Dolly Parton is one of country music’s living legends who brings in millions of dollars in revenue a year thanks to her undying singles and massive world tours. Her name is synonymous with America, with a life story that inspires many others.
It is one full of heartbreak but with a never-ending drive to succeed. Parton is beloved for many reasons, aside from her six decades in the industry.
Dolly knows where she fits in modern day America, filling her role perfectly with class, sass, and wit. Learn more about this living icon and see how much you know about Dollywood.
1. Dolly first performed at 10
According to Dolly, she was backstage at the show when she walked right up to him and said “she wanted to work for him“. Walker couldn’t say no to her.
2. Low carb diet on tour
“I have to stay on a low-carb diet when I’m on the road because my show clothes are so tight and I can’t afford to gain like I used to in the past. I just cheat on holidays and special days and then eat the things I really love.”
3. “Jolene” was a girl at an autograph session
When Parton asked for her name, a lightbulb went off:
I said, “Well that’s just about the prettiest name I ever heard. I’m gonna write a song about you and if you ever hear it, you’ll know it was about you.”
4. Dolly is different in private
“I have this other side to me that’s very quiet. Sometimes I can go a whole day without saying anything. But I’m not a different person – I’m just a little quieter.”
5. A wig for each day of the year
“Oh, heavens, I have no idea. I can’t really count them all. I always make a joke and say, “I wear one almost every day, so I must have at least 365!”
6. Thank Dolly for Billy Ray Cyrus
“I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without her. Keep in mind, she was there in 1992 when I went from living in my Chevy Beretta to recording my first album. Pretty soon after that, I was opening her shows!”
7. Kids get free books thanks to Dolly
The organization is called the Imagination Library. She discussed the organization with Forbes, saying:
“Even if you’re not able to afford to go to college, if you can read, you can find out about any subject that you’re interested in. And if a book is comin’ to the mailbox every month and it’s got your name on it, then you’re gonna find someone to help you read it to you.”
8. Her bus has a bathtub
During a European tour, a reporter from The Guardian saw Dolly’s bath thanks to her manager. On the bus tour, the manager showed a “ceramic hollow in the floor, two feet deep, not much larger than a washing-up bowl.”
9. Dolly cooks her own tour food
Before going on tour, Dolly cooks a lot of food at her house. She puts them in freezer bags then brings it on her bus. Parton eats home-cooked meals as much as possible:
“I do cook for a week before I go on tour. So I put stuff in the freezer, so we’ll have great country food if we don’t have what I want in all the places we stop.”
10. She’s a fan of Adele
“I love her, love her, love her! I would love to do something with her. Maybe write a song? Maybe do a duet? So pass that word along!”
Parton also wants to work with Justin Timberlake.
11. Miley Cyrus is her goddaughter
12. Dolly still has the car she bought her mom
“I bought my mama a Cadillac. That went back to me when Mama passed on. I wouldn’t take nothing for it. My husband drives it a lot. Because it was Mama’s car, and I still drive it some, I call it the ‘Dolly-Mama.’ Everybody knows not to mess with the Dolly-Mama, because that was such a precious thing. I was always so proud that I could do for my family when I started making some money.”
13. She dyed her lips as a teen
“I’d paint my lips and see there wasn’t nothing Daddy could do. He couldn’t rub that off. It stained your lips and those little bitty bottles [were] just perfect to go around your lip line. Then I would do that and I would blot it off and Daddy, he’d say, ‘Come here get that lipstick off you!’ I’d say, real calm, ‘It’s my natural color, Daddy.'”
14. She’s childless
“My husband and I, when we first got married, we thought about if we had kids, what would they look like? Would they be tall – because he’s tall? Or would they be little squats like me? If we’d had a girl, she was gonna be called Carla… Anyway, we talked about it, and we dreamed it, but it wasn’t meant to be. Now that we’re older? We’re glad.”
15. Married for 50 years
“You know what, my passport is Dolly Parton Dean. I sign a lot of my contracts Dean. I didn’t change names [publicly] because I already had a record deal. It made no sense. He never asked me to.”
16. Dolly moved to Nashville after high school
Parton’s first day in Nashville was like something out of a movie:
“I just couldn’t believe the day I got here. I thought, “I’m here. I’m really here. I’m really here forever. I’m here to live and to be part of it.”
17. Threats for supporting the LGBTQ+ community
18. She wouldn’t sell ‘I Will Always Love You’ to Elvis
Ever confident and a tad bit suspicious, Dolly rejected the request and made more money a couple of decades later when Whitney Houston took a shot at the song.
19. Dollywood gave people jobs
Parton’s keen business sense turned Dollywood into the largest employer in Sevier County.
20. Her family paid the doctor with oatmeal
It was a poor community so her father reportedly paid the doctor who delivered her with a bag of oatmeal.
21. She flirts with others but stays loyal to Carl
“I love to flirt, and I’ve never met a man I didn’t like… Men are my weakness. Short, fat, bald or skinny – I’ve had crushes on some very unusual men but Carl knows I’ll always come home and I’m not having affairs with these people – I’m just flirtin’ and having fun.”
The couple have a stable, loving marriage considering she spends half the year away on tour. Carl stays home managing his farm and his paving business in Tennessee.
They met when Dolly was only 18, and she says, “I think Carl will always see me the way he did when we first met, just as I do him. We’ll never be old to each other.”
22. Her siblings often wet the bed
“The kids peed on me every night. There were so many of us. We slept three and four in the bed. I would wash every night, and as soon as I go to bed, the kids would wet on me and I’d have to get up in the morning and do the same thing. [But] that was the only warm thing we knew in the winter time. That was almost a pleasure – to get peed on – because it was so cold. Lord. It was as cold in the room as it was outside.”
23. She donated $1 Million to Coronavirus research
Pharmaceutical company Moderna announced promising results in its trial for a COVID-19 vaccine in November 2020. Parton’s donation helped support development, with the preliminary report for the vaccine published in The New England Journal of Medicine saying, “the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund (Vanderbilt University Medical Center)” as a supporter of the study.
24. She lost a Dolly look-alike contest
“They had a bunch of Chers and Dollys that year, so I just over-exaggerated – made my beauty mark bigger, the eyes bigger, the hair bigger, everything. All these beautiful drag queens had worked for weeks and months getting their clothes. So I just got in the line and I just walked across, and they just thought I was some little short gay guy. I got the least applause.”
25. Lots of tattoos
“I do have a few little tattoos, but they were mostly done to cover scars because I’m so fair…So it started with that.”
26. Secretly Producing ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
Parton is uncredited, but fans think that Buffy Summers’s birthday, January 19, is a tribute to the country singer herself.
27. Dolly’s charming interview
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