CELEBRITY INTERVIEW
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50 PLUS MAGAZINE
FROM RAGS TO RHINESTONES DOLLY Parton’s life is a rags to rhinestones story worthy of any feelgood film and with plenty of traumas and triumphs along the way. But, the singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, actress, businesswoman, author and philanthropist with the down-to-earth approach would probably categorise her own life dismissively with something like “honey, you get out of life what you put in.” Dolly was born on January 19, 1946, the fourth of 12 children. Most of her cherished memories are around the oneroom cabin in Locust Ridge nestling in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee where the Partons lived. Life must have been hard there with her daddy running his own small tobacco farm. But young Dolly learned a lot about music from her mother, whose family had originally come from Wales to Southern Appalachia a century earlier and still sang the old songs.
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They were a churchgoing family and the life and surroundings later figured in the songs that Dolly wrote including My Tennessee Mountain Home. The status she always described as “dirt poor” was revealed in Coat of Many Colors and In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad.)
for performers like Skeeter Davis and Hank Williams Jr.
Dolly began performing as a child, singing on local radio and TV programmes and by 13 was recording the single Puppy Love and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry – a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville. There, she first met Jonny Cash who encouraged her musical career.
Fortunately, the record company eventually recognised Dolly’s country music potential. Her first country single Dumb Blonde reached No.24 on the country chart followed by Something Fishy which made No.17. Both songs appeared on her first full-length album Hello, I’m Dolly.
After she graduated from Sevier County High School, Dolly moved to Nashville and her first success was as a songwriter. Her songwriting partnership with her uncle, Bill Owens, resulted in several chart hits
But it was when musician and country music entertainer Porter Wagoner invited her to have a regular spot on his weekly syndicated TV programme that Dolly really broke through.
Dolly signed a record deal at the age of 19 and was categorised then as a singer of bubblegum pop. Her single Happy, Happy Birthday Baby charted during this time.
