Dolly Parton

[freedom75]

After watching tonight's documentary what a fabulous amazing women she is!

I’ve seen her live twice. She plays so many different instruments it’s difficult to count them. Around 13. I couldn’t even name some of them.

I'm a big fan of country alt/country and I've always had the impression there is a definite sisterhood amongst its female performers.

There is a great doc on yourube about the relationship between Dolly, EmmyLou Harris and Linda Ronstadt

I am not even a real fan (in that I never listen to her music) but I love her. Sometimes I hear one of her songs in passing or on a programme and it pulls me up short and I listen. Her voice is sublime and unique, her song writing moving and real. She's very intelligent, calm, wise, kind and funny. Some of the lyrics in her songs are very clever and tell a lyrical story. (The documentary explained the lyrics around a song called the Grass is Blue, very clever songwriting).

The documentary was so interesting with viewpoints from Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. They had a few pyjama parties with her when they filmed 9-5 and said that they never saw her without a wig and makeup. Lily said they never really knew anything about her, she set a boundary around herself and was very private. I think her wigs and make up are a disguise. She can probably move around the world unmade up and nobody would know it was her. For instance, she always wears long sleeves, but is rumoured to have arms full of tattoos which you never see. When I first read this years ago I thought it was a joke, but apparently not.

I think I will add Be More Dolly to my NY resolutions.

"She is mostly known for her big boobs and singing style."

Maybe if you don't know anything about music, but she is an amazing songwriter and lyricist, as well as doing a ton of charity work.

Yes, she has a certain look that she is also famous for but that's really the least interesting thing about her.

Well I watched the documentary and was left feeling I still knew very little about her. She definitely keeps a lot of herself very private.
I'd love to know more about her early family dynamic. She seems to have an almost desperate need to appear overly feminine. The surgeries are beginning to look freakish imo. Uncomfortable.
Also her relationship with Porter Wagonner. Now there was one creepy looking dude.
In my youth the American country style of Dolly and her ilk was a joke. The hideous tacky outfits, the wigs and the general hokum. Shudder. But like many performers, especially if they are really talented like Dolly they come out the other side and gain a dignity and gravitas.
Personally I find many of her songs quite boring and repetitive.

Just trying to post some photos of a replica of the shack Dolly grew up in Tennessee. She grew up in a tough, deprived area and has brought so many jobs for ordinary people to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee through Dollywood, the Horse Stampede etc.

She’s also an amazing lyricist, someone who ploughed their own furrow, and who kept the song rights I believe to ‘I will always love you’.

I LOVE dolly.

Shack

There are some really odd comments on this thread.

I like Dolly Parton, enjoy some of her music in passing, whenever I have seen her speak, she has been clever, witty and charming, and I admire her gumption.

I don't think she deserves to be attacked for having big boobs or plastic surgery. It's not something I think is ever really necessary and I don't support that industry, but I'm not going to tear apart a woman who has made those choices, because it's not like she could take it back anyway.

The accusation that the women who post on FWR think women should grow balls and never be feminine is well off the mark, though, as is the frankly odd suggestion that feminism is about using your femininity. Feminism about women, however they come across, being liberated from a system which squishes them into roles to use and abuse them.

Some of those women will be feminine, some will not, some will be weak, some strong. Feminism is about liberating all women from a system of oppression.

The epitome of feminism is not maintaining femininity while being strong.

It's being the woman you are and working to help liberate your sisters in humanity, be they feminine or not.

There's a 1977 interview with the much respected Barbara Walters.

There must be a full length clip somewhere, but I only seem to find snippets.

Country music was, and still is, a very crowded market. To poor people in her world, it embodied the escape that Reality TV, showbiz and sports represents to many youngsters today.

The Dolly 'look' was to differentiate herself from the rest of the crowd and in a few interviews I read, she freely admitted that it came from prostitutes she saw whenever her family made a trip into the local town.

www.indy100.com/article/dolly-parton-fashion-shame-interview-barabra-walters-special-8784971

To have established herself as a singer-songwriter is such a cut throat industry is one thing, but to have the business nous, the hard faced tenacity and the energy to remain a respected figure and to turn down what would have been a very lucrative prospect (saying "No" to Elvis and Colonel Parker ), means that she is something else altogether.

