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Dolly Parton had many faces, but two dominated within her songwriting: the adventurer whose insistent self-respect would carry her beyond any limitations others tried to impose on her, and the keeper of home truths. The latter surfaced in 1971's "Coat of Many Colors," an expertly embroidered portrait of Appalachian rural life that also stands as one of the most powerful reminders of poor people's dignity to ever grace the airwaves. With that single and the others that quickly followed, she established the multifaceted world view that made her music so mobile, such a popular well for other artists to tap for inspiration, and so insightful about America.
Parton's legend was secured in 1973, when she released "Jolene," a song that transcended its moment by perfectly capturing the primal intensity of insecure romantic desire. With a melody redolent of a century of folk ballads and, as Parton told NPR in 2008, a chorus "even a first-grader or a baby could sing," this true-ish tale of rivalry among women is fluid enough that a man could take it on, as Jack White did in The White Stripes' 2001 version. "Jolene" is a murder ballad whose victims all survive, a cry of revenge in the face of betrayal that puts a woman in charge and unexpectedly creates a bond between two rivals. Beyoncé's version of the song on her Grammy-winning country album Cowboy Carter, blessed by Parton, heated up that eroticism to show that "Jolene" is as much about one woman appreciating another as about the murderous restrictions of monogamy.
"Jolene" was, in fact, one of the less dramatic songs Parton wrote in her gothic mode, a style that allowed her to expose many of the burdens women endure under patriarchy. Her early songs that never made it to the Top 40 dared to broach topics like emotional abuse, stillbirth, forced institutionalization, a birthmother's grief and a pregnant, abandoned lover's suicide. Her deep knowledge of the dark lent substance to the songs that expressed her belief in transcendence. The masterpiece that followed "Jolene" showed her rising upward with unrivaled grace. The majestic "I Will Always Love You" is ripe with particulars and anchored in the country realm of adult dreams and regrets, but is open-ended enough to invite myriad interpretations. Parton wrote it as a forgiving farewell to Porter Wagoner, the duet partner who had helped launch her career but also tried to restrict her when her genius took her beyond their partnership.
"I Will Always Love You" was a hit for her in 1974 and again in 1983, as part of the soundtrack to The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, where it served as a lament about the forbidden (though ultimately triumphant) romance between the madam played by Parton and Burt Reynolds' local sheriff. The song reached its full potential, of course, in the hands of Whitney Houston, whose sublime 1992 version exposed the damage done by arbitrary divisions between Black and white radio formats, crossing into every corner of pop to become the definitive expression of the era's blockbuster-besotted grandeur. "I Will Always Love You" is the musical equivalent of Star Wars, an epic that encompasses many epochs. Houston could soar within it because Parton imbued it with a musical and sentimental purity that made room for the enormity of her expressiveness.
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Beethoven's monkey business ...
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Public radio honors Dolly |
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Nashville Public Radio Senior Writer Jewly Hight wrote our obituary of the queen, and also made a 100-song playlist that shows off Dolly’s range.
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Jewly also shared her personal connections to Dolly in this video.
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This podcast, which I had the honor to host, mines NPR’s interview archive to tell Dolly’s story in her own words — and her own voice.
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Terry Gross went deep with Dolly in a 2001 Fresh Air interview.
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It’s a great time to revisit WNYC’s award-winning 2019 podcast Dolly Parton’s America, with host Jad Abumrad.
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I really loved celebrating Dolly’s legacy with Sam Sanders on his KCRW podcast.
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| A glorious bouquet of online memorials began to form hours after Dolly’s death was announced. Here are a few of my favorite tributes: |
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