Will Forever Hate Roses" and "Only Dreamin'" I like fine. What can you say about her, but I never really liked listening to her that much, about as much as I like to listen to Yoko Ono. Her new one isn't terrible, anyway. I talk to Dolly here

I heard "Baby I'm Burnin'" for the first time last week.

which album should I start with? is there a good greatest hits, or do I need to work my way through albums?

The two-disc Essential comp is exactly what it promises, although it's got too many blah 80s numbers.

thanks!

Idols singing Parton songs this week...I've only heard a few songs, but i'm youtubing her catalog now, and it's so goddamn great! I'm listening to an amazing live version of "Down from Dover" right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xal27WBGC4M

Dolly Parton vs. Google. Sorta.

it's like tim buckley or something

Is Hannah Montana's Aunt Dolly Gay?
Tue., Mar. 24, 2009 1:48 PM PDT by Marc Malkin

Hannah Montana's Aunt Dolly is not a lesbian.

Well, at least the country legend who plays her isn't.

Dolly Parton knows that she's been the target of gay rumors for years and years because of her close relationship with lifelong best friend Judy Ogle.

And once again, for the umpteenth time, she's setting the record straight...

"We're absolutely totally honest, open and comfortable with each other," Parton says in the new issue of AARP magazine. "We've been accused of being lovers. We do love each other, but we've never been like that." (For the record, Parton has been married to her retired businessman husband, Carl Dean, for 43 years!)

is the dolly parton vs loretta lynn good vs evil thing codified? dolly as the blonde wronged wife vs loretta as the raven world-weary other woman? e.g. "jolene" vs "coal miner's daughter" albums. east vs west coast w country songstresses?

no

well i'd like to officially codify it then.

that done, "here i am" is a stone cold classic. i can't stomach pop dolly.

you are mistaking Dolly & Loretta for Betty & Veronica, which is sooooo wrong.

that is a much better analogy than the rappers.

holy cow

er nevermind

i went to dollywood last month. i saw the actual Coat Of Many Colors. i almost cried tears of joy.

Backwoods Barbie, despite the kinda awful title, is really great. The FYC cover works better than the big pop covers on the bluegrass trilogy (e.g. "Shine", "Stairway").

It almost made my top ten that year.

And deservedly! I don't remember hearing of the songs on country radio in 2008, which is a pity. The songs would have sounded totally normal there.

I'm listening to the new box set now. Even her greatest hits albums were in disarray before this, in that there are so many of them that you might get stuck with rerecordings if you're careful (for instance, of "I Will Always Love You").

Well, the country old guard doesn't get played much except new old guard member George Strait.

You're right, but in Dolly's case I'd think there's room for an exception; never mind her extraordinary musical talent, she's a household name without compare in country.

been loving "love is like a butterfly" lately. ignored it for being to sweet for a long time, but there's some little turns in the melody that are fantastic and keep me glued.

"The Bargain Store" is my new favorite.

love that one too!

The really early sides on the box set are eye-opening; her voice was quite different on the first two songs, much higher. And the sound of the songs in the first half of that first disk is more like "Dumb Blonde" and the song "Don't Drop Out" (that you might know from the One Kiss Leads To Another Rhino box set from a few years back). That's to say, more girl group than honky tonk. Her range as an artist is broad (no pun intended), more like Ray Charles or Aretha Franklin than Merle Haggard or George Jones.

"the bargain store" is great. uses an a-minor/g-major progression similar to "jolene," she likes those minor chords.

my parents saw dolly at merlefest the year she put out that bluegrass album and LOVED her - they weren't expecting much one way or the other but they said she sang her heart out and had great stage presence, made light of herself and her "assets" continually until no one could hold them against her, and just basically won over a crowd of bluegrass purists who were probably ready to hate her guts at the slightest misstep...

i didn't really realize "here you come again" was her - i always liked that tune, maybe i should dig up some of her other stuff

Your digging will be amply rewarded.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west---or at least, when I hear this song from 1975, on disk 3 of the box:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtaGkXvXHfA

http://www.omgblog.com/2010/08/omg_a_dolly_parton_fashion_sho.php

http://www.youtube.com/v/LNcDXOemlRA&border=1&color1=0xcc2550

pure gold. now i know what to wear to a hog roastin' or maybe a rooster fight in the country.

I love her new album!

OK so I am finally getting around to listening to The Grass is Blue, which I copied off my Mom on my last visit. This is my first time listening to Dolly other than on the radio.

First song fucking SLAYS, then side 1 sags for awhile until 'Steady As the Rain' and 'I Still Miss Someone' (a song which I'll listen to anyone's version of, frankly). Then 'Silver Dagger' fully kills it and holy crap the lyrics and affect of 'The Grass Is Blue'. This album has more than its share of awesome.

Grass is Blue and Little Sparrow are both great, I think I prefer the latter more except it has that Collective Soul song on it which, even though she acquits herself admirably with her take, is just such a shitty song.

The Grass is Blue is awesome in stretches.

"Heartbreaker" is generic L.A. crap but wow her performance.

i saw her in brisbane last year, she was completely wonderful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv90nFTTqqc

nice find! unusual to see her "dressed down" as it were. That 80s album with the three of them is okay.

she's a national treasure obviously

yeah, i love this.
my mom had the Trio tape in the car constantly when I was a kid, there is some nice stuff on there.

I need to buy Trio, right?

if you like these ladies singing together, yes!

surprised you don't have it tbh

haven't looked it up, but i bet you could get it for under a buck on CD over on amazon.

Trio is super. There's a sequel, too, and the duo album Emmy did with Linda, Western Wall, is OK, too, though more of a mode with the former's late stuff.

this clip is from way earlier than the Trio album obviously. I didn't know they had tried to do it initially in the 70s, probably would have been even better back then.

I've been on a Ronstadt kick and I tend to forget that record.

Actually, Shakes, the first Trio album has songs they cut in the seventies, held back by record company wrangling.

btw i found that clip via http://officialdollyparton.tumblr.com which has some pretty good dolly content.

like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc8qdjhJ6f0

beautiful video btw, thanks tyler
truncating fade-in applause at the end somehow the exact opposite of appreciation

Okay as long as this has been revived:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/20e1a4102aa27e25c1cd76649e780bde/tumblr_msl2snhLKF1qar3r2o1_500.jpg

layin' on the schmaltz but jesus christ how is it her voice is *still* this good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTmi6v0Sy2s&feature=youtu.be

Don't know if it's actually true, but I've been told she wrote 'Jolene' and 'Coat..' on the same day. Imagine that.

'Why do you come in here looking like that' rules forever, by the way.

