Dolly Parton has died
Comments
mikestew
jihadjihad
Her vocals were exceptional, too. One of my favorite videos I've randomly come across on YouTube is "Jolene" slowed down to 33 RPM [0]. The comments are hilarious as well, but the clarity of her vocals and the vibrato that carries through to a slower tempo is really something special to hear.
PaulHoule
She's one of those crossover performers, such as Kenny Rogers and Taylor Swift who escape Country music as a genre and get mass appeal. Whenever I comment about a Dolly Parton song playing in a public place I hear things like "She's a national treasure!"
kevin_thibedeau
Rogers crossed over into country.
mikestew
My ex-wife was a big Kenny "The Country Version" Rogers fan. I chuckle to myself every time I watch The Big Lebowski and hear Rogers singing his psychedelic "Just Checked In" and wonder what the ex would think of his origins.
jimmySixDOF
Her cover of Stairway to Heaven is definitely crossover at its best
tomcam
Oh. You weren't kidding! It's good. They avoid all the traps, like not trying to outdo Jimmy Page's guitar solo.
pseudosavant
Definitely my favorite version of that song!
stasomatic
It's nice but the original hits more raw to me. Perhaps because I heard it first ages ago. There was a kerfuffle about the song's provenance a few year ago.
I am a fan of covers, like Johny Cash's NIN "Hurt" or Marylin Manson's Depeche "Personal Jesus". If anyone has faves regardless of the genre, please share.
jihadjihad
The Band’s cover of Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” is superb, particularly the addition of the accordion.
A band called Lake Street Dive has a phenomenal cover of Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl”.
Scary Pockets is a group with rotating artists (formed by Patreon’s founder/CEO), their covers of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” are two I return to frequently.
bluesounddirect
Then you will love "The chipmunks at 16 speed"
alyandon
For a second I misread that as "The chipmunks at 16X speed" and was seriously confused.
bluesounddirect
I know what you mean, 16rpm makes more sense .
chimbles
Sometime she changed the RPMs herself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJEpoLeISCo
sollewitt
The guitar is also immaculate slowed down and that was her too. I always thought it was some hotshot Nashville session musician. One of the best guitar licks of all time.
Joeboy
She was certainly a fine guitarist, but Wikipedia says you were right first time, it was a session player called Chip Young.
jihadjihad
Dolly wrote the lick herself, and when she was in the studio with the session players, they wanted her to show them how to play it [0].
She ended up having Chip Young lay it down on the record since her long fingernails made it difficult to nail consistently. This is also why if you watch videos of her playing guitar she plays in open tunings [1].
0: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/31/dolly-parton-r...
1: https://www.guitarworld.com/features/how-does-dolly-parton-p...
jerf
I still carry the rather 20th century idea that a performer of almost any kind also ought to have some sort of other talent in addition to their main one. The versatility of that sort of thing is one of the things that should separate a pro from the rest. I generally count "professional level musician" on more than one instrument as fulfilling that contract... perhaps one of the easier of the options, but it still carries that versatility advantage. Another example that I'm quite fond of is famous comedian Steve Martin performing Dueling Banjos with Kermit the Frog. The combo of two professional entertainers playing off of each other combined with the music skills creates the opportunity for a creative routine.
fragmede
Brian Cox's other talent, in addition to being a Rock Legend, is being an accomplished physicist.
jihadjihad
Brian May, too.
shevy-java
Agreed. The climbing voice in Jolene was my favourite of her vocal range. She was a pretty good singer too; not as good as e. g. Ariana Grande in her own prime (before chasing bulimia) but quite good nonetheless.
ranger_danger
Her first record deal almost didn't happen because she was told she couldn't sing... apparently the producer didn't like her voice for whatever reason.
slim
first time I hear that song and to my ear, the song was recorded at that speed, then sped up in production.
markdown
Made famous by the show The Blacklist
4d4m
She was a loving wife to her husband and a great entrepreneur in addition to being a prolific artist. It's hard to find someone so well rounded at so many things before even adding that most of the jobs she created were/are considered positive contributions to society, evenly spread between entertainment, hospitality, foodservice, and adjacent industries. I think I heard she was directly responsible for about 20k total jobs which is INSANE.
What a positive legacy to leave - good example for others.
interludead
Building businesses that supported entire local economies is a different kind of legacy
jibal
Plus sending 318 million books to children.
johnnyanmac
I wouldn't ever say I was a fan per se. But she was always the go-to example of "this is what billionaires should be doing with their money". So I respected the hell out of her.
Of course, she also proves the very point of there being no ethical billionaire, being "only" worth some 450 million instead. Likely because she gave so much of her wealth back to her communities instead. RIP Dolly, indeed.
4d4m
Completely agree johnnuanmac. Seems like a role model for being a good person while maintaining extreme goals and working toward the impossible.
tombert
Same.
I don't really like country music, but Dolly always seemed somewhat down-to-earth and pretty decent.
EugeneOZ
Also not a fan of country/folk, but today I learned about her special albums trilogy: The Grass Is Blue, Little Sparrow, and Halos & Horns. Quite different music!
Some songs I added to my playlist :)
interludead
She transcended the genre entirely
CGMthrowaway
Thankfully we have Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, the White Stripes, etc for you
Aboutplants
“Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has gifted over 318 million free books to children worldwide since its inception”
Amazing contributions to many aspects of life
behat
Daughter loves getting these in the mail, and this paragraph is absolutely right!
