Tag: dollywood

Women’s History Spotlight: Hazel & Alice, Dale Ann Bradley, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

March is Women’s History Month, and BGS, Good Country, and Real Roots Radio have partnered to highlight a variety of our favorite women in country, bluegrass, and roots music with our Women’s History Spotlight.

Each weekday in March at 11AM Eastern (8AM Pacific) on Real Roots Radio, host Daniel Mullins will be celebrating a powerful woman in roots music during the Women’s History Spotlight segment of The Daniel Mullins Midday Music Spectacular. You can listen to Real Roots Radio online 24/7 or via their FREE app for smartphones or tablets.

Then, we will have a Friday recap here on BGS featuring the artists highlighted throughout the previous week. No list is comprehensive, but we hope to feature some familiar favorites as well as some trailblazers whose music and impact might not be as familiar to you.

This week’s edition of our Women’s History Spotlight features musicians and artists like IBMA Award winner Dale Ann Bradley, the legendary Dolly Parton, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductees Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, early country hitmaker Kitty Wells, and Kentuckian-West Virginian Molly O’Day. Tune in next week for the final installment of our Women’s History Spotlight!

Dolly Parton

You knew it was coming. You can’t tell the story of country music (or American pop culture) without Dolly Parton. Growing up in Sevier County, Tennessee, she is not just the Queen of the Smoky Mountains, but quite possible the Queen of the Universe (if there was such a ridiculous title). Her rags-to-riches story will continue to be told and re-told for generations. Aside from her beautiful voice and philanthropic work (the millions of books that she gives to children through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is her proudest achievement), there are numerous other aspects about Dolly Parton that are remarkable.

Her business acumen is frequently praised, but it still bears repeating. Aside from her numerous endeavors (including Dollywood), it’s often worth remembering that she fought to regain control of her own career and decision-making from Porter Wagoner after her star began shining brighter than his scope of influence. (Remember, it was the ending of this business relationship that was the impetus behind Dolly writing one of her most famous songs, “I Will Always Love You.”) Call it a business decision or just genius, but Dolly’s ability to juggle embracing her role as an undeniable sex symbol and avoiding being labeled as “unwholesome” by conservative crowds has to be one of the most difficult tightrope walks in American entertainment.

Vanity Fair’s 1991 article “Good Golly, Miss Dolly“ did a deep dive into the dichotomy of Dolly’s role as a sort of clean sex symbol: “Dolly, in her openness, demystifies sex. ‘One of the things that makes the image work is that people understand that I look one way, but am another, that there’s a very real person underneath this artificial look,’ she theorizes. ‘It’s not like I am a joke. People can laugh at me, but they don’t make fun.’ … Indeed, Dolly Parton has become the billboard for sex without being the product itself.”

It is the way that she ensures that the “very real person” that is Dolly Rebecca Parton doesn’t get lost in the glitz, glamor, and boob jokes that is part of the reason why she is so endearing and universally beloved by folks from all walks of life; in a world where polarization is en vogue, Dolly is one of the few topics on which everyone agrees! She epitomizes the best of us.

Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard

Members of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard were an unlikely pair who blasted down doors for women in bluegrass. Hazel hailed from the mountains of West Virginia, while Alice was from across the country in Seattle, Washington. Alice attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where she was exposed to folk and bluegrass music. While a student there, she helped coordinate bringing The Osborne Brothers to the Antioch campus, making history as the first major bluegrass concert held on a college campus! After college, she wound up in the D.C. area, becoming active in their flourishing bluegrass scene, where she became friends and musical partners with Hazel Dickens – who had moved to the region with her family to find factory work years earlier.

Hazel & Alice became some of the first female bluegrass bandleaders and recorded some classic albums for Smithsonian Folkways and Rounder Records before embarking on successful solo careers by the mid-’70s. With Hazel’s mountain sound and Alice’s more folk-oriented sensibilities, their music appealed to both traditional bluegrass fans and those who were being introduced to the genre via the Folk Revival. Their original material which highlighted a woman’s perspective were critical in bringing a voice to women in the bluegrass canon. Decades later, their music and legacy is still rippling across American roots music, with artists as diverse as Rhiannon Giddens and Dudley Connell still celebrating their influence and impact.

Molly O’Day 

Born Lois LaVerne Williamson, country pioneer Molly O’Day was born in Pike County, Kentucky. She would become a popular radio star in West Virginia by the early 1940s, eventually leading Molly O’Day & The Cumberland Mountain Folks. Her band crossed paths with Hank Williams on the radio circuit and Molly even sang quite a few of his songs on radio and later in the recording studio. Molly learned “Tramp On The Street” from Hank Williams and it would land her a recording contract with Columbia Records. (Fun Fact: Her band at the time of her first Columbia recording session featured a young Mac Wiseman on bass!)

