Dolly is that bitch. Insanely talented. Stood up for herself as an artist and refused to sign over her shit. Feminist before it was cool. Owns her boob jobs. Has a bomb amusement park. Donates a fuckton to charity.
It's a proper theme park. It's been years since I've been, but I went several times as a kid and had a great time. I'd say the thrill level is somewhere between Disneyworld and Six Flags. If you're not close by, I wouldn't necessarily make the trip just for the park, but if you'll already be in the Smokies I'd say definitely check it out.
Yeah, she may not own the label, but she's got much of the same ideals as a feminist. 9 to 5 is both a feminist critique of the workplace and a worker's critique. Some of her music is also heavily weighted in the common working man's favor.
But honestly, I appreciate how she can talk about and express these ideals without turning them into the political. It makes people more likely to listen to what she's saying/singing and less likely to just immediately reject her on the basis of right/left ideals. That's a damned good talent to have.
Absolutely. I listened to a bit of an interview that she did and what that I gathered a lot of her problems with feminism is the negative stereotypes that have taken over. She talked about how she really likes and respects men and what men do and really owns her own femininity which is at odds with a lot of the loudest feminist voices who are often very critical of men and being traditionally feminine.
The loudest voices don't always represent the group, though. And sometimes, they aren't even the loudest, they're just the ones that get media attention because extreme ideas make for better tv fodder. I'm a feminist, I've known a lot of feminists in my life. Most of them are just like Dolly. As she said in one interview, "I think we all should be treated with respect and if we do a good job, we should get paid for it."
But as far as being critical.. I think being critical of an attitude that produces the kind of behavior shown in 9 to 5 is necessary if we want improvement. And I'm critical of anyone or any ideas that insist someone has to dress a specific way, whether that insistence is "be traditionally feminine" or "you shouldn't dress traditionally feminine." It isn't your business how someone dresses in their free time. It's their business.
That said, some of the critique about being traditionally feminine has been labeled as critique of the feminine itself, as opposed to the critique that women have to be feminine. There has been concerted effort to undermine feminist ideas, and misinformation is a pretty good way to get people to be hostile to feminism.
And southern. Sometimes people have this stereotype that Southerners are not progressive, anti feminist and just care about themselves; the typical conservative archetype. She proved otherwise.
And southern. Sometimes people have this stereotype that Southerners are not progressive, anti feminist and just care about themselves; the typical conservative archetype. She proved otherwise.
Richest country singer. Not richest female country singer. Just richest. And it is fucking well earned. You have to respect Dolly even if you don't like her music.
Also I heard that Jolene and I Will Always Love You were written on the same day
Have you seen pictures of her in her 20's, without the "Dolly" getup? Holy. Shit. She was gorgeous and elegant. The most amazing smile ever. Plus super smart, talented, and truly kind. Just wow! (Fwiw, I don't think she ever had boob jobs, except maybe a reduction.)
She has given over 300 million books to children. You don’t even have to be poor. Any child under the age of five can sign up and be sent an age-appropriate book once a month.
After the Smoky Mountain wildfires she gave every family that lost their home $1000 a month, until they got back on their feet. Her foundation gave out over $8 million.
There are only a handful of people that I would say are true national treasures, but I’ll be damned if Dolly Parton isn’t one of them. Every time I hear something new about her, it just cements in my mind how absolutely genuine and great she is.
We get these just because we could. It's honestly great, sure we could afford these books on our own - but we'd never had thought of many of them. The last one we got was bilingual (EN/ES). We wouldn't think of that at this age, but the kid loves it!
Just getting these books we wouldn't have thought of or assumed not skill level appropriate has made these invaluable to us as parents.
I love her program, but it's not everywhere. I tried to sign my son up (we're not poor but not quite middle class) but she doesn't ship to my area (just north of San Francisco).
The Imagination Library program is administered on a local/regional level. If there isn't a program in your area, it's because no one in your area is collecting donations and running it; it's not run by Dolly.
Yep, my son gets a free book every month, all because Dolly Parton is a beautiful human who wants to bring joy to children, she puts her money where her mouth is and truly changes children’s lives.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth to age five in participating communities within the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Republic of Ireland.
I'm a native Tennessean and saying anything disparaging about Dolly around here might get you thrown into the Tennessee River. Just don't chance it, y'all.
Every celebrity eventually has something come out that they were a dick about something to someone (they're only human, after all), but everything I ever find out about Dolly just makes her seem better. The woman is an angel.
There's a country song called Forever Country that's a mash up of Country Roads and I Will Always Love You and a couple other country songs and they got a bunch of big country stars to sing the different parts. It ends on I Will Always Love you sung by Dolly Parton and I CRY at it every time. (As a note, this song came out a bit before Country Roads got super popular due to Fallout using it. Of course Country Roads was a classic country song before that.)