>> That year, Parton explained that as well as improving child literacy, “it’s the fact they get recognised. They get this little book with their little name on it in the mail, and they feel special. They start taking pride in themselves, and they know that somebody out there is thinking of [them].”
nkoren
I'm in a borough of London, and did a bit of a double-take when they told me that Dolly Parton would be sending my daughter a book every month. But indeed she did, and it had exactly that effect, and now she's an absolutely avid reader.
Thank you, Dolly. That meant a lot to us, and millions upon millions of other people too.
larodi
Perhaps then, rather than flying flags at half-mast, it'd be better to send that-many books to children around the world. Sadly it seems people calling the shots, the strong of the day, are more interested in delivering threats and ultimatums, rather than what shiny Dolly did.
What an apparent demonstration that not everyone is gifted the same amount of generosity.
dd8601fn
You can donate to her charity.
Probably better than whichever flavor of ideological bullshit our politicians would send, anyway.
KaiserPro
Very much this.
My kid's nursery gave out books from Dolly. It was a little ceremony, my kid loved it. We still have them.
But I was really surprised, I thought it was joke, why would Dolly care about my Kid's reading? but she really did. She really did care about a bunch of kids in inner city london.
Obviously I am not blessed with millions, but Dolly does lead by example. I need to do better.
michaelsbradley
My son loves them too!
haney
As a kid growing up in Tennessee I was the beneficiary of several of her reading programs. They really helped to foster a sense of curiosity and wonder that live with me to this day. Dolly was a real one, she'll definitely be missed.
someothherguyy
How much do you remember these books your family was gifted before you were five years old? I thought it was more of a program to increase literacy. Personally, I remember books from when I was pre-kindergarten, but I don't typically think of them as "fostering a sense of curiosity and wonder", though, ultimately, I guess they did.
I just think it is an interesting topic in the framing of content policing and what not, it would be interesting to know what you took from the program.
haney
She also had a program that gave a free book to elementary school kids every year (as a part of the local book fair). The first technical book I ever owned was a very basic intro to html that I received as a part of that program.
kstrauser
Reading this made me choke up. That’s beautiful.
duck
Yeah, it is such an amazing program that was just executed in the right way. She didn't see it hit the billion books like she wanted to in her lifetime, but I'm sure they will get there. I would love to know other examples of philanthropy like that are similar in impact?
[1] https://imaginationlibrary.com/ [2] https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/03/01/589912466/dolly-p...
gip
My toddler gets a book a month in the mail from Dolly's Imagination Library and we keep reading some almost every day. She's made an impact in so many families <3
victor9000
Accomplishments like these are standards we should use for when to build someone a statue
someothherguyy
Interesting program, seems mostly positive, some dissent
https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/mw22vh301
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02702711.2019.16...
https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/rrq.7010...
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Judith-Butler/publicati...
kstrauser
I think any dissent has to be from the kind of person who just has to find something wrong with everything. I cannot imagine a legitimate criticism of her program to give free books to every kid.
sizzle
Has anyone successfully rallied their county to get this program enacted? Seems a lot of Cali zip codes are not available…
notyourwork
I agree but I came across Dolly Parton syrup in the grocery store once. Had to say for all the good, that felt a bit odd, strange and out of place with Dolly’s character.
syntheticnature
Huh, looks she has an entire food line. Wonder if this is planned to be an income stream for some of her charities, similar to Newman's Own.
mattsolle
If anyone hasn't listened to "Dolly Parton's America" (https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america), I highly recommend it.
Does a great job interviewing Dolly and discussing with her (and those two are around her) who she is, her life events, her thoughts on life. I knew people loved Dolly Parton before I listened but didn't really know why and the podcast helped me understand a bit more of it. It features a LOT of one-on-one time with Dolly in a way that I don't often find docu-series do. It's fantastic!
Tangurena2
My favorite Dolly story that she sometimes tells in talk shows was when she heard about a Dolly Parton Look Alike contest and entered it. She came in second place.
jimt1234
One minor fact about Dolly I've always found fascinating is that she was married to the same dude for almost 60 years, until he passed away recently. I mean, being as famous as she was as an entertainer - that just seems like an extreme anomaly.
pibaker
Do we have actual data on whether or not celebrities have more volatile relationships?
My gut feeling says they may very well be. But I feel it could also just be the media being bloodthirsty towards celebrity drama skewing our perception of it.
selcuka
> Do we have actual data on whether or not celebrities have more volatile relationships?
Yes, they are legitimately more volatile [1]
> I find that the overall divorce rate for celebrities during their first 16 years of marriage is 52%, compared to 31% for the UK population as a whole.
>Celebrity first marriages fare worse than subsequent marriages with 57% versus 47% ending in divorce within 16 years, compared to 35% and 28% respectively for UK
[1] https://marriagefoundation.org.uk/research/celebrity-divorce...
13hours
I guess the fact that I'm not mildy surprised that people can be married for 60 years says something about how different our cultures are? Even though we're on HN discussing so many other things we have in common.
asveikau
I think money, fame, celebrity status, etc. often creates pressures on the relationship.