In an era when the term “hillbilly music” was still commonly used, Molly’s music, retroactively, could have country and bluegrass labels applied to it. Her powerful voice felt just as at home on an ancient balled like “Poor Ellen Smith” as it did on soul-stirring gospel songs like “Matthew 24.” By the early 1950s, Molly and her husband grew weary of life in the limelight and essentially retired from the music business, both dedicating their life to ministry. She would record a few gospel albums for some small record labels in the ensuing years, but her final album was released in 1960. She would pass away in the late 1980s, but she left a mark on country music and earned the respect of her peers at a time when the list of female country pioneers was relatively short.

Dale Ann Bradley

Revered as one of the most heartfelt bluegrass singers of her generation, this Kentucky songbird’s career started in earnest as a member of the Renfro Valley cast in her home state of Kentucky. The Renfro Valley Barn Dance was an extremely popular barn-dance style radio program in the 1930s and it spurred the creation of Renfro Valley as a country music entertainment destination in Kentucky. This helped kickstart the careers of folks like Steve Gulley, Jeff Parker, Dale Ann Bradley, and more by the 1990s.

While at Renfro Valley, Bradley would eventually join The New Coon Creek Girls, one of bluegrass’s only “all-girl” bands at the time, and aptly named after The Coon Creek Girls, a pioneering female string band of the 1930s who also started on The Renfro Valley Barn Dance.

Dale Ann’s soulful voice, largely influence by the Primitive Baptist tradition which she grew up around, quickly gripped the bluegrass world, leading to a successful solo career for the last three decades. In addition to recording songs that hearken to those familiar with mountain people and mountain ways, the appeal of Dale Ann’s voice has led her to adapt songs from outside of the genre to her style of bluegrass, tackling tunes from Tom Petty, Bobbie Gentry, The Grateful Dead, Jim Croce, and everyone in-between! Her diverse material has led me (and many others) to the conclusion that no matter the material, if Dale Ann is singing it, I already know I’m going to like it!

Kitty Wells

Hailed as the original Queen of Country Music, Kitty Wells hit a massive reset button on the role of women in country music after the massive success of her breakthrough hit, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” Written by J.D. Miller, it was penned as the antithesis of Hank Thompson’s hit, “The Wild Side of Life.” After writing the song, the search began for a woman to sing it. Kitty Wells had pursued a country career, to little avail, and had essentially consented that maybe it wasn’t in the cards for her, when she was contacted to record the song. “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” would become the first Number One hit by solo female in country music history, and its status as one of the most iconic country songs of all time only grows.

This explosion of success led to many other hit records by Kitty Wells, and opened the doors for those who would follow in her wake like Jean Shepard, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and more! You can’t celebrate Women’s History Month without honoring the gal who famously sang the line, “It’s a shame that all the blame is on us women!” (Still kind of bummed that Margot Robbie didn’t sing that line in Barbie. Seems like a missed opportunity to me!)

As an added bonus, here’s another cool version from 1993, where Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette recruited Kitty Wells to join them on a new version of this country classic on their collaborative album, appropriately entitled Honky Tonk Angels.

 

From Bristol Sessions to Bessie Smith, East Tennessee Is Rich in Musical History

Posted on by Editor

The Volunteer State has long been at the center of the music world, and East Tennessee destinations like Bristol, Johnson City, Knoxville and Chattanooga all have their own unique history and stories to tell about their roles in evolving the American music experience.

To shine a light on these musical destinations sometimes overshadowed by the behemoth of Nashville to the west, we’ve gathered over a dozen attractions worth visiting from Bristol’s Burger Bar to Knoxville’s Blue Plate Special and Chattanooga’s Songbirds Vintage Guitar & Pop Culture Museum. Spanning the realms of country, bluegrass, folk, hip-hop, blues and more, each stop is guaranteed to empower, inform, inspire and excite the music fan in every one of us.

Bristol

A couple years after the Grand Ole Opry launched in 1925, Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company ventured to Bristol in 1927 to record sessions that would later be referred to as the “Big Bang” of modern day country music. Participating artists like the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and the Stoneman Family are featured throughout the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. The brand new exhibit titled I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music is on display now through 2023.

Located just on the Virginia side of the state line, the space digs into the circumstances that brought the sessions to Bristol in 1927 along with the artists included in them, how the sessions have and continue to shape country music in the present, and more. It also explores how festivals, the church, radio and Hollywood have helped to further propel country music into the mainstream way of life through displays, interactive exhibits, short films and more. With the museum having just been awarded over $1 million in grants to help fund expansion, visitors can expect even more from the space in the coming months and years.