Beyond classic, of course. Amazing lady.

aw man I'm such a cornball, that made me kinda teary. What a set of pipes she has.

and Rogers don't sound bad either

yeah I was pleasantly surprised by old Kenny, I expected him to sound more ragged than he does

i saw her two years ago in brisbane and she was in astounding voice and also ridiculously gorgeous, her entire band and the audience were wreathed in cartoon hearts.

Heard the slowed down "Jolene" on the radio today.

That live TV with Emmylou/Linda video was great. Have been on a Dolly buzz since I was in the Mission in SF a few weeks ago and was looking for a bar with a nice beer garden - ended up in a mostly-lesbian bar with an all-day Dolly tribute running. If you didn't like the Dolly in question there'd be a different one up in 5 minutes to sing a different (or occasionally the same) song.

Also yeah the slowed Jolene is great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzYHllLv_IE

Anyone wanna do a POX for tha kid

kinda wish we could here Marvin Gaye doing Islands in the Stream like the Gibbs originally wanted (no knock on the Dolly/Kenny version)

hear

argh

Hear, my dear...

there was a segment about her and Porter Wagoner on the recent Nashville episode of Drunk History; not sure how accurate of course but it was actually quite touching/she was badass

haha wait waht

I gave up on that show but would watch that

speaking as a complete dolly neophyte I was won over; actually thought this thread revive was about that

just watched it - it's not too far from the truth. actually that's one of the things I got bored with about Drunk History, it's not *wrong* enough

Anyone wanna do a POX for tha kid

― zvookster,

Sure!

Jolene
Just Because I'm a Woman
Touch Your Woman
Coat of Many Colors
The Bargain Store
My Blue Tears
The Seeker
Here You Come Again
Down From Dover
9 to 5

Dumb Blonde
Coat of Many Colors
9 to 5
The Bridge
(posting youtube cuz this song is fucked up and so great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93phyqr_BRE)
Jolene
I Will Always Love You
As Steady As the Rain
Anything's Better Than Nothing
Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me
My Tennessee Mountain Home

It's super hard to hate on Dolly, who is awesome - got an autographed album cover hanging to my left as I type - but per her voice, she's been pretty open about using some degree of sweetener and canned vox live. "It's not to fool you, it's to entertain you," goes her line of reasoning.

Um...

http://gawker.com/oh-god-dolly-parton-what-are-you-doing-1447971263

what is the best dolly parton compilation out there please

i've got the essential dolly parton, its awesome, but i havent compared it to any others

http://marcelmarceau123.svbtle.com/mimin-dolly

The Essential has pleased me almost ten years.

she really deserves a quality box set; the closest is (duh) from Bear Family: http://www.bear-family.de/blog/BearWordPress_EN/2014/02/07/dolly-parton-porter-wagoner/

I've gotten by with a lot of downloads+vinyl scouring (primarily because my favorite stuff is from her pre-disco period - although there is plenty of great stuff during and after that as well)

altho I should point out that Bear Family box is all w/Porter and doesn't cover her (also great, possibly greater) solo material from the same period

The Dolly box set is pretty damn great.

you mean the 4-disc one?

yes. Sorry, I should have clarified.

yep that four disk one is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5fxVvvHRhs

What I love about Dolly is not whether or not she's actually playing the sax (um ...) but that she recognized that there is a time and place for everything, and that that was the perfect time and place for "Yakety Sax."

There are some clear lip-synch fails towards the start of that televised Glastonbury set.

"My boobs are fake, my hair's fake but what is real is my voice and my heart." - Dolly Parton, 30 June 2014

Who gives a fuck. Is there really anyone who thinks Dolly cant really sing? I mean maybe she cant belt em out anymore and if so whatever she is old but she has 50 years of beautiful singing behind her its not like she's some talentless ingenue that's been faking it and hoodwinking the audience this whole time.

i'm thinking at this age there might be a few of the higher register faster songs where she has a bit of "help", but there are definitely only a few - seen her twice in the last few years and there's been definite adlibs in middle of songs, slightly missed notes, improvs reacting to crowd etc. and both shows have been amazing.

and also, who gives a fuck?

i'm more frazzled about the fake boobs thingy

my point is that Dolly lip-syncing at this stage of her career is not really similar to, say, Ashley Simpson lip-syncing.

baaderonixx she had a reduction at one point and then i believe had a bit of extra work done some time after that, but no, the large-osity is famously real

yeah I don't think you could even get fake boobs like that in the late 60s

Happy 70th bday!

happy bday

but jeez with everything going on lately i was worried for a second

So she and Bowie were the same age?! Doesn't seem possible.

But happy birthday, Dolly. You're underrated and underappreciated.

Trying to buy "Little Sparrow" as a present for someone but it seems curiously difficult to find... in the UK, that is.

... on CD, that is (again).

I probably think about this Ebert and Siskel exchange about Dolly Parton every month and should probably do it more often. pic.twitter.com/SySz9ydMnm

— Vinegar Mike 🏳️‍🌈 (@VinegarMike) February 11, 2019

As hyperclassic as her covers.

Last fall, former President Barack Obama told Stephen Colbert that he was "shocked" Dolly Parton hadn't gotten a Presidential Medal of Freedom during his time in office. "That was a screwup," he said. "I think I assumed she had already got one."

Now, the country icon says the Trump administration offered her the honor, not once but twice — and she turned it down both times. "I couldn't accept it because my husband was ill, and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn't travel because of the COVID," she said in an interview with the Today show.

Only two weeks into his term, President Biden has not yet announced any new Medal of Freedom recipients. But Parton says she'd be hesitant to accept a possible third offer. "Now I feel like if I take it, I'll be doing politics, so I'm not sure."

And, she added, "I don't work for those awards. It'd be nice, but I'm not sure that I even deserve it. But that's a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it."

-___________-

Dolly Parton has re-recorded her hit song 9 to 5, in a Super Bowl ad for Squarespace, as "5 to 9," as an ode to having a side hustle https://t.co/tmfbUbJqaA

— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) February 2, 2021

yeah saw she was losing twitter today

Side hustles: Classic or Dud?

would she have accepted a Dolly Pardon?

Dolly is really getting baconed these days

9 to 5 is le epic socialist anthem

The melody was familiar, but the words were written for the moment: “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine. I’m begging of you please don’t hesitate.”

Dolly Parton, the country music legend who wrote “Jolene” — and updated its lyrics for the coronavirus era — was in Nashville on Tuesday to get the Moderna vaccine, which she helped fund.