Kind of like how it sometimes pushes people into drug addictions. That's a stereotype that we've all heard about since kids, but it wasn't until relatively recently that I thought about it seriously that it occurred to me that a touring celebrity musician's life can be stressful and the drugs can be (or start out as) a pressure valve release. I think that part of it clicked to me when I heard a musician being interviewed about it, I forget which. Maybe it was a Beatle talking about their early amphetamine days.
alexpotato
> but it wasn't until relatively recently that I thought about it seriously that it occurred to me that a touring celebrity musician's life can be stressful and the drugs can be (or start out as) a pressure valve release
The 2017 documentary about Avicii [0] does a great job of showing this specific case. He was an introvert so he started drinking to be more comfortable on stage. As he got more famous, the pressure to create more hit records grew and grew. David Guetta explains it better than I could and he's world famous in his own right.
Highly recommend watching it and consider it MUCH better than the 2024 documentary.
jimt1234
I had a friend in the mid-90s that was in a mildly successful band. They did a few national tours as opener for bands like The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I met up with him once while he was out on tour. I was thinking he was living his best life, like he was gonna brag about the lifestyle. Just the opposite. He hated touring, said it was very stressful, and that he just wanted to eat a home-cooked meal and sleep in the same bed more than two nights in a row. And yes, he said industry folks were constantly pushing free drugs.
duderific
Re the drug addictions - another thing to note about touring musicians is that there's a lot of downtime. New cities every day, not much to do until your show in the evening. Pretty easy to slip into unhealthy habits.
artisinal
I tend to visit the local museums, drink coffee at a cute coffee place and hit up the town square instead of doing hardcore drugs.
duderific
Yeah clearly there are alternatives, and plenty of musicians are able to find them. If you're already an addict though, there's not much stopping you from continuing that lifestyle, other than the ability to secure the next fix.
johnnyanmac
It's not unheard of. But I guess it's a mix of several small factors:
1. divorce rates have been rising for decades.
2. 60 years is a very long time, and that means Dolly would have had to marry around 18-20. Marrying that young these days for my generation very much is an anomaly, and people are putting off marriage more and more these days.
3. Celebrity culture in particular has a much more tumultuous relationship. In a number of cases, marriage may simply be another influential tool to manage fame and wealth rather than an act of love and caring.
Erem
Divorce is rampant among celebrities in the USA. Maybe not worldwide?
kranke155
Paul Newman I think. Same thing. He was also married to the same person for decades.
tclancy
Yeah and just like Dolly, someone we need more of.
globular-toast
George Benson is probably a better example. Like another commenter points out, though, it might just be bias due to the media reporting more on drama than celebrity wedding anniversaries. But, I must admit, I do often look up biographies of entertainers I like and it is quite unusual for them to have a "normal" romantic life.
selcuka
Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwig married in 1988, and they are both celebrities.
wging
Her husband was Carl Dean.
kranke155
I meant to say Paul Newman was similarly married for decades to the same person.
mc32
De mortis nil nisi bonum, as they say.
mlrtime
[dead]
socalgal2
Except for the part where they try to inject their woke agenda into it by trying to suggest Jolene is a lesbian song. Nothing wrong with LGBTQIA+ but that part was super cringe as it was clear they were inserting their own adgenda rather than just interviewing Dolly Parton
danans
To me, apart from her amazing music and philanthropy, what Dolly Parton represents is something that was (emphasis on past tense) at one time truly exceptional about the United States - that someone from a very humble background (poverty in East TN) could have a tremendous impact on the culture of the world - the other example in entertainment being Michael Jackson (from Gary IN).
Admittedly the US music industry was among the few where this phenomenon happened, although definitionally very few reach pop stardom.
In contrast, much of the world exports only its "elite culture", not the culture of common people.
dan-robertson
Don’t you still see this with hip-hop to some extent?
I also think a lot of the difference is that a much smaller percentage of the population grows up as poor as she did. A person from a similar wealth/income percentile today mightn’t seem to have had such a difficult start.
Obviously lots of other things are different today – it’s easier than ever to access a wide variety of music but that’s not what people tend to do (iirc); there’s less money to be made selling music; there’s perhaps less interest in more ‘rural’ genres of music.
danans
> Don’t you still see this with hip-hop to some extent?
To some extent yes, but I suspect that is declining also as the genre becomes corporatized.
shermantanktop
becomes? i think that happened like 15 years ago...
danans
Sure, I was being charitable
golemiprague
[dead]
whimsicalism
Your contention is what, that now this is no longer possible or less likely?
danans
Less likely, for many reasons - including the more crowded marketplace for talent, but also a culture that is more corporation generated over time.
whimsicalism
I disagree strongly, I think we are even better at identifying talent in the margins today and the leaps are potentially larger.
mbonnet
this is counterbalanced by somewhat talented products of nepotism getting in, like Stella Lefty
whimsicalism
i have no idea who that is but also i was talking about society writ large, not just music.
oersted
> more crowded marketplace for talent
That is “the people” isn’t it? It is the consequence of democratization and openness.
I am not sure if superstars were good representatives of what most people wanted. Often, I am sorry to say, it was the lowest common denominator. Now common people can actually enter the arena and represent their corner of the population.
But, almost by definition, if you are part of “the people”, you don’t get to stand out much.
VLM
See also Britney Spears, who's mom ran a small daycare. Taylor Swift's an in between story, middle class financial services parents, hard to say if they were paycheck to paycheck or not...