Speaking of festivals, since 2001 the museum has also produced the popular Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion festival on the streets and in bars around the small mountain town. Over 30,000 music fans flock to the area every second weekend of September for the event honoring not only Bristol’s history as the “Birthplace of Country Music,” but the future artists that are helping to guide and redefine country and roots music in the present. Its 2022 gathering lived up to that and then some with performances from living legends like Tanya Tucker, Del McCoury and Rosanne Cash, and rising stars like Sierra Ferrell, 49 Winchester and Molly Tuttle.

A couple blocks away from the museum nestled on the corner of State Street and Piedmont Avenue you’ll find the renowned Burger Bar. In addition to serving up the best burgers and chili dogs in all of Bristol, the diner is best known for being the last place Hank Williams was seen alive. Williams was in the process of riding from Montgomery, Alabama, to Canton, Ohio, to play a show on New Year’s Eve 1952 when he died in the back seat of the car transporting him not long after leaving Bristol.

A short walk west down State Street will lead you to another tribute to the twin city’s claim as the Birthplace of Country Music, this time in the form of a 30 x 100 foot mural. First painted by artist, musician and radio host Tim White in 1986, the mural depicts the aforementioned Rodgers, Carters and Stonemans alongside Peer as musical notes flutter up the brick wall between them.

Less than a five minute drive from downtown Bristol you’ll stumble upon “Tennessee” Ernie Ford’s birth home. Born in Bristol in 1919, Ford went on to become a world famous singer, TV and radio star. The home, now owned by the Bristol Historical Association, is open for tours and houses countless personal items and memorabilia from the town’s most cherished son.

Johnson City

Twenty-five miles south of Bristol in Johnson City is another East Tennessee mainstay, The Down Home. Founded in 1976, the listening room style club has played host to artists like Kenny Chesney, Alison Krauss and The Dixie Chicks prior to them making it big. Bigger named acts like “Pancho and Lefty” songwriter Townes Van Zandt, bluesman Willie Dixon and A Prairie Home Companion collaborators Robin and Linda Williams have also performed there. More recently other local artists like Southwest Virginia’s 49 Winchester have continued that legacy by performing in the iconic space regularly, which hosts live music anywhere from two to four nights per week.

Knoxville

If Nashville is the center of music in Middle Tennessee, then Greater Knoxville is the center in East Tennessee, and it all begins before you even get into town. Located about 20 miles north of downtown, the Museum of Appalachia houses a pioneer village, historical relics and a Hall of Fame. The latter includes everything from Native American relics to collectibles from regional political, military and everyday figures along with musicians like Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, The Carter Family, John Hartford and Redd Stewart whose music came to define the region.

Upon arriving in Knoxille proper, I’d recommend stretching out with the Cradle of Country Music Walking Tour. Comprised of 19 locations with an estimated completion time of an hour, the self-guided tour includes stops everywhere from the Tennessee Theatre (the official state theatre of Tennessee and site of the first public performance of Roy Acuff) to the Andrew Johnson Hotel (the original home of country music variety show The Midday Merry-Go-Round and where Hank Williams spent the last night of his life), to Market Square (where Sam Morrison of Bell Sales Company helped to launch Elvis Presley’s career in the 1950s by promoting “That’s All Right, Mama” on the loudspeakers).

Along the path of the walking tour you’ll also come across the Knoxville Visitor Center and WDVX 89.9 FM. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and on Saturday from noon to 1 p.m., the independent radio station hosts its signature program, the Blue Plate Special, in front of a live audience. Hosted by Red Hickey and Sean McCollough, the show features music and conversation from a variety of up-and-coming roots musicians. Past performers have included The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show and Chris Stapleton. However, when we visited the featured artists were Portland-based A.C. Sapphire and Kendall Lujan, along with Sierra Leone-born, Nashville-based Senie Hunt.

Once that wraps up you can finish off your musical escapades just down Gay Street at the Museum of East Tennessee History. Operated by The East Tennessee Historical Society, the building is home of everything from the Knox County Archives to the Museum of East Tennessee History, the latter of which houses an epic collection of artifacts and music memorabilia from Dolly Parton, Billy Bowman, the Bristol Sessions and more.

Sevierville and Pigeon Forge

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention Dollywood in a story about East Tennessee. After pulling over for pancakes at family-friendly Flapjacks, start your day in the town square of Sevierville. It’s impossible to tell Dolly Parton’s life story without speaking about her reverence for the Smoky Mountains and Sevier County especially. At the courthouse, you’ll want to snap a photo with the Dolly Parton statue on the courthouse lawn, created by sculptor Jim Gray.

For years, the Chasing Rainbows Museum at Dollywood has told Parton’s rags-to-riches story — and in her case, those rags led to the famous “Coat of Many Colors.” Parton herself revealed that the museum is being reinvented as the Dolly Parton Experience, set to open in 2024. (Cue: “Here You Come Again.”) One of the best breaks in the park is maybe sharing a loaf of cinnamon break in the rocking chairs in front of the grist mill. Still hungry after that? Dolly Parton’s Stampede provides a memorable, show-stopping experience and a four-course feast, sometimes served with forks.