Amid swaths of vaccine skepticism in the United States, prominent politicians and celebrities have received their shots publicly to encourage others to sign up. Parton’s Instagram video came as President Biden said the country would have enough vaccine doses for every adult by the end of May, earlier than July, as previously announced, bringing the promise of a more normal summer.
In February the singer, who’s also beloved for her philanthropy, told USA Today that she wouldn’t “jump the line” to get vaccinated.

On Tuesday, it was Parton’s turn, and she had a message for others.

“I just want to say to all of you cowards out there, don’t be such a chicken squat. Get out there and get your shot,” the 75-year-old said in the video.

To get hers, Parton returned to a place and a doctor that tie her to the Moderna vaccine.

Naji Abumrad, a Lebanese-born physician and professor of surgery, first met Parton after the singer got into a minor car accident in 2013 and visited Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The chance meeting led to a friendship between “two poor, mountain kids trying to get by, though they were raised more than 6,000 miles apart,” The Washington Post’s Timothy Bella reported. Last year, Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt in the doctor’s honor, helping to fund the early stages of coronavirus research.

“Her work made it possible to expedite the science behind the testing,” Abumrad told The Post at the time. “Without a doubt in my mind, her funding made the research toward the vaccine go 10 times faster than it would be without it.”

Parton previously told USA Today: “I think I’m getting more credit than I deserve. But I was just so happy to be a small part, and to plant a seed that would grow into something bigger.”

The bond between the two was on display in Tuesday’s video.

Parton, wearing a dress with open shoulders, put on a mask as Abumrad entered.

“You and I have been friends forever, and I thought it was only appropriate that you should be the one to give me my shot today,” Parton said, joking that she hoped he had practiced.

As Abumrad prepared to give her the shot, Parton joked, “Well it didn’t take this long to film ‘9 to 5,’” referring to her 1980 movie.

“You think you got it?” she said.

“I got it,” Abumrad replied.

“I did it,” Parton said. “I did it.”

Dolly is really getting baconed these days

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown),

Nigella Lawson as well!

Um, baconed?

Turned into a meme, generally agreed upon to be EPIC BACON AWESOMESAUCE. For recent examples, see: Keanu Reeves, Werner Herzog.

I do find these spontaneous outpourings of adoration for seemingly random artists somewhat annoying too, but the good outweighs the bad imo - lots of people get exposed to Dolly Parton's music, which is great.

Nigella feels more contained because it's mostly a UK (and within that, left twitter) thing.

James, there's a 77 thread on this phenomenon, which also includes zombies and moustaches iirc

Ha, thanks, I saw that thread but still couldn't quite figure it out, didn't have time to peruse properly.

this and the lionization of Keanu seem like maybe a response to #MeToo when it was revealed that a lot of the celebrities we liked are actually scumbags so its refreshing to encounter one that actually does seem good and genuine

I assumed it meant stoned. like, more than baked.

I was briefly confused as to whether it meant something good or bad because of all the disappointment online about her rewriting 9 to 5 for that ad. I'm glad to see that's being pretty much forgotten.

twitter calling someone a "national treasure" is a warning sign that baconing is occuring

https://twitter.com/search?q=dolly%20parton%20national%20treasure&src=typed_query

also protecting them "at all costs"

https://twitter.com/search?q=protect%20dolly%20parton%20at%20all%20costs&src=typed_query

Dolly Parton is the new Betty White. We must protect them both at all costs.

— Adam O'Neill (@oneilla01) March 3, 2021

Excellent examples, thanks!

I assumed it meant stoned. like, more than baked.

Hah, same here. Yeah, I get mixed feelings about these sudden outpourings of celebrity adulation. With Dolly, it's fine because (except for her decade of disposable, mega-selling pop) I already loved her music, and as a humanitarian, she was already pretty awesome, even before donating $1+ million to what ended up resulting in the Moderna vaccine (without ANY fanfare to boot - it only came out because they were more or less compelled to list her as one of the financial benefactors after completing their clinical trials).

But it also gets ridiculously smarmy, especially when I've now heard "national treasure" applied to everyone from Julie Andrews to Tom Petty in the last few years - I'm sure they're all good people but c'mon.

(without ANY fanfare to boot - it only came out because they were more or less compelled to list her

Same with her producing "Buffy"!*

* (yeah, I know, but still)

She sure has been baconed huh? It seems everyone loves Dolly. Literally everyone, fascists and eat the rich communists alike. It's magical.

I mean, even her perfume is beloved!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/reviewed/2021/10/15/dolly-parton-perfume-where-buy-scent-above-fragrance/8468511002/

Breaking Good News Alert:

Dolly Parton's Dollywood Parks & Resorts has announced it will pay all tuition costs, fees, and books for employees who pursue higher education.

It includes all part-time, full-time, and seasonal employees from day one on the job.

♥️🎶 pic.twitter.com/wDiqecVgdq

— Goodable (@Goodable) February 9, 2022

The greatest living American.

Your move Bezos.

xp Totally. I think Dolly's one of those rare artists that I absolutely love who seems like someone I would not be intimidated to meet and would actually enjoy knowing IRL. Really sinks in this morning after I was listening to Van Morrison, who I'd be hesitant to meet and really wouldn't want to know at all (even before his past year of asshattery).

❤️ pic.twitter.com/Z6LKfWtlxg

— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) March 14, 2022

haha, never change 🙏

I wasn't gonna vote for her anyway, but now I can not vote for her completely guilt-free.

Good for her. It's not like the RnR Hall of Fame is the apex of all musical achievement; they act as if, if you're truly exceptional in some other genre, we'll let you Rock.

Didn't wanna have to go to Cleveland.

Doing everything she can to facilitate Devo’s induction

ignore the lede and focus on dolly being amazing and "piddle around and doodiddle around"

That one time Dolly Parton shut Barbara Walters right on up 😂 pic.twitter.com/qA126plBK0

— Jzon Azari (@JzonAzari) December 31, 2022

https://www.vinylmeplease.com/pages/vinylmeparton?

relentless baconing

wonder if it will include her xmas record with Jimmy Fallon

I've long posited that Dolly and "Weird" Al remain two of the least sullied and most universally beloved people in American music, if not *the* two. That is, no one has a bad thing to say about them personally, and musically their reputations seem pretty secure, too. In celebration and out of respect we were trying to think of what "Weird" Al would do with a Dolly song. The best we came up with (and granted, we spent two minutes) was rewriting "Jolene" as "Eat Beans," about a guy that just sits around and eats beans a lot.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Dolly Parton! You should be on our money.

I'd add Stevie to that list, but then again, of course I'd add Stevie to that list

Oh shit, duh, yeah. Though Stevie's public prominence and musical output has faded significantly over the last few years.