Its not necessarily the best thing that big companies have a business model of taking advantage of poor, or relatively poorer, people, particularly attractive young women. See our global Epstein class and global Weinstein class.
b8
Taylor Swift's parents spent 1 Mil+ on her career. I wouldn't call that middle class.
hackernud3s
I might give it to them still if they were fully leveraged.
uncivilized
Calling Swift middle class and that they were possibly paycheck to paycheck is laughable.
Her father had a huge role to play in her success with his business deals and would largely be considered upper middle class if not higher. If anything, Taylor’s story reinforces the idea that families with wealth offer easier paths in life for their children.
wyclif
I'm from Pennsylvania and a proverbial stone's throw from where Taylor Swift is also from. Trust me when I tell you that there's nothing "middle class" about her. Her parents are wealthy and this gave her a big boost into the entertainment industry, with lots of expensive coaching, music lessons, and trips to Nashville.
alexpotato
IIRC he worked for a large financial services company (Merrill Lynch?) and was able to transfer to the Nashville office so that Taylor could be closer to the music scene.
Upvoter33
No offense, but "the idea that families with wealth offer easier paths in life for their children" - like isn't this obviously the case?
The amazing thing about America is that there are paths for those not as wealthy, but of course they are harder, as much as we might not want them to be... no?
Ma8ee
> The amazing thing about America is that there are paths for those not as wealthy
The US is not special in that regard, and in fact not even particularly good at it.
mlrtime
The thread is about Taylor Swift, arguably the most successful music entertainer of all time. The parents with upper|middle class gave a boost, but you absolutely cannot buy this level of stardom and hasn't been replicated anywhere that I know of.
America is 100% the place to be rich or poor, if this really is your goal, from Dolly to Jackson or Swift.
Ma8ee
> hasn't been replicated anywhere that I know of.
Did you hear about this little band called the Beatles?
selcuka
> isn't this obviously the case?
It is, but people often act like it isn't and everybody has an equal chance. Therefore it is necessary to frequently restate the obvious.
mlrtime
"equal chance"
Nobody is claiming this or ever should. The claim is that there is real proof of "success" from dirt poor to middle|upper class with these music entertainer examples. Nothing ever will be equal chance, and that shouldn't really be the goal [depending on how it's defined and implemented].
danans
> Its not necessarily the best thing that big companies have a business model of taking advantage of poor, or relatively poorer, people, particularly attractive young women. See our global Epstein class and global Weinstein class.
I agree. But are those kinds of abuse a requirement of a system that raises the voices of poorer people, or is it that we have permitted them?
I don't know if Taylor Swift endured similar hardship in her rise, but if she didn't as other replies have suggested, she's an example of how the system should treat those who are less privileged than she was.
delichon
I put her in my pantheon with Johnny Cash. Turns out Cash introduced her on her Grand Ole Opry debut in 1959, when she was 13. She killed it. Parton said later she was best friends with Johnny and June.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcfyzJW-BA4
I don't think I've ever seen the interwebs talking about one thing as much as right now.
shadowgovt
When Michael Jackson died, reaction online was so sudden it made Google search backend stumble... They didn't have a solution to auto-hotspot-protect half the planet searching his name suddenly.
I'll be interested to see if the mitigations hold today.
dsiegel2275
As a performer, sure.
But Dolly was 1000x the songwriter that Johnny Cash was.
kstrauser
Let’s not get carried away. Dolly was brilliant, inarguably. But no one is 1000x the songwriter of Johnny Freaking Cash, who was also estimated to have written over 1,000 songs for himself and for others.
Let’s just agree that they’re both S-tier writers.
antonymoose
I’m no artist so I’m left to ask - how exactly is that metric determined?
stevoski
A fun YouTube video of Dolly Parton in an Irish pub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqdKrv1Vh-g
“Dolly Parton makes an impromptu appearance at Páidí Ó Sé’s pub in Dún Chaoin, Co. Kerry and takes to the stage to entertain the locals.
While on holiday in Kerry, singer Dolly Parton paid a visit to former Kerry footballer Páidí Ó Sé’s pub, where she performs her song ‘Coat of Many Colours’ accompanied by musicians Steve Cooney and Seamus Begley.
Dolly signs off at the end of her performance,
Thank you very much and welcome to Dinglewood
This episode of Cursaí was broadcast on 1 October 1990.”
mmmm2
Very cool video and respect to the guitar player for gracefully handling a once in a lifetime opportunity.
biorach
That's Steve Cooney. It was Dolly got the one in a lifetime opportunity.
nxobject
What a way to recognize her! I get the same feeling when she stormeed Glastonbury in 2014 - pure class. When you think about it, she had all of the virtues of a "national treasure" in the British sense.
cm2012
Amazing share! What a performer. What a life.
curuinor
I am from the wrong continent to be inculcated in country music from an early age, but I read books distributed from her program every week to the niece. So that's probably her more durable contribution to society, I think.
autoexec
Something tells me that the songs and films will outlast the books program, but hopefully it's making a difference in the lives of kids. There's no telling how far reaching that can end up being.
cheeze
On the flipside, how many individual lives have been changed by the books provided to families for free? Impossible to quantify but I'd argue extremely important.
gkoberger
Well, as long as the songs and films continue to make her estate money, I imagine she planned to continue sending out books.
em3rgent0rdr
> "wrong continent to be inculcated in country music"
A humorous response to whenever someone says "country music" is: "Which country?"
genericone
[flagged]
curuinor
You cannot separate that ideology (like any ideology) from the practitioners, and the biggest practitioner was unquestionably Sam Bankman-Fried. I'm not a fan.
buellerbueller
Ridiculous, because EA says the ends justify the means, whereas Ms. Parton demonstrated the importance of the ends and the means.