Chattanooga

Just over an hour and a half southwest of Knoxville you’ll find another music-friendly city in Chattanooga. Located along the Tennessee-Georgia border, the city’s roots run deep in country, blues, hip hop and more, all of which you can learn about at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center and Chattanooga African American Museum. Inside you’ll find displays highlighting all of the city’s Black history including music with displays honoring hometown heroes like Usher, Kane Brown, The Impressions and the building’s namesake, Bessie Smith.

The Tennessee Aquarium draws most of the crowds downtown, while Rock City and Ruby Falls beckon tourists to Lookout Mountain. The city also has a terrific greenway system with artistic mile markers along the river. One of them just might be a silhouette of Bill Monroe. Speaking of bluegrass, drop in for breakfast at the Bluegrass Grill in downtown Chattanooga. Just around the corner you’ll find a brewpub, a chocolate shop, a distillery, and an ice cream store, all with local ties.

After singing a few lines about the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo, located on the grounds of a historic hotel, you can trace the modern history of the guitar at the nearby Songbirds Vintage Guitar & Pop Culture Museum. Much like the Bessie Smith Center, the museum recognizes local heroes while also wielding an insane — and growing — collection of vintage guitars, amps, and pedals. Current highlights on display when I visited included guitars from Duane Allman and Merle Travis, who is also featured at the Muhlenberg Music & History Museum mentioned in our previous story on Kentucky’s top music tourism destinations.

An hour northwest of Chattanooga — and just barely inside the confines of East Tennessee for the purpose of this story — sits The Caverns. The sought after getaway takes musicians and concertgoers alike underground for an unparalleled live music experience. The gritty grotto is most notably home to PBS television series The Caverns Sessions (formerly Bluegrass Underground), which has already announced performances from Sierra Ferrell, Allison Russell, The Lil Smokies and more in 2023. Guided tours of the cave system are also available seven days a week. If the timing lines up, consider checking out the Big Mouth Bluegrass Festival (July 1-2, 2023) or CaveFest (October 6-8).

For more information on tourism destinations throughout East Tennessee, visit TNVacation.com.

Photo Credit: Tennessee Tourism/Andrew Saucier

Beth Behrs: What Dolly Parton Means to Me

Posted on by Amy Reitnouer

Everyone has a “Dolly Story.” Whether it’s a personal interaction (like when Brandi Carlile confessed on my podcast, Harmonics, that when she met her backstage at Newport Folk Fest, Dolly prayed with Brandi to calm her nerves) or the first time you heard your own story in one of her songs (like when BGS editor Justin Hiltner explained to host Jad Abumrad how “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That” is a gay anthem on his podcast, Dolly Parton’s America), these stories are the universal connectors for Dolly Parton fans.

My own love of Dolly Parton’s music goes back a very long time, but my “Dolly Story” finally happened a few years ago, when my husband and I got to meet her after her show at the Hollywood Bowl. It was surreal and wonderful and the moment was over far too soon, but from that day on I knew I wanted to live my life more like Dolly Parton.

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One of these days, I hope to be able to have a longer chat with Dolly (DOLLY IF YOU’RE READING THIS YOU CAN BE ON MY SHOW ANYTIME). But until then, I’ve distilled four pillars of What Dolly Parton Means to Me:

1) Dolly is Always Unapologetically Herself.

“I’ve often made the statement that I’d never stoop so low as to be fashionable. That’s the easiest thing in the world to do…. Once they got past the shock of the ridiculous way I looked and all, they would see there are parts of me to be appreciated. I’m very real where it counts — and that’s inside.”

In today’s fractured society, there are few figures as unifying as Dolly Parton. Say her name to almost anyone, anywhere, and almost certainly they will know who she is. Maybe part of the reason for this is her indelible commitment to never being anything but herself. And it’s because of that raw honesty that she can mean so many things to so many people. Over the years when I’ve been pressured to conform to certain looks, trends, people, or situations for the “sake of my career,” Dolly has been a glorious, glittering reminder to never apologize for sticking to who you truly are.

2) Dolly is Always Decent.

“I think everybody should be treated with respect. I don’t judge and I try not to get too caught up in the controversy of things. I hope everybody gets a chance to be who they are.”

Decency and goodness are not just about building a massive resort and theme park to revive the economy of your hometown in East Tennessee (Dollywood). They’re not just about founding a charity that has given away over 150 million books to underprivileged children around the world (Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library). They’re not even just about donating over a million dollars to help fund a COVID-19 vaccine. (Seriously. The hero we needed in 2020.)

Real goodness and decency are about how you act when no one is looking. Dolly is not just a good person, but she is a decent one. She has a universal acceptance for everyone just as they are, and uses her wealth and visibility to stand up for those who cannot. If that’s not decent I don’t know what is.