Honestly, come to think of it, I don't know much about Stevie Wonder personally. Is he a nice guy?

True on the public prominence. His musical output has trailed off considerably but, then again, so kinda has Dolly's

I was about to say! Parton released an album a couple months ago but it's not like she's been more prolific.

huh, I guess that's true.

Come to think of it, Al has not released a new album in 10 years, either.

And with that, Dolly moves decisively into first place!

There are certain features to Dolly Parton that are classic. Two of them, actually...
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, November 11, 2003 3:14 PM (twenty years ago)

Remind me to have you killed.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, November 11, 2003 3:19 PM (twenty years ago)

willie?

Yo-Yo Ma?

lol I came home to my wife playing "Rockstar." This album sucks.

(many xp) I thought you meant Stevie Nicks.

https://variety.com/2025/music/news/dolly-parton-sister-praying-health-issues-1236542641/

don't wanna jinx it, but this is one loss i don't think i'd be able to take right now

the sister already posted again saying it's not that serious and she didn't mean to scare people

fkn sisters amirite lol

phew

Sometimes it’s just nice to pray for someone, who knew ppl would read into it

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BzXBpHjJM/?mibextid=wwXIfr

i turned on the radio last night and some people on a program were in the middle of eulogizing a female country singer and i started to have a sinking feeling in my stomach. but it turned out they were talking about patsy cline

Whether it's prayers, roses or whatever, Dolly deserves all of them while she's still around to receive 'em.

why cant Dolly be eternal

Are Dolly and Willie the only two major artists still alive from country's "golden age"? Kind of sad when I can actually remember George Jones, Johnny Cash & June Carter, Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn all touring and recording - truly seeing the end of an era.

Maybe Emmylou Harris counts, but I feel like she came in at the tail end and bridges things with the '80s neotraditional movement.

Was gonna suggest Dwight Yoakam, but he exists in this weird blurry zone - post-"golden age"/post-"outlaw," but pre-Garth Brooks.

He's firmly in the '80s with other neotrad notables, all of whom I rarely hear about anymore which feels weird - they all seemed to be big mainstream names in country music all through the '90s.

Dolly and Willie had their first great recordings in the '60s, which feels pretty ancient now.

ronnie milsap

barbara mandrell

connie smith

crystal gayle

Are any of them still alive? If so, there's a certain thread I have to visit next.

all guaranteed alive!

Wanda Jackson's 87

Larry Gatlin, who wrote "I've Done Enough Dyin' Today": still alive!

Tanya Tucker
Bill Anderson

Neil Sedaka?

David Allan Coe too, shockingly enough

https://theonion.com/dolly-parton-shares-video-confirming-sister-a-shit-stirring-bitch/

lol

Happy 80th!

Here's a clip of Dolly covering Patty Griffin's great "Moses" with Bette Midler that I could watch on a loop forever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImGieBpyYxM

I adore that video, too. Happy Birthday, Dolly.

RIP

This sucks ;_; ;_; I loved her so much

the GOAT

User Sharivari (shouting down the stairs) THE GOAT JUST DIED!
Me: Who?
User Sharivari: DOLLY PARTON ONE OF THE GREATEST AMERICAN SONGWRITERS IN HISTORY

RIP Dolly <3

^ How I found out

Place of honor in our house:
https://i.ibb.co/0jmw0Lcy/PXL-20260825-180955193.jpg

That's awesome. Those records she made around the turn of the millennium are truly astonishing.

devastating, just so sad. the world is a worse place now.

I’m very attached to her 70’s/80’s era for childhood reasons but also just sheer excellence & awesomeness

You cannot beat stuff like this (and don’t get me started on the costume)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-MqJ2Vr1UY

You knew this was coming: RIP

That thread title of mine to start it off will always be one of my best and simplest calls. (The answer is the latter, obv.)

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:opm7kjzippurg433jh7rt4ax/bafkreic7wyaacqawjznwdlnemhfurx7y3ea6sbm5o2d3u3f6k44w2xz2f4

aww geez. well, she can be with carl again. rip to a hero.

What a great fucking songwriter at her peak:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1TXnTjbf4A

RIP At least she was fully appreciated for her artistry in her lifetime.

80 years feels too soon and too young for her.

RIP

One of the best celebrities ever.

definitely the only good one pretty much

Saw this comment on reddit:

Years ago I was sitting in a bar and this dude sat down and talked about working for Dolly. Apparently she was really big on drug testing so she fired him. I asked him if he was mad at her for firing him.

He was like, "No man, she put me through rehab, I'm just a fuck up. She's still putting my kids though school and keeping a roof over their heads. She never had kids and she's still a better parent than me. That woman is a saint."

wrong 80-year-old, universe

Posted by a friend:

Every billionaire & tech mogul, they all want to be adored & celebrated without doing the things Dolly did with a fraction of the power & money. What she had, she gave away. I'm sure she was comfortable (& that's good!). But she just relentlessly helped.

Also making the rounds, the letters kids received from her Imagination Library project (which reportedly gave away over 300 million books):
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:qnexe22ocr5cad7vwhv4qayd/bafkreifb5umhebv2xjpkmktcjhxlqpojair6m2ypdcmtenmnauj2ur7way

It's safe to say that Parton did more for child literacy in America than any celebrity.

What a great fucking songwriter at her peak

a) otmfm

b) that opening lyric, "my life is like unto to a bargain store," sometimes understandably mis-transcribed as "my life is likened to a bargain store," is, either way, one of strangest, wonderfullest and most beautiful lines of poetry ever to open a song

c) fuck fuck fuck

I thought it was the latter, because it's a perfect transcription into American songform of a Biblical manner.

RIP to a true American hero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN_VQ8GWEos

this is so sad.

oh man (h/t Ned)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qXFoNrqi3Y

Just talked to a friend of mine who interviewed her a few times and wrote about her a lot, and I asked him what lesser-known song he'd recommend. He suggested this one from a 1991 album, as evidence that her songwriting stayed strong after she stopped having hits.

She's a sparrow when she's broken
But she's an eagle when she flies

R.I.P.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb1Rufxem_4

ha! I was coming to that one. Those early '90s comeback albums have some wonderful stuff.

And I'm fond of 2010's "Blue Smoke."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzyd2FnkOy4

From Roger Ebert's memoir:

“In Dallas for the premier of 9 to 5, I had an uncanny experience, and on the plane home to Chicago I confessed it to Siskel: I had been granted a private half hour with Dolly Parton, and as we spoke I was filled with a strange ethereal grace. This was not spiritual, nor was it sexual. It was healing and comforting. Gene listened, and said, "Roger, I felt the exact same thing during my interview with her." We looked at each other. What did this mean? Neither one of us ever felt that feeling again. From time to time we would refer to it in wonder.”