The public will not mourn any EA the way that Dolly is being mourned.
It is your silly assertion that is what is entirely fucked up about techbros and politics today.
jrflowers
Lmao “You like nice things happening. You must be a fan of my weird techbro scam cult, that invented doing nice things”
malfist
There's nothing techbros culture can't reinvint, claim as their own, and charge a subscription for it
onlypassingthru
The US's only secular saint. Her memorial service will need to be held in a football stadium to handle the number of people who want to pay their last respects.
kylemaxwell
At least, since Fred Rogers died.
jibcage
To be fair Fred Rogers was a minister, but I would agree that his message to kids was mostly secular.
onlypassingthru
Fred was a very respected man, but Dolly is also loved. The grief for many is real and most never even met her.
forestrywat
I think you underestimate the impact Mr. Rogers had on us.
hackernud3s
I feel like conservatives must have a problem with Fred. MAGA would have definitely cancelled his funding.
dd8601fn
They did. They said Rogers telling children that they’re special made them “entitled brats.”
And they’ve been trying for decades.
wilburx3
Also, he stood up for PBS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers%27s_1969_United_St...
VLM
Dollywood can hold more people than a football stadium. Probably will.
Its a nice theme park. She bought it because she thought it would be cool to have a really awesome theme park in TN. She was both correct and successful. It's pretty cool.
chasd00
yeah she's a treasure to pretty much everyone.
lightedman
"Her memorial service will need to be held in a football stadium to handle the number of people who want to pay their last respects"
Way bigger. Dolly was beloved by millions, if not billions of people worldwide.
You'd need an area the size of Tennessee itself for the memorial service.
mlrtime
What do you mean by secular saint? Genuinely confused by the statement.
jliptzin
I'd assume she means Dolly is worshipped like a saint, even though she is not a religious figure
welcome_dragon
No I'm guessing that she arranged for a small personal ceremony only - insisting on that would be in line with her character.
hermitcrab
Random fact, Dolly the cloned sheep was named after Dolly Parton:
"Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn't think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton's."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_(sheep)
In the end I think her generosity outshone her other famous attributes.
partyficial
The UK office's (Ricky Gervais) final words in the last episode:
"and some say she's just a big pair of tits"
triceratops
The past really is a foreign country.
krupan
When I was in elementary school Dolly Parton boob jokes made the rounds. I think we've all adjusted our view of her as a person since those days
sethammons
My 4th grade teacher in the early 90s, she called improper fractions "Dolly Parton Fractions," because they are bigger on top. Nearly 20 years later, my kid had the same teacher. The teacher was embarrassed to be reminded of the technique, haha.
triceratops
There are different standards expected of schoolboys compared to respected scientists announcing historic breakthroughs.
bigiain
Within her family friendly choice of language, she wasn't shy of making jokes about her own appearance:
“I make jokes about it, but it's the truth that I kind of patterned my look after the town tramp. I didn't know what she was, just this woman who was blond and piled her hair up, wore high heels and tight skirts, and, boy, she was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. Momma used to say, "Aw, she's just trash," and I thought, That's what I want to be when I grow up. Trash.”
and:
"It costs a lot of money to look this cheap"
dd8601fn
It was part of her fame, for decades, as she intended. She was not shy or ashamed about it.
Nowadays we may be extremely sensitive about that sort of thing (increasingly on behalf of others, unsolicited), but at the time it was not mean spirited or wildly offensive.
triceratops
> at the time it was not mean spirited or wildly offensive.
That's what "the past is a foreign country" is meant to communicate.
ksaj
In the 80's there was a relatively famous Canadian comedy duo that did a song called Dolly Parton's T*ts. Definitely there was an obsession with them. I still remember David Letterman joking with her about them, too.
charlieflowers
I still remember how hard I was struck by the scene in The Orville, where someone from another planet hears a Dolly Parton song playing and asks who it is. He goes on to say, "She speaks with the might of a hundred soldiers!"
She did. She is one of our species' great poets.
lemonberry
That was a really great cameo.
cbfrench
I grew up in East TN, and this feels like the death of Queen Elizabeth, Mother Teresa, and your favorite fun aunt all rolled up into one. Except no one had a bad word to say about Dolly. She was beloved around the world, but she was an institution back home.
esseph
I grew up in Kentucky, so Dolly still felt like a sweet distant aunt that nobody ever had a harsh word about. Went to Dollywood several times as a kid.
My hope is that people will try an emulate her charity and compassion.
elcritch
Was raised in middle TN myself. Dollywood was amazing rivaling Disney World/Land. It had parts you could go to watch blacksmiths, glass blowers, and others.
nxobject
> She was beloved around the world, but she was an institution back home.
And the rest of the world is envious!
steveBK123
She made money doing what she loved, and gave a huge amount of it away to help others. Can't ask for better than that, she will be missed.
dylan604
My mother was a die hard Dolly fan. We even visited Dollywood when I was a kid. One of her favorite movies was with Dolly and Sylvester Stallone called Rhinestone. She watched it repeatedly, and there are quotes from it that are taking up precious space in the ol' memory banks.
