Dolly Parton - Dolly Parton, Songteller

I want to dedicate this book to my fans all over the world... because a song feels best when it is shared. Copyright 2020 by Dolly Parton. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

Trade edition ISBN: 978-1-7972-0509-0 (hc)
Limited edition ISBN: 978-1-7972-1181-7 (hc)
Digital edition ISBN: 978-1-7972-0838-1 (epub, mobi) Design by Jacob Covey.
Additional Typesetting by Liam Flanagan and AJ Hansen.
Cover lettering illustration by Jessica Hische.
Original photographs for this book by Antonis Achilleos; assistance by Russell Kilgore. Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com

MY GRANDMOTHER SOLD ALL KINDS OF records in her music store in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania, so I grew up knowing about the classic country stars of the 1950s. In Pittsburgh in the 1960s, countrys syndicated TV programs came on after the cowboy movies on Saturdays. On The Porter Wagoner Show, Dolly Parton gamely pitched ads for a health tonic or a laundry detergent and sang tenderly. I pushed country music aside when I was a teenager; I was obsessed with the sounds of R&B.

Grandma sold those kinds of records, too. By 1971, I was living in St. Louis amid country fans. That was the year that Dolly released Coat of Many Colors. I wept the first time I heard it. I realized that this was soul music of another kind.

I was clerking in a St. Louis record store when Dolly released My Tennessee Mountain Home, Jolene, and I Will Always Love You. Then came The Seeker. Soul music, indeed. It was a wonderful era to be reintroduced to country music. Dolly was part of a new generation of songwriters who were transforming the art form.

Kris Kristofferson and Tom T. Hall were among them. I thought to myself, If this is what country music is now, I need to go to Nashville. Once Dolly and her peers opened the door, I found a world of songwriting artists waiting for me on the other side. I arrived in Music City to work at the Country Music Hall of Fame just as Dolly was embarking on her quest to conquer the pop universe. The first time that I interviewed her, I couldnt face her.

She was so beautiful that I was afraid I would forget my name if I looked into her eyes. That didnt last long. Over the years as a music journalist, I kept remembering why Id been fascinated by her in the first place. It was her songwriting. I raised my glass the first time I heard her empowering lyrics for 9 to 5 in 1980. This was a lyricist at the peak of her power.

In 1986, Emmylou Harris called from an LA recording studio to tell me that something extraordinary was being created. It became a stunning album called Trio, and there was Dolly in its center alongside Emmylou and Linda Ronstadt. As the world transitioned into a new millennium, Dolly wrote songs that renewed her connection to her mountain roots. The insights about that music that she shared during our interviews made me admire her more than ever. You cant exist in the Nashville music community and not develop a profound respect for songwriters. Only the very rare and gifted among them continue to craft consistently creative works over six decades, as Dolly Parton has done.

Just one example from each of those decades can illustrate: Down from Dover (1969), To Daddy (1975), Appalachian Memories (1983), Eagle When She Flies (1991), Raven Dove (2002), and Why (2018). In a town full of co-writers and collaborators, she impressively wrote all of those songs, and more, alone. Over the years, I have interviewed Dolly for dozens of television documentaries, press kits, and magazine features. Those experiences always leave me filled with warmth, optimism, and, most of all, respect. And I still get a lump in my throat every time I hear her sing Coat of Many Colors. Songteller celebrates what I like best about Dolly Parton.

Its the chronicle of one of our greatest American songwriters, told as only she can tell it.

MY NAME IS DOLLY PARTON, AND I AM A SONGWRITER. That is how I express myself. In a song, I can go anywhere and do anything. As a songwriter, I am influenced by everything around meby the people around me, by the feelings of people I know, and by my own joys and sorrows. In my songs, Ive touched on a whole lot of subjects.

Ive put so many songs out there, and they are there for anybody who wants to listen. I write a lot from my own heart. But I also just have a big imagination. When I was young, we didnt go to the movies, so I just created my own stories. Its kind of embedded in me to make up songs and stories. Id read something in a book or hear something and think, What would happen next? What kind of story would that turn out to be? And ever since I was a small child, I have had the gift to rhyme things.

I used to love to go to graveyards a lot. Id read somebodys name on their stone or see the grave of a little kid and wonder what their story was. Id create lives for all of those people in the graveyard, just invent stories in my head for them. A creative mind just likes to do that, I guess. These days, inspiration can strike at any time. I might hear a great title, think a great thought, see a great story on TV, or hear something on the news and think, Somebody needs to write a song about that.

And that somebody is usually me. Thats why I always try to keep a little notepad or a tape recorder beside my bed or in my purse. Because I never know when somethings going to hit me. People ask me, Do you have to be in a particular place to write a song? I dont. I can write anywhere, anytime, any place. I dont have to be in any particular environment.

Noise or anything else around me cant stop me. On my tour bus, on an airplane, in the bathtub, or just about anywhere, the writing comes all the time. Because it does, I always try to be open to it and always try to be ready. I stay close to my guitar or a tape recorder, so that I can always remember a melody if it comes to me. My preference is to take time off to do nothing but write. But thats a luxury I dont have much anymore.

I used to have more time to do that, to go off by myself. I love to sit around for hours, alone with a good cup of coffee, and just do my thing. Because when I do, boy, I can really do some serious writing then. I just go into my God space. Most songwriters have a zone that they go into. I call it my spiritual zone.

I feel like Im closest to God when I write. I have to leave myself open for the songs to come in or go out. But God doesnt hand you everything. You have to do the work. Still, every once in a while, something special happens. A great line will just come to me, and Ill go, Hey, thank You, Lord.

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