Yeah Blue Smoke is good, the one time I saw her in concert was after she released that so I heard several of those songs live.

And in terms of interviewing her, my friend I mentioned above who has interviewed 1,000-plus people over the years — most of them musicians — told me she was hands down one of the two smartest people he ever talked to. Just her awareness of herself and her craft and her place in the culture, everything. His favorite line, which I'm sure she used in plenty of interviews was, "People can assume whatever they want about me, but I know I'm not dumb and I know I'm not blonde."

Awww, fuck

My favorite less-known Dolly: Little Sparrow, and From Here to the Moon and Back (with Willy Nelson).

Repeating myself now, but Little Sparrow is amazing, esp this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR5UfWi-jsE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egN7l793DyU

I found this odd coupling really endearing when it was released:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgAnValgSh4

Trump ordering flags to fly and half mast for a week for Dolly.

I thought it was the latter, because it's a perfect transcription into American songform of a Biblical manner

you may be right! i was relying on genius, which goes with "like unto" apparently because of an old mojo magazine interview which has been preserved by a single dodgy site on the internet as such: "Mojo magazine June 2008 asked Dolly Parton whether the use of the word 'unto' was giving an archaic, Biblical eternal weight to a dime-store confession, or simply she needed two syllables to make the line scan? Parton replied: 'No, I purposely did it. I could have said any number of things - it's easier to sing My life is like a bargain store. I like doing old-timey songs. It's in that minor key, which sounds old world to me'"

of course genius could be wrong, that dodgy internet site could be wrong and, more to the point, mojo could be wrong; maybe dolly misheard the question, maybe mojo's interviewer misheard the answer, or maybe the interviewer heard it right but failed to register that dolly didn't actually use the word in her answer.

i actually like "likened" better, too.

either way it's a fantastic line, a fantastic song and also, obviously, fuck fuck fuck :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImGieBpyYxM

^^^ omigod that's so much fun

yeah wow!

That Dolly and Bette clip is my favourite thing ever.

Oh yeah, she also funded COVID vaccine research. She did a lot!

I grew up in the 1980s, so I've always thought of her as an all-round entertainer and general cultural icon, along the lines of Bette Midler or Cher. 9 to 5 was the second-highest-grossing film of 1980. I'm surprised to learn she had such a spartan film career - basically only five regular dramatic roles, the rest being cameos or novelty appearances. I assume Hollywood wasn't sure what to do with her.

Hey, she was on Musikladen, seemingly the whole episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdA5faeuSIE

I was listening to some of my fave Dolly, and I was feeling sad but doing ok .. and then the one-two punch of Coat Of Many Colors, followed by Light Of A Clear Blue Morning

DONT LEAVE US DOLLY WAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

Her first regular singing gig was when she was 11 or 12, on a radio here in Knoxville. You can hear a little clip here: https://dollyparton.com/life-and-career/music/dolly-lands-cas-walker-show

Oh how I do love "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind." What a goddamn song. That Musikladen performance is nice, but the original with Chet Atkins is a top 10 Dolly track for me.

On a radio station that should say. The building where that studio was is still standing and one of the few old downtown buildings that hasn't been renovated in recent years. Somebody oughta do something with it.

xp made me cry. Godspeed Dolly.

oops I meant the song with Bette.

lol you cannot even imagine what my East Tennessee-centric FB feed looks like right now. Never seen anything like it.

Today really sucks. Thank you for everything Dolly ♥

She should've accepted more supporting roles like Steel Magnolias.

Just posted by Eminem

Someone posted this clip of Dolly as Charlene’s dream angel in Designing Women - I had totally forgotten! Oh it’s so lovely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QPs6gyjRFA

rip queen

RIP Dolly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDmKO-ufRaA

OMG that note to Eminem made me tear up a little, what a saintly woman

According to her reps, cause of death was a "brief battle with cancer." This is such a shock after her "I'm not dead/dying" video earlier this year. No idea if she had been diagnosed yet, but she looked like she had more life in her than relatives who were much younger.

Just went downtown and took this photo of the building where she started her career — singing as a kid, 10, 11, 12, on a local radio show in a studio on the second floor.

https://i.ibb.co/Z6qH4SJ2/319-Gay.jpg

<3

Great 1 hour special from 1979 for Netherlands TV called “Dolly On Tour”

Lots of nice footage & live performances

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J6tU8X1bIk

Filmmaker Matt Porterfield:

I can’t say I had much of a relationship with Dolly Parton, other than being a big fan. I did visit Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN, which was cool for many reasons, but mostly just to see her Smokey Mountains birthplace (the Smokey Mountains are spectacular, btw). I do have this anecdote to share, which feels pretty minor on the scale of possible anecdotes one could share about Dolly, but it’s important to me…

When I made my second film “Putty Hill”, there was a scene we shot with a lot of people singing Karaoke. We didn’t plan in advance what songs folks would sing, so we got in a bind when it came time to license the masters. There were songs by a couple very big artists, who shall remain nameless, who would not even entertain the notion of granting rights to a little film made for less than $100k. But Dolly and her team were enthusiastic and responsive and accepted a symbolic fee for her children’s charity, “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library”. In the scene Sky Ferreira sang “I Will Always Love You”. I will always love Dolly for her music, her charity and her generosity.

RIP QUEEN

It's been cool to hear a bunch of her songs on the radio since the wee small hours. Her ongoing fame here never seemed to have been particularly dependent on public airing of the songs. I once speculated on this site that one of her compositions might be "the best song I'll ever hear in any genre" but she was good it and she likely surpassed it herself with something I still haven't even heard yet.

My wife’s office here in Cambodia did a big party for the Khmer new year where each team had to come up with a dance routine. My wife picked 9 to 5 so I have a very cute video of a bunch of Cambodians doing a dance routine to the somg

RIP Dolly

I have a few of her records (well, tapes!) that I have played often, they’re in the country section of the tape racks, but I just spent a few minutes losing it over the Trio’s cover of “After the Goldrush,” fuck it’s so beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2XcBL6kWn8

I love the Trio albums, they sound so amazing together.

Yeah they’re incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiQ7qiL73aI

Growing up as a kid in Indiana in the 70s-80s from family from Kentucky and Tennessee, it is hard to explain how much of a figure that Dolly Parton was with them. My papaw was a huge fan of Dolly and my grandparents saw her sing a couple of times when she was with Porter Wagoner at Renfro Valley and other places. My parents when they were dating and first got married and before I was around used to go see country music shows at Bunker Hill dragstrip and there, they saw all sorts of country legends shows including Dolly with Porter Wagoner and other music legends like Buck Owens and Johnny Cash among others.