If you've never heard the 45 of Jolene played at 33, give it a listen.
cscharenberg
Rhinestone! I just watched for first time the other day. I had made my partner watch Rocky to see a different side of Stallone, and she is a huge Dolly Parton fan.
Rhinestone was hilarious and great to watch just because Stallone and Parton were having _so much fun_ together. No sense of sexual attraction, just having a damn great time having fun. Could not help but enjoy that, separate from it genuinely being a fun movie.
cjboco
What an amazing woman and person in general.
I wish other celebrities did as much as her. Her Imagination Library (https://imaginationlibrary.com) is just one example of her giving back to the community.
losvedir
RIP. We went to Dollywood last year and I highly recommend it! It was a fun, family-friendly park, and one of the things I was impressed by was how helpful and happy to be there all the workers were. Seemed like a bunch of friendly veterans who took our tickets and let us in.
baggachipz
And it's so clean! Makes The Magic Kingdom look like a toxic waste dump. Also has great rides. Can't recommend Dollywood enough.
4d4m
More focus on the ride theming makes it a standout park in the USA. Also no students being exploited as interns for work programs which is a nice change.
WorldMaker
The company Dolly helped build to run Dollywood (and Kennywood and other attractions) Herchend Entertainment bought Kentucky Kingdom out of a lengthy auction process (caused by Six Flags bankrupting the park). So far it has seemed a blessing for the park, watching it slowly transform to be more family-friendly and much better maintained than the last steward (Six Flags).
hooverlabs
talk about the economic impact Dolly has had in her home of East Tennessee around Sieverville, pigeon forge, Gatlinburg and surrounding towns among great Smokey Mountains Appalachia. She is a deified saint among these communities for her work helping people there.
nunez
Dolly Parton's Stampede is a good time as well. Don't read too much into it if you go lol
WorldMaker
It used to be lot worse before the 2018 rebranding put Dolly Parton's name in place of a Lost Cause associated term. The old Dixie Stampede was Civil War themed and had plenty of Confederate flags and other things that were questionable in a restaurant/show asking people to pick North and South sides.
aquir
Even the metalheads adored her: https://www.reddit.com/r/MetalForTheMasses/comments/1vyofwx/...
As Clarac94 said: "Her philosophy and way of being was metal af, look up her book schemes and charity work and how she stuck up for people like the gay community. She was unapologetically herself, always even when criticised or mocked. RIP Dolly!"
blueshoe
The more & More I learned about her over the years, It felt like she just never seamed to give into the system and always found a way to keep give back to the world that corrupts so many.
chistev
We used to play Coat of Many Colors a lot in my house when I was a kid.
My coat of many colors
That my mama made for me
Made only from rags
But I wore it so proudly
Although we had no money
Well, I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My mama made for me
mkhpalm
Sierra Ferrell does a pretty good rendition of that. Its actually nice to know that Dolly got to hear/see/meet Sierra.. One of a few who might be able to haul a chunk of Dolly's influence forward.
zabzonk
> Sierra Ferrell does a pretty good rendition of that.
Emmylou Harris does a great one also.
z3ugma
Brandi Carlile and I'm With Her just covered this at their stadium concert in Madison, WI last night. Eerie.
jawilson2
TBF, there are probably 100s of Dolly covers being done nightly. I just played Do I Ever Cross Your Mind a few nights ago with my bar band.
samizdis
It's heartening to see tributes and obits in publications worldwide. All respectful, and genuinely bereft. One obit, though, stood out to me from the dozen or so I've read so far. It's this one [0] in the FT, which I think deserves a wider audience [1].
[0] https://www.ft.com/content/c57569fb-c1ee-476a-aa31-d402e2f3b...
plandis
Outside of her impact on the music industry she also had an outsized impact on families with young children.
She started a charity called Imagination Library [1] that sends free monthly books to children under six in the US, Canada and even expanded to the UK, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland. I will always be grateful for this.
ahartmetz
Feynman was apparently a fan, too. His name for quarks was "partons". She just played the dumb showbiz blonde, or as she said "it takes a lot of money to look this cheap". Others in this discussion have more to say about this, but - she was obviously a super nice and thoughtful person.
Here's my favorite track of hers, Todd Terje mix of "Jolene": https://youtu.be/Xkl36pu8aLY
neom
Miley Cyrus is Dolly Parton's god daughter, Miley did a really phenomenal version of “Jolene” - probably my favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOwblaKmyVw - She also did a great version together with Dolly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RINEaGraHMc
slowin
9 to 5 is such a great song. Adding it as I don't see it linked here. Strong pro-worker message too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbxUSsFXYo4
1-more
The movie is snare-drum-tight scriptwriting. Great flick.
peezd
the story of how she wrote this is fantastic.
d4mi3n
End of an era. She was a very active philanthropist and will be dearly missed for all the good she brought to the world.
CGMthrowaway
Shameless plug for the Dolly Parton Book Club, for which you can register your child (even not yet born) and they will send them a free age-appropriate book every month until they turn 5. https://imaginationlibrary.com/
triceratops
Dolly Parton's film production company Sandollar produced the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer_(film...
tcbawo
Dolly Parton was an incredibly savvy business person, talented songwriter and performer, and an outstanding human being. One in a billion.
