A few cathartic thoughts on Dolly Parton
Recently I heard about Dolly canceling a scheduled appearance at DollyWood for health reasons and I said to a friend, “I hope Dolly’s okay. She can’t die yet. She’s one of the last female icons of our generation. I need her to live forever. Or, at least a good while longer.”
So today I learned that Dolly has passed at the young age of 80 and friends, I am truly sorry. I jinxed it.
I didn’t write anything when Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed, or Betty White. I didn’t even write anything when we lost Catherine O’Hara (and that one stung. I’m a MASSIVE Christopher Guest fan and that obsession was enabled supremely by Schitt’s Creek).
But Dolly is different somehow.
I grew up in the South but never really appreciated Country Music like my friends did. Dolly was a bit of a joke when I was growing up and we pitied those getting excited about trips to DollyWood as though they had been duped into believing it was as cool as Six Flags or Disney World. I didn’t pay much attention to Dolly until I started getting into Country Music in my 20s. And when I say “Country Music,” I don’t mean all this kitschy algorithm garbage that is just pop music with a southern twang. No, I was discovering Hank Wiliams Sr., Johnny Cash, David “Stringbean” Akeman, Willie Nelson, and that’s when I fell in love with the indomitable Dolly Parton.
But it wasn’t just her music (which still produced the best cover of Collective Soul’s Shine ever made), it was her. One of my favorite things Dolly used to say was how she never minded being called a dumb blond because she knew she was neither. There is no one like Dolly. She was a brilliant entrepreneur who was a silent investor in projects and movies you would be shocked to learn she had a hand in. Her diverse portfolio of music, movies, television shows, and the theme park was just the tip of the iceberg. She is the anti-Gordon Gecko; a tycoon who managed her wealth like a pro and was a famous philanthropist to boot. Many will remember her for her massive contributions to childhood literacy. If you look at the biggest contributors to childhood literacy in the past decade, you’ll just see a picture of Dolly. She was creative, dogmatic, and relentless.
But Dolly also did something else. Something that amazes me to this day:
In a world so polarized and divided with politics and policies fueling not just hatred but a sharp rise in violence, the hope for something shared in our country grows more unlikely every week.
YET
If you’ve ever seen an urban, trans, progressive person and a rural, gun-tote’n, conservative, country boy clasped arm-in-arm, swaying and celebrating together with nothing but love in their hearts, then you are at a Dolly Parton concert.
I used to say, there are only two people in history that can bring together enemies and bridge wide gaps of difference - Dolly and Jesus.
And I don’t know how she did it exactly. But I have mixed with some of the most diametric people across the social divide and I can confirm that love or respect for Dolly is an abiding hallmark of their common ground.
So this week I will wear all my punny Dolly graphic Ts (yes, even the Christmas one), and put on my vinyl record of The Grass is Blue to properly lament this loss. Honestly,
my celebration of Dolly is actually liturgically woven across the calendar so no real changes there. I will continue to expose unsuspecting victims (er … friends) to A Smoky Mountain Christmas. But I had in mind a goal to watch all the movies she produced or appeared in and I think this might be the year to go for it (I don’t have many left). I invite you to join me in celebrating a remarkable loss of a remarkable life.
I am ready
Oh, my children
When Jesus knocks at my door
I’ll be there come morning
Don’t weep for me
I’ll be with my Lord
There’s my bible on the table
Read it to me once more
I can hear God’s heavenly angels
Singing me on through heaven’s door
Hallelujah Lord
I am ready
No more sorrow
Hallelujah, yes
I am ready, I am ready
I am ready to go
Oh, Hosanna
Take my hand now
Lead me to the promised land now
I am ready, I am ready
Hallelujah, I am ready to go
Oh, Hosanna
I am ready to go
I can hear God’s heavenly angels
Singing me on through heaven’s door
Singing me on through heaven’s door
And I am ready
(Written by Rachel Dennison - Sung to perfection by Dolly Parton)
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