3) Dolly is Always Resilient.

“I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else.”

Dolly may seem like a divine being sent from heaven above, but she’s as human as the rest of us. In so many interviews she’s talked about her rough patches, her health problems, her doubts, her frustrations and failures. But one thing she has never lost is a resounding resiliency to keep going. It’s important to realize that our heroes are just flesh and blood, but it’s also important to remember that what makes someone a true hero is how they remind us to get back up and keep going.

4) Dolly is Always in on the Joke.

“All these years, the people have thought the joke was on me, but it’s actually been on the public. I know exactly what I’m doing and I can change it at any time. I make more jokes about myself than anybody.”

As a comic actor, I love and admire Dolly’s ability to not only be in on the joke, but often two steps ahead of it. It’s easy enough to assume that she’s some dumb blonde with big boobs, but as she shows us time and time again, looking good and being the smartest person in the room are not mutually exclusive. You can see her adeptness in clips from her late night appearances from the ’80s and ’90s, where the host usually takes a cheap jab at Dolly’s ample attributes and makes the interview about her physicality rather than her talent. But without missing a beat, Dolly always throws it right back at him (it’s always a him), usually with a punchline that’s even funnier than the host’s bit.

It’s like she says in her classic song “Dumb Blonde:” “Just because I’m blonde / Don’t think I’m dumb / Cause this dumb blonde ain’t nobody’s fool.” I’ve sat on those same couches, fielded countless embarrassing questions, and in my retort I always try to ask myself: What Would Dolly Do?

Beth Behrs is an actress (The Neighborhood, Two Broke Girls) and host of the BGS podcast, Harmonics. Check out season 1 of Harmonics and follow Beth on Instagram at @bethbehrs for updates on season 2.

2020: The Year of Dolly Parton

Posted on by Editor

Dolly Parton kept her promise to bring good into the world in 2020 and beyond. For so many reasons, this is absolutely the Year of Dolly Parton.

Marking her 50th anniversary as an Opry member in October 2019, she told reporters, “This world is just so dark, ugly and awful. I just can’t believe how we just can’t have a little more light and a little more love. So, I’m going to make it my business to try to do songs that are more uplifting — not just all Christian-based songs but songs that are just about better things. Do better and just have a little more love, a little more light and just don’t be so dark and dirty!”

Gosh, where to begin? How about…

 

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A post shared by Dolly Parton (@dollyparton)

Although it seems like a million years ago now, Dolly launched a viral craze on January 21 with a meme that went around the world. Gotta love the acoustic guitar for Instagram!

Also in January, she notched a Top 10 track on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart with “Faith,” which basically transformed the John Hiatt classic into an international EDM hit. Co-starring in the video with her musical collaborators, Galantis, Parton camps things up as the world’s best-dressed bus driver.

Later in the month, Parton collected her ninth career Grammy Award, this time in the category of Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song, sharing the honor with For King and Country with “God Only Knows.” Although Parton wasn’t in attendance, the duo’s Joel Smallbone remarked from the podium, “To dear Dolly Parton, who is an incredible human being. It’s one of the great moments of our career to collaborate with her and her team.”

He continued, “I taught two of her managers in Sunday school growing up, so they were kind enough to reach out and play her the song. But she said something on a call. She said, ‘I love this song because it’s reaching to the marginalized, to the depressed, to the suicidal,’ which is all of us at some point. And then she said this, in her Dolly accent: ‘I’m going to take this song from Dollywood to Bollywood to Hollywood.’ And we did it, Dolly, we took it all the way.”

 

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A post shared by Dolly Parton (@dollyparton)

A few months into the pandemic, Parton told Instagram followers, “I think God is in this, I really do. I think he’s trying to hold us up to the light so we can see ourselves and see each other through the eyes of love. I think that when this passes, we’re all gonna be better people.”

She also revealed on social media that she’d donated a million dollars to Vanderbilt University help find a cure for the coronavirus. She wrote, “My longtime friend Dr. Naji Abumrad, who’s been involved in research at Vanderbilt for many years, informed me that they were making some exciting advancements towards research of the coronavirus for a cure. I am making a donation of $1 million to Vanderbilt towards that research and to encourage people that can afford it to make donations.”

Incredibly, when news of the Moderna vaccine emerged in November, Parton’s contribution was duly noted. “Without a doubt in my mind, her funding made the research toward the vaccine go 10 times faster than it would be without it,” Abumrad told the Washington Post.

In April, she kicked off a series of bedtime stories, told online, in order to bring comfort to children who were scared about sheltering in place. “This is something I have been wanting to do for quite a while, but the timing never felt quite right,” she said. “I think it is pretty clear that now is the time to share a story and to share some love. It is an honor for me to share the incredible talent of these authors and illustrators. They make us smile, they make us laugh and they make us think.” Two of the chosen books she wrote herself: Coat of Many Colors and I Am a Rainbow.