I will always remember her appearance on the Late Show with Steven Colbert where she moved him to tears with an a cappella song: https://youtu.be/R91VssUiGiY
1970-01-01
JKCalhoun
I originally had no idea Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was a Dolly Parton cover.
computershit
Whitney's version gives you goosebumps; Dolly's original will make you cry.
ssttoo
And written the same day she wrote Jolene
m463
I was in awe of her books for kids program.
Simple, direct philanthropy that helps any/all kids:
sleet_spotter
If you are curious to know more about Dolly, I wholeheartedly recommend the podcast series “Dolly Parton’s America”. One of the best podcast series I’ve listened to and gave me so much respect for Dolly. The world is a little dimmer without her in it!
otter-in-a-suit
Very sad to hear. Rest in peace.
I was at Dollywood a few weeks ago. I highly recommend a visit if you ever get the chance. She has a fantastic legacy in more ways than one.
babymetal
The only thing I have in common with Dolly Parton is living in the USA and I grew up seeing her as a big sister and the best of what we can be. I wish I had 1% of the love she carried with her. This news is much more difficult than I would have expected. I guess that might be specific to 70s and 80s kids.
bariswheel
She was a kind soul and I could sense she was extremely battle hardened, the perfect combo. A true philanthropist. For those who may not know, she originally wrote and sang Whitney Houston's biggest single 'I will always love you'
a2tech
She wrote that song and Jolene on the same day. Basically cemented her legacy and future with one afternoons worth of work.
divbzero
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has been gifting free books to kids from birth to age 5 for over three decades: https://imaginationlibrary.com/
jimt1234
I remember in the early-80s, maybe 5th grade, being taught fractions, specifically the "Dolly Parton fraction", where the numerator is larger than the denominator. I've got a feeling they don't teach that anymore.
swozey
She was, I believe, the largest or one of the largest private donors to the moderna covid vaccine
Here is her families statement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9govup-IG3c
divbzero
It was a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt in April 2020 to support three COVID research projects, including one related to the Moderna vaccine:
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/0...
swozey
Thank you
dabinat
It’s interesting that she never got any flak for it from conspiracy theorists. I guess they realized she was so beloved she was untouchable.
chasd00
> I guess they realized she was so beloved she was untouchable
For real. If there is a heaven I’m sure the red carpet was rolled out for her.
kpmcc
If anyone wants to listen to an underrated Dolly track, my rec is Silver Dagger.
stego-tech
Dolly was one of the unequivocal good ones. Damn girl, RIP.
DiBop
One of THE best humans to have ever graced this planet. I've never heard a single negative thing about her. I wish I believed in heaven.
jjtheblunt
in some sense, the collection of innumerable entirely positive memories effect one aspect of heaven for her, i believe.
jolt42
In regard to heaven, you don't need to believe for her - she believed.
1PlayerOne
I'm going home, I'm going home...
Long As I Can See The Light: https://youtu.be/tMgyIUvz9ak?si=zZq0yHRHmGl7LsFB
Bluestein
You know how, sometimes, you downright think "that is impossible!", with certain people, when you hear of their death. And then, of course, you realize ...
This.-
InsideOutSanta
She always seemed so full of life, it's difficult to believe she's gone.
jMyles
Others have mentioned Sierra Ferrell - she seems to be the most obvious and vivid wildlife which is native to the ecosystem in which a huge gap left by this passing.
And Sierra is a very sharp and kind human being from what I can tell. We've had the good fortune to hang out a few times at IBMA and once in Tennessee. She has always been very fun and curious and easygoing with my son, and she radiates a continually inspired view of the future of the music "industry".
I don't know her super well, but she runs in my circles of friends who are interested in a radical rethinking (for many of us, an abolitionist view) of IP. I have no idea her views in particular, but it feels notable to see the kinds of folks coming up through that scene.
An occasional co-writer of hers, Melody Walker, also seems to be a thought-leader on questioning industry (and also societal) norms. I strongly suggest her content (and if you're not familiar, their beautiful co-written ballad, American Dreaming).
I don't recall if I've spoken to Sierra about IPFS - I think I actually have, when describing the release process for my second record - but it's an interesting synchrony to have Dolly leave us (and for many of us, to instinctually turn to Sierra for inspiration) and for IPFS lose its primary maintaining org in the same day.
It's obvious that the long-term future of traditional music is as the lifeblood of peer-to-peer topologies and communities.
Here's Sierra summoning the energy of Dolly last Sept:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeV6-hTLe6U
I'm sure she'll do a generationally-relevant tribute in the next week or two, as will Billy Strings.
(Reminder: Both Billy and Sierra have released their entire catalog DRM-free: https://pickipedia.xyz/wiki/DRM-free)
TapamN
Fun fact: Dolly, the cloned sheep, was named after Dolly Parton. The sheep was cloned from a mammary gland cell, so...
shevy-java
People suspected the health news in the last ~months before to be more serious than initially alleged to not be serious at all. Now they were confirmed.
Of all her songs I think Jolene is by far the most interesting. Several copied the song, such as Miley Cyrus, and while not bad, it seems to not quite capture the underlying idea of the song. I have a hard time Miley being as plausible in the "please don't steal my man just because you can" compared to Dolly. It's like a whole generation in between and the lyrics just don't really fit much at all to Miley, even if one reasons that it is the melody that is more important - but even then, Miley's voice seems to fit to other songs better than happy-go-lucky country songs.
uncivilized
This comment makes it seem like you really wanted to attack Miley rather than discuss Dolly’s health.
jeffrallen
Make time to listen to Dolly Parton's America podcast:
lenerdenator
I knew she had been sick recently but always assumed she'd bounce back.