She has tits of steel that woman.

I greatly admire Dolly, sadly I'm the only fan in the family so I tend to play her in the car. I'm halfway through Dolly Partons America podcast and thoroughly enjoying it.
She is so much more than 'just' a talented country writer/singer.

There are some really odd comments on this thread.

That's fucking right.

I like her series on Netflix called heartstrings based on her hit songs. I especially liked how Jolene was portrayed. She was portrayed as someone to empathise with and not a bitchy husband stealer.

Re: the song 9 to 5 and whether she’s ever worked 9 to 5. Regardless of the fact that she’s worked her arse off her whole life, she wrote that song specifically for the film, for the female characters in it.

I have always prefered to listen to Dolly Parton rather than watch her because I find her stage persona really upsetting.

I accept everything she has said about how she decided to present herself in what was and still is a horribly sexist industry (have over the years seen at least 3 documentaries about her and this was the least revealing).

And even wondered if she continues with it because she feels it indentifies her with the people she most wants to connect with and tell stories about. ie people like herself who had such a hard start in life.

But part of me has always hoped that as she got older and more accepted, and with Country music being a bit more positive and women, that she could relax more. Its not just the sex siren image, but she is in her 70s now, and with her wonderful voice and amazing lyrics, you would hope she could still perform her music without having to perform herself.

For me it creates barrier which is why I usually avoid watching her.

But she is obviously a hard worker, and has done amazing things with her money, not just for her family, and the local area, but the gift of books to schools. She had on occasions visited the UK just to help promote this.

I wonder also if one of the reasons so many people dont take her seriuosly is not only the image, but that they also see her as working class (white trash) and the cliche is that somehow they are all uneducated / stupid people.

For instance if Joan Baez sang her songs everyone would listen intently and discuss in hushed tones.

In fact if I knew how to get in touch with either of them I would suggest it as a project!

But on the other hand love the idea suggested up thread, that without her wig and punishing corsetry, she can just slip out into the public and not be noticed!

PS because I had seen other documentaries I was aware of the hidden husband and all the rumours, and I stress rumours, that it is all a cover for her lesbian relationship/s.

Some interesting info on Dolly on these comments that I didn't t know, love mumsnet! going to watch that Netflix documentary as well thanks for that.

I really admire her talent and her business acumen- she had the foresight to hang onto the rights to her songs and thus made a fortune. She is not a feminist though. She is very clear on that!

I wonder also if one of the reasons so many people dont take her seriuosly is not only the image, but that they also see her as working class (white trash) and the cliche is that somehow they are all uneducated / stupid people

Who are these many people who don't take her seriously? As opposed to the millions of people who buy her records and attend her concerts and of course the many, many music industry insiders, performing musicians, song writers, producers who take her very seriously indeed.

Oh I was so nervous to see Dolly's name here and prayed it was in positivity ha, LOVE her, she's on my "who would you dine with dead or alive with"! There was another series recently on sky arts, 6 episodes looking at 6 of her songs in more detail can't remember what it was called but sure a search would catch it. Planning on going to Dollywood one day.

And in regards to 9-5 as with most successful performers she didn't start making money over night, she worked many jobs in Nashville in the early days while working her way up in show business.

The commentariat!

ie for years she would be ridiculed in the media. Okay for her to be a gay icon, but for anyone to think there was more to her than her image was just dismissed.

But as you say, millions who did / do identify with her she has always been admired.

It really is only recently that she isn't sniggered about in media commentary. Ironically over here I think it was the books for children project.

This is why I think partly for her its not just sexism but classism. (not forgetting some on this thread who have totally dismissed her)

I dont think of her as a feminist, but someone who stand up for women's rights, in her own way.

Hugely talented, employed/employs a persona that the boys like, is philanthropic and seems a really good person. Hats off Dolly ❤️

Also check out the song Just because I'm a woman, she might not openly identify as a feminist, but she's a feminist icon.

I suppose Travellin' Thru is the trickier project to reconcile with, but even though I am GC I love that she does embody a love all attitude considering the conservative background she is from and the staunchly conservative part of her fan base will be. Kacey Musgraves is very similar in that regard.