In addition, a new line of uplifting greeting cards inspired by Parton appeared in Walmart stores over the summer. Meanwhile, musically, she responded to the pandemic with a beacon of optimism, titled “When Life Is Good Again.” She shared the song in tandem with an interview (while sitting on her porch in her first-ever Zoom call) with the series Time100 Talks: Finding Hope.

Bluegrass fans rejoiced in August as she made a surprise announcement that six of her albums from the early 2000s were finally available on streaming services, so how about adding title tracks of Little Sparrow and Halos & Horns to your Dolly playlists? Overall, 93 once-missing tracks are now available to stream.

Although she’s rarely controversial, Parton’s commentary about Black Lives Matter caused a commotion among its supporters and detractors — and even inspired a mural in East Nashville. She told Billboard in August, “I think that everybody needs to express themselves however they feel they have to. I’m not out here to tell you what to do. I don’t want you to tell me what to do. But I just do what my heart tells me to do, I ask God to direct me and lead me, and if I’ve got his direction, I don’t have to worry too much about anything else. But I do understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen. And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No! Everybody matters.”

In November, she commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Imagination Library – an incredible program she launched in 1995 in order to provide free books every month to preschool children — with a new documentary titled The Library That Dolly Built. Parton stated, “I am so excited that we can finally tell the whole story of the Imagination Library. It is certainly not just about me. Our story is the story of children, of families and communities who all share the dream to inspire kids to love to read and to love to learn. My hope is this documentary will encourage more towns, more states and even more countries to jump onboard. One thing is for sure, I think this is the best investment I have ever made.”

Those who have been fans of Dolly Parton for their whole lives were treated to two magnificent overviews in 2020. The first is a Time Life box set of her career on camera, available in two different configurations. One option for Dolly: The Ultimate Collection clocks in at 11 DVDs, and the other at 19 DVDs. Some of the most interesting footage comes from her variety shows, such as this clip of the superstar singing “Amazing Grace” with Glen Campbell (who, for some reason, has brought along his bagpipes).

The other retrospective is Songteller, a book of lyrics that doubles as a memoir. Compiled by Parton and noted journalist Robert K. Oermann, it portrays Parton as a composer whose catalog goes way deeper (and darker) than “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” and “I Will Always Love You.” Dorian Lynskey, a contributor to the L.A. Times, wrote, “Her shows are carnivals of good-natured inclusivity that unite everyone from LGBTQ millennials to MAGA-hat boomers under one roof. There is room for heartbreak but not deep cuts about suicide and arson. Still, she would not have included so many of these dramas of cruelty and suffering in Songteller if she did not believe that this harsher strain in her life and work was worth remembering. Her optimism stands on the shoulders of pain.”

And if all that isn’t enough, she gifted us with a holiday album and a network special (both titled A Holly Dolly Christmas), a Netflix movie (Christmas on the Square), and even a baking kit at Williams-Sonoma. It may be the only time in history that she’s been affiliated with the words “cookie cutter.”

Right before Thanksgiving, the iconic musician logged her 50th Grammy nomination, this time for “There Was Jesus,” a collaboration with Zach Williams in the Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song category. A week later, former President Barack Obama lamented that he hadn’t given Parton the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Perhaps that will happen in 2021?

Not that she’s short on awards. She picked up the new Hitmaker award from Billboard in December, and told viewers, “Of course, I’m proud of all the wonderful women in show business that write all these wonderful songs. I’d like to acknowledge a few — some of them older, kind of back in my day. Cindy Walker, who wrote some of the greatest songs ever, and of course Loretta Lynn, a wonderful, wonderful songwriter. And this day in time, of course, Taylor Swift, she’s just right up there, probably number one. And of course, Brandi Carlile, there’s just so many that write so many good songs. I think it’s so important that we acknowledge the women that write and sing in country music. And I think it’s also very important that they take control of their own business. I know I’ve had my own publishing company for years. Same with a lot of these women that I mentioned. But anyhow, I’ve just wanted to always say, ‘You go, girls!’ We can do it!” (Like hundreds of others, the trophy will be housed in her museum in Dollywood.)

This year, and in all years, we commend Dolly Parton for her work ethic and for making herself available to her fans. Yes, she knows how to market herself through visibility and personality, but in 2020, when so many of us have stayed in, she’s gone the extra mile to put herself out there, safely.

On November 30, she wound up in New York Times‘ Style magazine in its “Diva” series, alongside Patti LaBelle and Barbra Streisand. One of the most accurate depictions of what it’s like to be around Dolly (and to always wish you had more time to spend together), the article’s author Emily Lordi quotes Dolly talking about her ambition: “I just wanted to do really good work, and I wanted it to make a really big difference in the world … to uplift mankind and glorify God.”