We're worse off.
paulpauper
some people are really sick but it's not evident because they keep it concealed
lanstin
Also when you are 80 something can go from a bit of a cold to deadly dangerous real quick.
DiBop
Wow. I knew she was close but still. She has always held her in a special place in my heart as I am sure so many else do. I hope there is a national day of mourning. And parades. She would've like parades
mtweak
Her father couldn't read so she built a program that mails 3.5 million books to children every month.
That's an amazing contribution to literacy
arjie
In an odd coincidence, Jolene by Dolly Parton played on YouTube Music as I drove home with my daughter. When we got home, my wife told me Dolly Parton had died. I don't listen to much of her though I'm fond of this song, and we get the Imagination Library books. Seems like she was good person, and a great singer and songwriter.
djray
Her playing at Glastonbury here in the UK only seems like the other day, but I just checked and it's been _12 years_! She played her most popular songs and the audience treated her like the star she was. What an incredible, talented, kind-hearted woman. An inspiration to so many for all the best reasons.
Mwntalhwalth
My daughter loves Dolly from her books and I love reading to her. What a win win, RIP Dolly you are a class act.
dayyan
Amazing human who popularized the amazing Country Music. Listening to Country Music radio all day as respects.
quaddoggy
The woman wrote Jolene. If that doesn’t get you to heaven then nothing will.
odyssey7
Sad news - she was a treasure.
alsetmusic
I found this remix music video strangely hypnotic when I happened across it.
chasd00
My wife is at an eye appointment. I have no idea what to expect when she gets home. After Dolly's super bowl performance my wife (and her mother) were crying at just the thought of her passing away.
chews
She did so much for children's literacy, underserved children have benefited from her reading program. I support her book club because it makes humans smarter. The world really lost a great spirit.
Jaauthor
I will be crying 9-5 today.
kzrdude
I guess this is why English Wikipedia was down. It's back up now.
hermitcrab
Stars who were born into poverty sometimes struggle with being generous (Charlie Chaplin for example). But that certainly didn't seem to be an issue for Dolly. What a life.
zabzonk
Somehow "USS Dolly Parton" has a bit of a ring to it for the next US warship after the "USS Dorie Miller".
Cipater
Hang on, why on earth would you think Dolly Parton of all people would want a warship named after her?
Ned_Williams
Sad, but she was beloved and lived a great live. She was successful, but gave back a lot in her local community.
interludead
What a life. Dolly somehow managed to be enormously famous without ever seeming consumed by fame. RIP.
nunez
One of the most generous music artists to have lived. Dolly's legacy will greatly outlive her.
suoloordi
She was truly a gem. Beautiful inside and out. May she rest in peace.
spicymaki
We need more celebrities to step up like Dolly. You will be missed.
oliyoung
An icon, one of the best of us and a true one of one
Kye
Dolly Parton seemed nice on that episode of The Orville.
CalChris
I saw Dolly at Hardly Strictly in 2005. She was great.
GeekyBear
She was such an impressively kind person.
sikozu
Heartbreaking. Rest in peace Dolly.
rglover
RIP. One of the last real ones.
baba_vanga
RIP Dolly, she was a good one.
andsoitis
Dolly was a force.
NeoByte
[flagged]
Bud
[dead]
brcmthrowaway
[dead]
syngrog66
off-topic here
gigatexal
very, very sad. she was such a good person in this age of trump especially in the country music scene
kstrauser
Even if, say, hypothetically, that I agreed with you, we don't need to bring up that name in association with this perfect angel of a lady on this sad day.
Let's just say that she's a wonderful person and an excellent example and leave it at that.
jacquesm
It is a lot easier to appreciate the light when you're aware of the dark.
DonHopkins
[flagged]
swasheck
the unifying power of dolly actually forced him to transcend even that. apparently he had nothing but nice things to say about her (and nothing about himself) on truth.
DonHopkins
This isn't about himself, huh?
Trump: Dolly Parton ‘Really Liked Me’
President Donald Trump said Dolly Parton “really liked me” and “to lose her, it’s like to lose a member of the family.”
“I knew her a little bit, she wasn’t a very political person,” he said in an interview with Glenn Beck, a day after her death. “She really liked me, I will tell you,” he went on, while claiming that she never expressed it publicly because she didn’t want to lose some of her fanbase.
“She was of the opinion, the 50%, who needs to lose?” he said. “I don’t think it’s 50, I think it’s probably 20% of the fans, OK, not 50, but she was a great person, just a nice person. I liked her a lot.”
GaryBluto
Don't you see the irony in complaining about a hypothetical scenario in which Trump makes Dolly Parton's death about himself under a submission completely unrelated to Donald Trump?
kstrauser
Let's not even waste time thinking about that cretin when we have someone much better, and something sadder, to consider at the moment.
cramer4next
[flagged]
I’ve never been much of a country music fan, but I’ve always been a Dolly fan. Great songwriter, philanthropist, and seemed like a genuinely nice person. RIP, Dolly, you were one of the greats.