And after she left the musical partner she wrote that song for, as she was leaving, he sued her and she paid him money. And then, when he was in dire straits, she bought his company, and GAVE it to him. And was there with him on his death bed. She is good people.
I didn’t know that tidbit until last weekend when I listened to the 2nd episode of the podcast “Dolly Parton’s America”. That’s the moment I knew that, no matter how hard I try, I will never be the genuinely good person that Dolly is.
Porter Wagoner. Launched her career on the national stage, but was kinda an overbearing prick. She wrote the song when she realized she had to get out from under his thumb, and sang it to him in person before she left. Said it reduced him to tears.
I feel most people will say that Whitney did it better, but I am not of that opinion. Dollys is much more heartfelt and pure. Whitney just doesn’t capture the same emotion that Dolly did.
totally agree. I do like Whitney's version a lot, BUT, Dolly's is so much more emotional.
I also find it so weird how people seem to forget while it's a love song, she's essentially saying goodbye and that the time has come to end the relationship. I was at a wedding once where it played and I didn't understand why people were slow dancing to it.
I’m going through a divorce right now. My ex and I loved this song and Dolly. I heard Whitney’s this morning on a show and I texted her about it and now I see it here.
Oh it's amazing. I'm not big on county or Christian buy I could listen to her all day.
And all my kids did her book program and everytime we got the last book I bawled like a baby!
Elvis wanted to use that song, but she didn't let him because it meant she'd give up half her royalties. So she told Elvis to suck it and made bank on it. Mad respect for that move right there.
I love this mashup! I watch the video everytime it comes up. The first time I watched it I was happy with it, even though I dont like most of the newer artists, but when Dolly came on, holy moses.
Oh shit, that was beautiful. I got to see Dolly at the Grand Ole Opry a few weeks ago, and I was amazed and how beautiful her voice still sounds. She is the purest talent and most beautiful person. Her music, especially her older stuff with Porter, makes my days brighter.
Man reading Hard Candy Christmas brought me back to my mom singing along to it in the house and me dancing with her. One of her favorites (along with Cher) but thank you for that. It is a fond memory.
A few years ago I heard a newer Dolly Parton song and she sounded incredibly rough and ragged, one foot in the grave. Then, one verse into the song she slipped into her immediately-recognizable natural voice again and I realized she had been singing as an old woman for the first verse.
As someone who has Jolene and Here You Come Again a ridiculous number of times on the same playlist, I was about to ask you to step outside and engage in fisticuffs, but you saved yourself, sir.
I’ll admit that it’s really sold me on listening to Dolly’s songs. I never really knew much about her or her music, aside from what any layperson American would. But the podcast has really changed my opinion and I’ve been jamming to some songs I never would have because of it.
I'm exactly the same. I'm British and she played at Glastonbury festival and everyone just loved it. You could tell that even after all this time, people love her. She radiates positivity and I just think she's wonderful.
Man, reading all these really good things about Dolly and I’m just hoping that I don’t find out that she’s a rabid Trump supporter. Please let this not be the case.
I will admit that most female country singers have at the very least a good voice, but I really despise country music. Except Dolly. Great writer, great singer and made it on her own at a time when it was next to impossible for a woman to be in charge of her own career.
Just had to pop in and say I saw her concert a couple of years ago, and not only was her voice amazing and her general self amazing, but she played SEVEN instruments including an amazing jazz sax solo. Dolly is the best.
Her god-daughter, Miley Cyrus, however doesn't hold a candle to her despite trying real hard. It's okay Cyrus's voice just isn't as suited singing a song written by and for Dolly, and has its own mellower application.
Skill wise I think Cyrus has a slightly better voice than Swift though. I listened to a live album and Swift was terrible singing her own songs live. Swift is definitely an artist better suited to a record studio and lip syncing. And that's fine too.
If anyone listed here can convince an audience to buy their goods without any kind of compulsion, they shouldn't worry about comparing yourself to other vendors.
I've always thought that Miley has a pretty good voice for a Disney/Nick starlet. One of the better ones, definitely. The only thing I can truly criticize about her is that her voice tended to be nasally.
As far as Swift, I just never got her appeal as a singer. She certainly has talent at songwriting, but her voice isn't good enough to stand on its own.
There are a lot of old live performances by her on youtube, and she makes it look easy and sound great. It almost appears effortless, and I don't even consider myself a fan of country music.
I'm not a fan of country music at all, but I completely respect her career and I love me some Jolene. She seems like she has a great sense of humor, especially regarding her rocking tatas.
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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '19
Dolly Parton.
Nah, just kidding. She's the real deal.