Photo courtesy of Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton Carries Childhood Memories Throughout Her Career

Posted on by Editor

Back through the years, I go wandering once again
Back to the seasons of my youth…

So begins “Coat of Many Colors,” which Dolly Parton frequently cites as the favorite song she’s written. That 1971 country classic is just one example of Parton’s ability to view the world through a child’s eye, whether she’s writing about her own life, placing a fictional young character in dramatic circumstances, or simply making a connection to a new generation of kids.

The newest example of this gift is Dumplin’ – a Netflix film where an overweight teenager finds solace in Dolly’s music. Leading up to the movie’s release, Parton released a duet version of “Here I Am” with Sia – an ironic choice, as the pop star is famous for singing with her back to the audience. But that anthem of self-declaration sets the tone for the Dumplin’ soundtrack, underscoring one of the reasons that a teenage girl would love Parton’s music in the first place. The heartfelt film is based on a young adult novel by Julie Murphy.

Seeing an early cut of Dumplin’ inspired Parton to write “Girl in the Movies,” a thoughtful song that finds her identifying with that very character — the “girl in the movies.” Parton told NPR that she wrote it for every little boy and girl. The song carries a strong message, she says: “Don’t just live in a fantasy of watching someone else live their lives. You star in your own role. You be the star of your own life.”

Parton has embodied that perspective for 60 years. In fact, 2019 is the 60th anniversary of the first time she released a song she wrote – in this case, “Puppy Love,” composed with her uncle Bill Owens. Parton was 11 years old when she wrote it, 12 when she recorded it, and 13 when it was released as a single on the tiny Goldband Records. She sang locally around Knoxville, Tennessee, and moved to Nashville on the day after she graduated from high school in 1964. Two years later and still chasing her dreams, she married Carl Dean, a lasting union that nonetheless yielded no children of their own.

Yet time and time again she incorporated a child into the storyline of her music. For example, in “Mommie, Ain’t That Daddy,” Parton sings from the perspective of a woman whose kids happen to see their father begging for money. In “Jeannie’s Afraid of the Dark,” Parton describes Jeannie as a child who feared burial; her duet partner Porter Wagoner then reveals that Jeannie dies. “Malena” is another doomed child who dies on the night of her birthday, finally receiving the set of wings she’d asked for.

By 1970, Parton had carved out a solo career in addition to her role on Porter Wagoner’s TV show. Her first No. 1 hit, “Joshua,” tells the story of an orphaned girl who hears about a mysterious man living a good ways down the railroad track. Curious, she seeks him out – and then promptly moves in with him. (“Why, you’re just what I’ve been lookin’ for!” she exclaims.) The poetic “Coat of Many Colors” arrived a year later, serving as a morality tale that still resonates decades later.

Parton employed that same autobiographical approach for “In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad),” a gem from My Tennessee Mountain Home. Reflecting on her childhood years, she sings, “No amount of money could buy from me the memories I have of them / No amount of money could pay me to go back and live through it again.” (Merle Haggard identified with the lyrics so much that he recorded a version, too.) Another of the compositions on that album is simply titled “I Remember” and finds her blissfully recalling those seasons of her youth. Of course, as she matured, so did her songwriting, most notably on poignant compositions like “I Will Always Love You,” “Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” and of course, “Jolene.”

Still, if you dig into her albums from this era, you’ll find songs like “Me and Little Andy,” about a poor girl and her dog who wind up on Dolly’s doorstep. She agrees to let them spend the night; by morning, the girl and the dog are both dead. Another one, “Mammie,” is about a midwife who raises a child after the mother dies at birth and then teaches the child to sing and play guitar — but Mammie herself doesn’t live to the end of song. “Silver Sandals” recounts the story of a disabled young girl who couldn’t walk; when she inevitably dies, Dolly and Porter imagine her happily walking up the golden stairs of Heaven.

On a brighter note, Dolly reminisces about a banjo picker she knew as a kid named “Applejack.” Almost like a precursor to Dumplin’, Parton composed “Shattered Image” about sitting on a bridge as a girl and throwing rocks into her reflection in the water. She compares the experience to the way people were shattering her public image as an adult. A 1979 album cut, “Nickels and Dimes,” is a co-write with her brother Floyd Parton, who died in December. While writing it, Dolly thought about how she’d open up her guitar case in downtown Knoxville as a young girl and busk in order to get enough quarters to buy hamburgers. By the time the song ends, she’s a star, but here’s how it begins:

“I used to stand on the corner and sing as a child
And I’d play my guitar and sing as the people went by
The sidewalks were crowded but I’d just sing louder ‘cause I didn’t mind
Spending my time, spinning my rhymes, and singing for nickels and dimes.”

