Whatever your politics, your philosophies or your musical tastes; however critical or curmudgeonly you are, it would be impossible to hate Dolly Parton.
She is a rainbow, a sunflower, an angel in human form. Even if you loathe country music and feel violent every time you hear Islands In The Stream, you cannot loathe Dolly. The woman has just donated $1 million to aid research into paediatric infectious diseases after shelling out a previous $1m to fund the Moderna vaccine rollout way back in the darkst of coronavirus times.
The “Jolene” singer gave her charitable donation to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to aid their research into infectious diseases affecting children. “I love all children,” Parton explained in her statement. “No child should ever have to suffer, and I’m willing to do my part to try and keep as many of them as I can as healthy and safe as possible.”
For these acts of philanthropy alone, she is a saint. But “saint” is merely one of many strings to Parton’s bow. Not content with being a philanthropist, an actress, a businesswoman, a humanitarian and one of the most successful recording artists of all time (more on all of this in a moment), she is recently published her first novel, Run Rose Run. And not just any novel but one co-written by James Patterson, America’s most successful crime writer, who previously co-authored a book with Bill Clinton.
Put the queen of country and the king of thrillers together and you have a bestseller on your hands — one that, in a publishing first, will be accompanied by a country album of the same name that brings the characters’ songs to life. The book was Patterson’s idea — he flew to Parton’s hometown of Nashville to pitch it in person — and has said that she was unexpectedly hands-on, telling the New York Times: “She’s not going to do something if she doesn’t think she’s going to do it well.”
The pair worked on the project in secret for eight months in 2020, and while details of the advance they received from publisher, Little Brown, are not known, insiders agree it would easily stretch into seven figures (when Patterson and Clinton’s novel, The President Is Missing, was released in 2018, the TV rights alone were sold for $5 million).
Literary success is yet another testament to the cross-cultural appeal of Parton — who for decades has pulled off one of the deftest public image balancing acts in the entertainment business. She’s loved by conservatives, yet is also an LGBTQ icon. She’s a multi-millionaire who has never alienated the working-class in the southern states.
There’s a reason the tagline to Dolly Parton’s America — the acclaimed 2019 investigative podcast series about her life and influence — is “the story of a legend at the crossroads of America’s culture wars”. As the journalist and podcast host Jad Abumrad, wrote at the time: “In this intensely divided moment, one of the few things everyone still seems to agree on is Dolly Parton.”
In this intensely divided moment, one of the few things everyone still seems to agree on is Dolly Parton
Key to her broad appeal is perhaps that, like the Queen, she’s staunchly apolitical, her non-partisan stance even earning its own moniker, Dollitics. The term was coined by her nephew and bodyguard, Brian Seaver, in response to the fact that she refuses to answer any questions about politics, not even coming out for or against Donald Trump. Come rain or shine, Obama or Trump, Parton stands immaculately coiffed, her rhinestones bathing even the most divisive times in a benevolent light. She did, however, make what appeared to be an exception of sorts as she hosted the American Music Awards in Las Vegas. Saying, “Now, I don’t want to be political and this is not. I’d rather pass a kidney stone than do that,” before dedicating the show to the people of Ukraine. Only war, it seems, can ever-so-slightly sway Parton.
Witness her handling of the 2017 controversy over the Dixie Stampede, a dinner show and one of Dollywood’s main attractions which divided the room into North and South when it was criticised by an American journalist as “a lily-white kitsch extravaganza that play-acts the Civil War but never once mentions slavery. Instead, it romanticises the old South, with generous portions of both corn on the cob and Southern belles festooned in Christmas lights”. A year later, Parton reinvented the show. When conservative fans claimed she was erasing history, she responded that she “just didn’t want to make anyone feel bad”.
Even when she discussed her political views with Abumrad in 2019, she managed to avoid making political statements. Although she said she didn’t consider herself a feminist, speaking to Time magazine in 2020, she clarified: “I suppose I am a feminist if I believe that women should be able to do anything they want to,” but also acknowledged that she had fans who found the label off-putting. “I don’t have to, for myself, get out and carry signs,” she added.
Not alienating the Christian Right, has proven a savvy business move. Forbes estimates that her music catalogue (which she owns) makes up just a third of her $350 million wealth, bringing in $150 million a year in royalties (she’s written more than 3,000 songs, won 11 Grammys and sold over 100 million records worldwide). But Dollywood is her biggest asset. Founded in 1986 in an altruistic bid to plough some of her earnings back into her home state, it proved hugely popular from the beginning. It’s now Tennessee’s most visited tourist attraction, drawing about three million visitors a year. Parton’s stake is worth about $165 million.
Guest data collected in 2020 indicated that, while visitors from all 50 states in the US enjoyed a slice of its homespun vision of Americana, the vast majority of Dollywood-goers were loyal fans from Tennessee. Staunchly Republican, more than 80 per cent of adults in the state identify as Christian — and many find Dollywood a truly joyful place to spend time.
That people from across the political spectrum warm to her is also perhaps down to the fact that Parton is the embodiment of the American Dream — a potent reminder that however humble your beginnings, hard work and talent will pay off. Born in 1946 in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, the fourth of 11 children has said she grew up “dirt poor”.
Yet her desire to break into the country music scene took her to Nashville the day after she graduated from high school. Success didn’t happen overnight. She arrived in 1964 and had her first real hit some 10 years later, when Jolene topped the country chart in 1974, as did I Will Always Love You, arguably the most significant song of her career.
Skating over the fact that its writing is erroneously credited to Whitney Houston, it’s more significant because of who it wasn’t sung by than who it was. Legend has it that Elvis Presley wanted to record it but when Parton was informed by his manager that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign away more than half the publishing rights to any song Presley deigned to record, she refused.
It was a savvy decision that has made her millions more in royalties and the first of many shrewd business moves. Being godmother to Miley Cyrus has aided her cross-generational appeal and they have performed together frequently. It’s worth noting that Parton played Glastonbury five years before Cyrus did — in 2014, aged 68, drawing an 180,000 crowd to the Pyramid Stage.
And now that she has conquered the universe, Parton’s next step is conquering the metaverse. In 202, she announced she would be appearing at the Texas music festival SXSW for the first time, performing songs from the album that was tied into her novel.
The event was stramed for free on the Dollyverse, via Eluvio, a blockchain platform that will also offer NFTs of the Run, Rose, Run album, as well as some Parton-inspired artwork.
Parton has always been ahead of the curve: her highly-stylised look and winning way with a soundbite were made for social media.
Whether over the universe, the metaverse or the Dollyverse, long may she reign.
