The world is remembering Dolly Parton in the aftermath of her death. She died in Nashville on Aug. 25 at 80-years-old.
The scope of Parton's influence extends far past just country music. She was known as a philanthropist, creating literary programs and funding medical research, and an advocate for marginalized communities.
Thor Christiansen, a music writer and the former pop music critic at the Dallas Morning News, joined NTX Now's Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning to reflect on her legacy.
Dolly's broad appeal
I think what a lot of people forget about Dolly is that underneath the wigs and the jokes and the rhinestones, she was really a universal songwriter. She came to Nashville with an unusually strong sense of what she wanted to do, and she wound up blazing a trail for even somebody like Dallas' own Nora Jones.
People think of her as kind of a jazz pop singer, but Nora calls Dolly one of her heroes, and the second that Nora Jones became a star, she invited Dolly to come and record a duet with her called 'Creepin' In.'
Dolly appeals to everybody. She even wound up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Jolene
That song to me is so haunting, so devastating, and so catchy. I can listen to that song every day for the rest of my life. It's just so beautiful.
I think part of what makes it such a great song, is because it's so vulnerable. It's not a diss track. The narrator isn't attacking the other woman. She's basically admitting that the other woman is more beautiful, and she's begging her not to take her man. I think that emotional humility is what makes the song so devastating and so universal.
I Will Always Love You
It's kind of the ultimate Dolly song because she wrote it in the late 60s when she was on Porter Wagoner's TV show. That's how she became known, first off, and at a certain point, she was getting so big that she told Porter Wagoner she was leaving the TV show. He could not handle it. He didn't want to hear it. So, she wrote that song for him. She sang it in his office, and he cried and told her it was the best song she'd ever written. So, every time I listen to Dolly's version, it's even more emotional when you think about the story of her basically saying goodbye to her boss.
Down from Dover
[This song was] way ahead of its time. She wrote the song in 1964, and this is a song narrated by an unmarried, pregnant woman whose parents throw her out and she gives birth alone. She keeps waiting for her boyfriend to come back from Dover, but he never does. So, she gives her birth alone, and the baby is stillborn.
A very dark, harsh song, but she wrote it before even people like Joni Mitchell or Carole King were household names. She was very early on establishing herself as a very powerful, short story writer.
She wasn't afraid to write about class or sex or shame or abandonment. She was really ahead of her time. A lot of people have never heard it, they should go back and listen because for someone to be writing that in 1964, was pretty remarkable.
Parton is preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Carl Dean, her parents Avie Lee Caroline Owens and Robert Lee Parton, and her brothers Larry, Floyd, Randy, David and Coy.
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Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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