I swear it was like Dolly was the queen and Elvis was the king of the stars among my people as a kid.

Even my Yankee counterculture parents liked Dolly, we had the greatest hits album and I grew up knowing all those songs. I think we watched 9 to 5 as a family (probably on TV), Dolly was a big presence.

Wow. Only just learned that Trio recorded, and then didn't release, a version of "Waltz Across Texas Tonight," from Emmylou's Wrecking Ball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpgrzQZVqm8

From Leland Skylar (who worked on those Trio recordings):

Another Dolly moment. I was on a flight and was happy to find that right next to me was Dolly. We had worked together many times so this was great. I looked down and saw she was reading Stephen Hawking’ s “ A Brief History of Time”. I looked at her and said great reading. She then showed me it was actually “Harry Potter” with the Hawking book cover. We had a great laugh. There was only one Dolly…..They did not break the mold with her; she was a freehand one off!

Maria McKee posted some great photos on her IG

Love Maria. She’s feeling this deeply because she owes her career to Dolly and Linda Ronstadt.

i missed seeing Bowie, Lou, Leonard... but very very glad I got to see Dolly twice; the level of communal bliss at those shows was comparable to... maybe when i saw Al Green but very few other shows. also got to visit Dollywood years back, which RULED and is highly recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcVK1p4LIX8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyRqMQdg1WU
^^love the back and forth between dolly and chet on this

that footage from paídi ó sé's pub is incredible, almost made me cry ;_;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3_43tABY34

Very appropriate for now

Holy crap, Jonathan Richman had his record label put out a statement online. Jonathan does not fuck with the internet, so this is very unusual for him:

“Jonathan Richman here joining us all in paying respect to Dolly Parton, the talented, the gifted, the kind, and the loving. How about that gorgeous Tennessee accent when she sang? How about how every word in any of her songs was straight forward, easy to understand and warm? How about how you got the feeling that she wouldn’t judge ya, even if you were very different from her? Thank you for everything Dolly Parton.“

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLL8vq7ABPI

This is the moment for y'all to (re)read Tressie McMillan Cottom's marvelous 2021 essay "The Dolly Moment":

https://tressie.substack.com/p/the-dolly-moment

Aaaaand: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/judge-strikes-texas-ban-drag-shows-tells-people-offended-just-dont-go-rcna594448

The url tells the tale.

so awesome

Yeah the diversity of artists with whom she took the time to share personal messages of goodwill is quite incredible. Eminem, Jonathna Richman, Maria McKee, and I'd add, apparently, Pitbull and Rob Zombie, based on my twitter feed. I'm sure the list is much much longer.

There are a lot of public figures that you unconsciously think are going to live forever; Dolly Parton was one of them. Actually, by virtue of how she lived her life, I think her memory will endure.

Dolly never seemed particularly young or old to me, a rather graceful time to exit really.

I just got an alert from her substack, to which I currently do not subscribe, with a message delivered by her nephew and chief of security.

She's been spotted at a CVS.

Chris Isaak:

I’m saddened to hear Dolly’s gone. Every time I saw her she seemed so positive and full of energy. In person she was gracious and gorgeous. I remember doing a Kenny Rogers special with Dolly. There was a moment when she and I were backstage. I asked her if she could tell me if a story I heard was true and she said OK. I said I’d heard that she once bought Porter Wagoner‘s song catalog when he was on hard times and a few years later, Porter asked if he could buy his songs back. She said no, she wouldn’t sell him back his songs but would give him back his songs. I asked if that was true. She said yes and nothing more. I think she didn’t like to speak of her good deeds, but being a songwriter, knowing how much songs mean to a writer, it made me have great respect for her. God bless her.

”I Will Always Love You" always struck me as a styleless song on its own, unrepresentative of Parton's skill for metaphor or story or complicated emotions. Like if you told me Diane Warren wrote it, I wouldn't doubt you. But clearly catnip for vocal gymnastics if Elvis and Whitney wanted it.

Yeah, it doesn’t compare to Dolly’s song stories as far as her songwriting goes, but as both Whitney and Dolly herself have shown, it does show off a singer’s voice exceptionally well.

Holy crap that Tressie McMillan Cottom essay is great.

yuuuup

This podcast from awhile back by the guy from Radiolab was pretty good:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dolly-partons-america/id1481398762

Jad's father and Dolly became friends when he was her doctor.

Yeah it’s great, can confirm

Makeshift memorial in Tennessee:

https://scontent-lga3-3.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/787856233_1468329685149490_6789681068543164680_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_tt6&cstp=mx1080x1350&ctp=s1080x1350&_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_eui2=AeEPDJi38u3eqbGEh6w4q4rUHS7DYoIURiMdLsNighRGI60XBEbh-RVp_igx2acAn_0&_nc_ohc=g_XF7KZAAyIQ7kNvwEaoF5k&_nc_oc=AdrJ9hHQWRvAsD34iPl9McVWIoSWZ1TMg6gsACRtAyju_jgu-RVpcyAnXqEzIDqPwxM&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-3.xx&_nc_gid=AHngjvFuavBkgRpjX5GYEA&_nc_ss=7b22e&oh=00_AQH66CKKExbIVZdiHQ7IKWRi8D9M14sgyWhZyMo1fk2lPA&oe=6A94FCB6

That podcast won some awards iirc

I'm just gonna stick my head in the sand and listen to Trio, Hello, I'm Dolly and the duets with Porter Wagoner for now.

How about how every word in any of her songs was straight forward, easy to understand and warm?

jonathan richman very very otm

I first heard IWALY on Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. It made me cry, copiously. Hated Whitney’s version for years until the penny dropped; mark s’s Freaky Trigger piece on it was a big help.

Galas can kiss my Black ass (DJP) at 9:44 26 Aug 26

There are a lot of public figures that you unconsciously think are going to live forever; Dolly Parton was one of them. Actually, by virtue of how she lived her life, I think her memory will endure.


I felt the same thing (the live forever) when Tina Turner died

Yes, she is another great example.

I told my kids (9&6) Dolly died and that she had given books when they were young. I explained that she didn’t personally deliver them but they were still pretty upset. I then played IWALY for them and it hit a little different. Like it was from some sweet fairy godmother or something to all the little kids she helped. Damn

To be fair, 80 is pretty young if you have Dolly Parton money

(Xposts)

Sorry, did we post this already

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/08/25/remembering-dolly-parton

Forgot about this one. (It's not even on the box set.)

