Weekend Diva Blogging: Dolly Parton

By Kathy G.

To quote the fashion blog Styledash.com, what woman could possibly carry off the following?:

• 36 FF boobs
• a bustle train frock coat - in white chiffon
• white capris a full two months before Memorial Day
• a two foot blonde wig
• special wig rhinestones
• five inch heels

Ladies and gentleman, there is one, and only one, answer to that question: Dolly Parton. Even more impressive, she's still rockin' that trademark outrageous Dolly style at age 62.

Born the fourth of twelve children to a dirt-poor family in Sevierville, Tennessee, Dolly is an icon for many reasons. Her over-the-top femininity -- cartoon voluptuousness, mile-high blonde wig, and all -- is genius, of course. But she would have become a one-note joke long ago if, behind the all the mascara and hairspray, there wasn't a huge a talent as well. Dolly is a great storyteller and show-woman, as several of the clips I've chosen below attest.

But one thing a lot of people don't realize is that she's an amazing songwriter as well. Dolly wrote nearly all the songs she became famous for, including "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors," "I Will Always Love You,", "Down from Dover," "9 to 5," and others. Precious few country music songwriters of her generation are anywhere near her league.

There's more to Dolly than the artist and performer, of course. She is legendary for her business savvy, and also has put considerable energies into philanthropic work. Dolly has been active in many causes, including children's literacy, environmentalism, the Red Cross, and AIDS/HIV charities. She's always been outspokenly gay-friendly, and of course has been a role model for drag queens everywhere. To my knowledge, she's never gone public about which political party or candidates she supports, but I find it hard to believe she's anything but a liberal Democrat.

Dolly's 2005 album, Those Were the Days, sounded to me like a not-so-subtle protest album, covering as it did such antiwar classics "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and "Blowin' in the Wind." As the Dixie Chicks can attest, however, the country music establishment does not take kindly to outspoken liberals, which may explain why Dolly hasn't taken a more public profile on political issues. 

The most appealing thing of all about Dorothy is her personality. As anyone who's ever heard her interviewed can attest, the woman is incredibly warm, witty, charming, down-to-earth, and sweet. It even seems genuine. And if it's not, all the more power to her, because it's one hell of an act, and it has served her very well indeed. All hail Dolly!

We'll start off with a clip of Dolly performing her lovely, moving song "Coat of Many Colors." She's said it's her favorite of all her songs, and I think it's my favorite of hers, too.

Here's another Parton classic, "Jolene." It's been covered by many artists, but I've always been particularly fond of the Patti Smith version. This clip is from a performance in London, and in it Dolly delivers a variation of her famous line: "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap!"

This  clip is of  Dolly and her mentor, Porter Wagoner, dueting on "Just Someone I Used to Know."  Dolly  first became a star on Wagoner's syndicated television show. The song they're doing here was originally  recorded by George Jones and Tammy Wynette, and  while no one can surpass the late Tammy of blessed  memory and the ever-sublime George, I think Dolly and Porter do awfully well by it nevertheless. And Porter's threads were always the most awesome thing this side of Liberace.

Here's Dolly on  Hee Haw singing another of her classics, "I Will Always Love You."  Interestingly,  she wrote it  for Porter Wagoner after making the difficult decision to leave his show and strike out on her own. It appears that they were never romantically involved, however.

Another great Dolly tune, "My Tennessee Mountain Home." What's most impressive here is that she can manage to play the guitar in spite of her foot-long fingernails.
Unfortunately, I can't embed this one, but you can click here to watch it.

Another fun early Dolly hit, "Joshua." She's got more hair here than you'll find anywhere short of Wigstock.

Here she is with  Emmylou Harris and Linda  Ronstadt  singing a lovely cover of the great Neil Young song, "After the Gold Rush."

Finally, here she is doing "Shine," from her wonderful 2001 bluegrass album, Little Sparrow.

Comments

[Pat Johnson]

I always loved Dolly just because of her great personality as well as her superb talent. Thanks for sharing.

[DrDick]

Dolly is almost enough to make me proud of being southern white trash, but then there is Charley Daniels and all the rest of the yahoos.

[wrongshore]

Maybe you can answer a question my fiancée and I have been batting back and forth: Did Dolly ever, at the beginning of her career, sexualize her 36FFs? And if not, is this something that's different about country or different about her? I think of Dolly as having come-to-mama abundance more than a hot rack, and I don't know if that's part of how she's always regulated her persona or just because I didn't really know much about her until recently.

Her cover of Billy Joel's "Travelin' Prayer" is my favorite from all the bluegrass albums.

[K]

I adore Dolly. Always have.

And you're right -- she's a feminist in the truest form of the world.

[Donna B.]

Whether Dolly sexualized her "rack" I'm not sure, but she did say once that if she hadn't been born with them, she would have had them "made"

The older I get, the more I respect Dolly. I think I may go get a wig.

[flynngrrl]

I stopped by here today via Megan McArdle to check out some Dolly Parton. I liked her in 9 to 5, but had never really heard a lot of her songs. Good goddamn, is she awesome. I'm heading off to youtube some more now.

Thanks!