50 years and still going strong described Dolly Parton when she was honored on the 50th anniversary of becoming part of the Grand Ol’ Opry…..and this “blonde bombshell, sweet country girl” was the grandest one there!
Even though this event took place in 2019, the broadcast has been re-played due to popular demand many times and would be well worth your listening and viewing time.
I focused my full attention upon this magnificent display again recently and was just as thrilled and filled with emotion as I was the first time!
DOLLY opened with “Joshua” from her 7th studio album with the same title, Joshua. This Grammy nomination was her first song to reach #1 on the U. S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It told the story of a man, who was reviled by many but caught the heart of the young woman who took the chance to visit and find out what she had in common with the long, black-haired man, who was a “smiler” and not mean like folks had said!
Now past 75 years young, Dolly still looks and sounds as if she would still to this day be nice, kind, friendly, and accepting of an offered friendship! And she is still “flashy, country BEAUTIFUL!”
Following the opening by Miss Parton, Toby Keith (who has a restaurant/club in Brick Town, Oklahoma City) “guested” with his rendition of “My Tennessee Mountain Home” (from Dolly’s 11th solo studio album with the same title). (Chorus) In my Tennessee mountain home—Life is as peaceful as a baby’s sigh.— In my Tennessee mountain home—Crickets sing in the fields near by.
Dolly Parton’s childhood home was a small 2-room home with no electricity and no running water—unless you were willing to run and get it! But, says she, “they were rich in things money couldn’t buy!” (like love, kindness, and understanding) “Guest stars,” besides Toby Keith, were Dierks Bentley, Emmylou Harris, Chris Jansen, Lady “A” (as she is called now), and Margo Price, and they all helped the musical celebration progress.
As she sang and quipped, Parton dedicated the celebration to her GOOD PARENTS (esp. Mama), who raised six sons and six daughters and did not have extra money, because she had “kids” to raise—and they were more important than “things.”
Then, she reminisced and sang a special song, called “Coat of Many Colors,” about the one Mama made for Dolly out of left-over pieces of cloth. She had written the song on the back of a dry-cleaning receipt, while she rode the “tour bus.” The song detailed how rich this “little girl” felt when she wore the beautiful coat to school— until the other children made fun of her “rag coat”—but then she still felt rich, because the “kids” just did not understand that “her mother had made it just for her!”
“Uncle Bill” Owens was her first “acting Manager,” and he took her back-and-forth to singing appearances, using the car as a hotel—he slept in the front room and she in the back one! One night, one of the name performers gave Dolly his “spot on the stage,” and she says she was so nervous that she “peed her pants,” because she was thirteen years old and about to be introduced by JOHNNY CASH and sing a song by George Jones, “If You Want to be My Baby.”
Then, a young singer, Chris Jansen, was introduced as “a young man, who almost has as much energy as Dolly Parton,” and he sang “Mule Skinner Blues,” another song that has been good for them both!
She then recalled being called “a dumb blonde,” but said that did not bother her, because she KNEW she was not! (A clip of “young” Dolly was shown, and she did not yet have her trademark, “big, special hair.”)
Next mentioned were the Porter Waggoner Wagon Masters and how he/they influenced/helped her along the way—and Buck Trent, the original banjo player of the Masters came to play as Dolly sang “The Carroll County Accident.”
Next were some photos of the “childhood home,” while Parton hummed and recalled singing with friends, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn— and then later with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris (sang “To Daddy), and by that time having more of her trademark big, voluminous platinum hair!
This was followed by “Here You Come Again” and “Just Because I’m a Woman,” which “stuck up” for all women.
And I remembered some of her other HITS: “Two Sides to Every Story,” “Jolene,” “God Only Knows,” “Heartbreaker,” “The Bargain Store,” “For God and Country,” “I Believe in You,” “The Great Pretender,” and oh, so many more! (Ah, those were the “good ol’ days,” riding around and listening to the 8-track stereo player in the ’68 Lincoln Continental with the “Does” as passengers!)
Parton remembered that at times the “old-timers” told her she looked “cheap,” and she answered with, “Take it easy; we’re on the RADIO!” And then, some of her “fans” “took up” for her with “We’ve got your back, Dolly!” To which she replied, “Don’t think it’s my BACK they’re worrying about!”
Out came Dierks Bentley with “Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You,” and that was followed by Dolly, herself, singing her signature song that always “chokes me up,” “I Will Always Love You.” And I could see tears in the eyes of many of the audience members, from small children to adults several years older than Don Themer! As she got to the “soft part,” the audience was whispering along with her, and smoothly she “ramped it up” with the closing, “I will always love youuuuuuuuu; I will always luuuuuv You!”— and then the heavy applause really rained down.
Thinking back, I remember as we guys got older, we knew she was “powder and paint and wigs” (as Mrs. Warren would have said in English IV in 1968-1969), and we all still would have loved to have had a date with her!
The show ended with Dolly putting her hand on the back of the neck of a young (by my old-guy standards) guitar player—and he blushed and grinned like a bashful sixteen-year-old schoolboy!
DOLLY REBECCA PARTON: A National Treasure!
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