"Where a man thinks of his neighbor and not his neighbor's wife"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91tAhQQum2g

another surprising but lovely tribute https://www.instagram.com/p/Dcf9ySwBmFN/

also jonathan richman otm

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/aug/26/affairs-drugs-you-could-ask-dolly-parton-about-anything-and-get-a-laugh-just-stay-away-from-politics

*Reads about how she supported LGBTQ rights, feminism, working classes, the marginalised in general* b-but she didn't say she voted for the Democrats or whatever

Was thinking that the still-kicking artist of her generation that I have the warmest feeling toward (tho v different and with nothing like the universal reach) might be Laurie Anderson — who had a funny snarky bit about dolly early on which DP’s actual life proved completely offtm

Yeah on United States Live? New Yorkers, amirite?

Yeah big laughs from the smug NY crowd (it is funny tbf, perfect comic timing but feels nagl)

If you roll that way, someone just posted the entire run of her albums to USENET. All of them: hers, the ones with Porter, the Trios. 24 bit on a lot of them.

If you roll that way, someone just posted the entire run of her albums to USENET. All of them: hers, the ones with Porter, the Trios. 24 bit on a lot of them.

Interesting post here by Mark O'Connor about playing on the first Trio album — it gets at some of the dynamics between the three of them, and the way Ronstadt apparently more or less ran the whole thing. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1K3ddrNAtj/

Cool detail about replacing the fiddle solo on the single

Loved reading that, thanks

Interesting because somewhere else (upthread?) I read that the trio were asked later where there any ego clashes and Emmylou said "no, we just do what Dolly says," which actually still makes sense if it was really Linda in charge.

I haven't read about any clashes between them.

My favorite vocal on the album is actually Ronstadt's on Linda Thompson's "Telling Me Lies."

It didn't sound like there were ego clashes, just that Ronstadt mostly hired LA Session guys she was comfortable with.

And the album's such a piece that I always forget about the involvement of Kunkel, Sklar, etc.

I know this is common of many Nashville artists, especially a tier down, but as I clicked through the procession of 49 Dolly solo albums on Wikipedia, it's really remarkable how tossed off every bit of cover art is. Like 2005's Those Were the Days still looks like an artifact you could have picked up in 1975 at the A&P.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/Dollythosewerethedays.jpg

For all the late career esteem she accumulated, she never got the moody Americana makeover that Cash, Nelson, Lynn and others got. Probably because she didn't cede her approach to outside influences, right?

Nope. Backwoods Barbie and Blue Smoke are pretty good though.

from that Mark O'Connor FB post - now that would've been a studio session to have seen:

I played really well on the first run through. We waited to hear the feedback from the control room. George Massenburg pressed the talkback and said everybody was sounding great, and that "we like the fiddle solo." He clicked off, and then back on to add that "George here is thumbs up on the fiddle. Let's double the fiddle solo." (the other George was, George Lucas who was dating Linda at the time, and obviously a bigger fan of the fiddle than Linda seemed to be! OMG. George Lucas is crushing on the fiddle solo!

The Grass Is Blue (released on Sugar Hill, no less) was definitely her nod to the rising roots-Americana scene. Good album, too.

does George Lucas know what music is

TIL that George Lucas directed the Trio video for "To Know Him Is To Love Him"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRBZN8V2Fa4

He's re-releasing it with updated CGI.

I don’t think “moody” suits Dolly? I guess here and there, but not in the way of Cash’s late albums. Which I’m thankful for. Some of the Cash moodiness felt forced. I think I’m the only person that finds his “Hurt” heavy-handed and blergh.

> rising roots-Americana scene

Twenty-five years ago, it was really confusing to me when a roots dejay would come on and say, "...their latest release on Sugar Hill"

"Hurt" = blergh for me too.

rockabilly Cash > old sad man Cash

NIN Hurt > Cash Hurt

Well, the album artwork for Little Sparrow is kinda moody...

fwiw this is what I wrote on Tuesday, from an East Tennessee perspective

https://compassknox.com/2026/08/26/goodbye-please-dont-cry/

IWALY gets all the Whorehouse love, but “Hard Candy
Christmas” is pretty dang good.

b-but she didn't say she voted for the Democrats or whatever

― xyzzzz__, Thursday, August 27, 2026 8:04 AM (eleven hours ago)

When she was on Graham Norton (twentysomething years ago?) she said Bill Clinton was her ideal man, would she have said this in america or would it not have particularly bothered so many people back then?

Nice article, tipsy. Thanks for sharing.

Indeed so. Sharing it out.

everyone seems to have a Dolly story or encounter of some kind

https://www.instagram.com/p/Dcgn7cWkdio/?img_index=1

Thx y'all!

Nathan Rabin on the Dolly Parton/Michael O’Donoghue connection:

https://www.nathanrabin.com/happy-place/2026/8/27/revisiting-single-women-an-unlikely-but-powerful-collaboration-between-michael-odonoghue-saturday-night-lives-prince-of-darkness-and-dolly-parton-countrys-queen-of-lightness-and-joy

Driving through Connecticut and there are already massive billboards paying tribute to her

The "RIP Charlie Kirk" billboard in my town is now an "RIP Dolly Parton" billboard, huge improvement.

everyone seems to have a Dolly story or encounter of some kind

which ppl have Dolly stories and encounters in this link?

Went to a Dolly memorial / drag night. They showed a bunch of her music videos before the show. Now before walking in I maybe could have named three of her songs, four if pressed. So hearing banger after banger I was unacquainted with under the hot lights was pretty overwhelming. "More Where That Came From" is ludicrously good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgAnValgSh4

some vintage dolly ephemera: a dollywood postcard, probably from the early 90s
https://i.postimg.cc/Gh7q1Jf3/20260829-035844.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/sgMKfGFB/20260829-035856.jpg

i was too scared to ride, but was happy to be there.

Carl Wilson’s tribute (with a bonus playlist):

https://archive.ph/Nf1ly

which ppl have Dolly stories and encounters in this link?

Sorry I guess the link was broken

Matt Baume's tribute to Dolly's queer allyship made me cry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpURPplcFhs

Carl Wilson piece is great

Yeah Wilson’s might be my favorite tribute so far.

And I like the honesty. admittedly I was already weary of the heightened “Saint Dolly” rhetoric of the last 5 years. Even long before her death it was incredibly weird to have all of my friends tell me about Dolly and barely a one had ever listened to anything aside from Whitney’s COVER of her. Like, it’s nice and all and I admire & love chairs & good works as much as anyone but the weirdness of my friends all seemingly *willfully* ignoring 50+ years of her music, even her hits, her actual ~essence~ because you “don’t like country music” was fucking baffling.