Even beyond her musical output, Parton has kept a strong bond between herself and a younger generation. In 1986, she invested in a theme park in East Tennessee and rebranded it as Dollywood – a gift that keeps on giving, with new attractions added nearly every year. And it’s not all roller coasters. Parton’s mother sewed a replica of the fabled coat of many colors to display in the museum dedicated to Dolly’s life and career.

Nearly a decade later, Parton instituted the Imagination Library, where pre-school children receive a monthly book at no charge. To these lucky kids, Parton is known as “The Book Lady.” Meanwhile, “Coat of Many Colors” has been successfully transformed into a children’s book and an award-winning TV movie, in addition to being recorded by the likes of Eva Cassidy, Emmylou Harris, Joey & Rory, and Alison Krauss & Shania Twain.

When Parton was 70 years old, she secured a No. 1 country album with 2016’s Pure & Simple. One of the most charming songs on it is titled “I’m Sixteen,” where she sings, “It goes to show you’re never old / Unless you choose to be / And I will be sixteen forever / Just as long as you love me.” A year later she released her first-ever children’s album, I Believe in You.

As 2019 begins, Parton is in the spotlight again. On January 6, “Girl in the Movies” will compete for a Golden Globe award in the category of  Best Original Song in a Motion Picture. A month later, she will be recognized as the MusiCares Person of the Year at an all-star concert event, just a day before the Grammy awards. Along with celebrating her magnificent musical achievements, the presentation also acknowledges the fact that the Imagination Library has given out 100 million books since its inception. Parton is the first member of the Nashville music community to be honored at the annual MusiCares gala.

Way down in the fall, Parton will return to the Grand Ole Opry, celebrating the 50th anniversary of her induction in October. But her history to the Opry stretches about a decade before that. When she was 13, Parton and her uncle Bill Owens had lingered outside the Ryman to meet Johnny Cash. When he emerged, a starstruck Parton begged Cash to let her sing on stage – but it would take a while for this dream to be realized. In time, Opry star Jimmy C. Newman gave up his slot for her, although Cash handled the introduction that night. According to Parton’s autobiography, Cash told the audience, “We’ve got a little girl from up here in East Tennessee. Her daddy’s listening to the radio at home, and she’s gonna be in real trouble if she doesn’t sing tonight, so let’s bring her out here!”

Parton wrote about this career milestone in her book: “I know I had never heard a crowd cheer and shout and clap that way. And they were doing it all for me. I got three encores. This time I was prepared for an encore, but not three, not at the Grand Ole Opry. Someone told me later, ‘You looked like you were out there saying, “Here I am, this is me.”’ I was. Not just to that audience but to the whole world.”

Illustration: Zachary Johnson

A BGS Roots Road Trip

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Nothing says Summer like a road trip, and nothing says road trip like awesome — and sometimes awesomely weird — roadside attractions. There's no shortage of amazing destinations for roots music fans in the good ole US of A, so we've put together a handful of our favorite roots-related roadside romps. Whether you're deep in the South or soaking up the sun in Southern California, there's something here for you. 

And hey, any good road trip needs a great soundtrack, so check out our road-worthy Spotify playlist, too.

Loretta Lynn's Hurricane Mills

Photo credit: countryboy1949 via DesignHunt / CC BY-SA

Why have one museum when you can have six? That's what Loretta Lynn was thinking when she opened Hurricane Mills, her ranch in the Tennessee town of the same name that features plenty of Loretta history, sure, but also houses a doll museum and rentable log cabins.

Dollywood

Photo credit: Valerie Everett via DIYlovin / CC BY-SA

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, (and neighboring Gatlinburg) is a strange place. It's perhaps the only town on earth where one can bungee jump and visit a replica of the Titanic on the same stretch of road. More importantly, though, it's home to Dollywood — your definitive source for Southern food, surprisingly scary roller coasters, and, of course, all things Dolly Parton.

Bill Monroe Music Park and Campground

Photo courtesy of BillMonroeMusicPark.com

The legacy of Bill Monroe, an array beautiful campsites, and live events galore? Those are some darn good reasons to head to Brown Country, Indiana, for some outdoor R&R.

International Bluegrass Music Museum

Rendering courtesy of International Bluegrass Music Museum

There's no better place to learn about the history of bluegrass that the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky. And what luck for you, bluegrass fans out there, as the Museum recently broke ground on an extensive expansion.

Buck Owens' Crystal Palace

Photo credit: Panegyrics of Granovetter via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

We can't vouch for the food at this Bakersfield joint, but the on-site "museum" hosts a number of cool bronze statues of country luminaries that are sure to give your Instagram some real, down-home cred.

50 National Landmarks

If you want to throw in some stops at non-music monuments and hit all of the lower 48 States, Michigan State University doctoral student Randy Olson compiled a fantastic map of national landmarks like Yellowstone, the French Quarter, Pikes Peak, Graceland, Mount Vernon, and more.

Lede photo credit: auspices via Foter.com / CC BY