*chairs? CHARITY

Goddamn autocorrect

New borad title: I Love Chairs

I can't throw too many stones because I haven't listened to all the deep cuts myself but it certainly does seem like some of the St. Dolly rhetoric has been both excessive and shallow. Carl Wilson article was a much more enjoyable deeper dive.

Letterboxd just informed me that Straight Talk (1992) is now available to stream on Prime

xxp I Will Always Seat You

jolene jolene jolene jolene
i'm begging of you please take my seat

My wife wears the Dolly scent nearly every day, but apparently not the day she died...

Saw Kacey Musgraves in Boston last night. She dedicated "Rainbow" to Dolly then covered "Here You Come Again."

We drove out to Jones Beach to see Willie Nelson last night - surprisingly, no tribute to Dolly from Willie, but on the way there,

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

and

JOLENE
JOLENE
JOLENE

flashed on the variable-message signs on the freeway.

Letterboxd just informed me that Straight Talk (1992) is now available to stream on Prime

Griffin Dunne posted a tribute that naturally mentioned this movie. Apparently he auditioned to be Dolly's love interest and she wanted him for the part, but the studio refused. She still had clout though so the compromise was to cast him, but in a different part (the manager).

xpost I saw a few of those flashing Jolene road signs when we were driving through upstate New York!

My favorite Horny Dolly song is “God Won’t Get You” aka I love God but I’m so horny HALP

“Torn between two lovers” on the jukebox/
I'm thinking how I could have wrote that song/
Wondering if God loves us when we're cheating/
Oh, but why he lets us feel things if it's wrong/
And I guess I should be singing "Rock of Ages"
"Amazing Grace" and some of those good songs/
But my cheating heart will tell on me tomorrow/
If you think that God won't get you, well you're wrong”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwOJMij0nf8

I think in a way it is easier to write about Dolly's good works and all the lives she changed through philanthropy or advocacy - all these objective proofs of how good she was - than to try to convey what her music meant to you or even what she meant to you as a person.

When I think of the power of Dolly Parton's singing, I think of a song that she didn't write: her cover of Woody Guthrie's "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)".

This is a song written by a white American man, sung by a white American woman, from the point of view of a Mexican migrant worker and the descendent of migrant workers. You can tell that Dolly Parton does not speak Spanish; she says "mes amigos" rather than "mis amigos," "Las Gatos" rather than "Los Gatos," "Jezus" rather than "Jesus." And yet it doesn't matter, because there is so much empathy and clarity of understanding in her voice that when she sings, "My father's own father, he waded that river" and "my brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees," you understand that this is true, it is true for her as she is singing and for us as we are listening, and that this is a song of real and heartfelt and angry grief that has found its purest possible form here.

Once, when I was fifteen, I wanted to play "Deportee" for a class presentation but I could only find a copy where it was sung by Judy Collins, and I realized as it was playing that the essence of the song had gone missing somehow. It didn't feel real anymore. It was earnest and well-meant, but it was no longer a song that would change hearts.

To me, that was the essence of Dolly Parton - that ability to make everything she touched real. She sang in a beautiful, golden voice, with a depth of expression and nuance unmatched by anyone but Bob Dylan, without any apparent effort or strain. I don't know where Dylan gets his knack for emotional shading, but I always had the sense that for Dolly, it came from the simplest and most obvious place: caring about people, wanting to understand them because she wanted to help. She wasn't sentimental, she didn't tug our heartstrings. She didn't have to. She just meant what she said, and we knew that she meant it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEPUxpR64YE

It’s funny you mention Bob - for me the comparison point was always Elvis. She just seemed to instinctively know when to quietly, almost shyly deliver a line or a verse to draw you in, confessionally sometimes, and when to take it up to the heavens & soar - and so many modular modes between, like a hundred micro adjustments- she could switch between them all in this way that just felt effortless, but also, very similar to Elvis for me because more often than not it really seemed less like being such a music ball-knower (which they both were) and more like they were receiving the transmission directly via whatever woo-woo spiritual channel you believe in.

But that’s also maybe a bit cornier sounding so idk

I think the other dimension to her recording of "Deportees" is her Appalachian roots. Different cultures and contexts, but I don't think it was hard for her to connect to a story of exploitation and being treated as less than human. I don't know Judy Collins' version, but as much as I love Judy I can imagine she'd be singing it from more of a distance.

Which is to say, I think the intuitive empathy she brought to her singing a.) is a huge part of what has drawn people to her for going on 60 years, b.) is the same empathy she brought to her philanthropy, and c.) all of it connects to where and when she came from, the people and place that formed her.

I love that she used the occasion of 9 to 5 to put out an album of (often) leftist songs about work, and went to #1 on the Country charts with it.

She just meant what she said, and we knew that she meant it.

So OTM.

But that’s also maybe a bit cornier sounding so idk

Like Elvis, Dolly didn't mind corn and sometimes was all the better for it.

this last week did make me think of a potential hard times/onion headline:

"huge dolly parton fan hears 4th dolly parton song"

Great post, Lily Dale

"huge dolly parton fan hears 4th dolly parton song"

lol

lol

Hahaha

If this doesn't show, it's "Purple Rain," from her Rockstar---killin' it at 77, in the way she follows Prince's delivery and just keeps building , in the way they both very eventually build on Zep-like power ballad dynamics---like in her live "Stairway," which btw doesn't have or need a Page-following (or other) guitar solo---but this is even better---and much more emotional; brace yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zluG5nyXoDI

Not meaning that she or Prince were actually dependent on any hypothetical Zep studies (not like White Stripes Jack). but just the way it all seems to mesh at times (I was listening to Zep long before I really heard much country).

And now she's even got me wanting to dig up my good Aerosmith LPs (you know, the ones from the 70s)(but don't worry, Tyler's not on here too much)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfY5Oc_rc9k

just one more---what Seger built on from Van Morrison, she totally takes over, born for it and vice-versa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmN6KyY1804

(these lil feat.s are so not duets!)

Man, imagine a "Dolly Sings Little Feat" album...

Linda may have dated Lowell George, if I remember correctly from an intro she did before singing "Willin'"

https://www.facebook.com/reel/520239904508805/

Or even
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMP8JsV7wbg

https://www.dontrocktheinbox.com/dolly-parton-and-the-highwomen-at-newport-folk-an-excerpt-from-her-country/?ref=dont-rock-the-inbox-newsletter