Country music has lost one of its best. Dolly Parton passed away at age 80 at her home in Nashville, Tennessee, yesterday on 25th of August. She was a wonderful singer, song writer, author, philanthropist and actor.
Dolly was a loving and lovely specimen of our kind. She was blessed with a heart bigger than an 18-wheeler tractor trailer. The world is a happier place because of her.
Back in November 2012, she was a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation show with host Neal Conan.[1] I have written about Dolly in March 2020. Begin excerpt:
A Favorite
One of my all-time favorites in the country music genre is the lovely Dolly Parton. She’s awesome in singing and songwriting. One of her hit songs Jolene shows her writing talent. Here, listen. When introducing the song, she calls one of the women in the audience a “red-headed hussy” 😊
Alright she’s good at what she does but so are so many other hugely talented people. What’s so special about her, you may ask. I think she’s special because she is a wonderful human. She was born poor but she dreamed big. About her dreams when she was little, she said “dreams dressed me up when I was ragged, and filled me up when I was hungry.”
Way back in 2012 when the NPR show “Talk of the Nation” was hosted by Neal Conan, Dolly was a guest. When I need a little pick-me-up, I listen to that interview. And it’s not just because I love the Tennessee accent. (I love that accent because James Buchanan was also from Tennessee.)
As she told Neal Conan, when she’d tell people that she was going to Nashville, they’d ask her if she wasn’t afraid of starving to death, she’d reply, “Well I couldn’t be any poorer than we’ve been here. And I’m not a bad-looking girl.” She sure ain’t.
She describes how she managed to get food sometimes—she would eat stuff that people would leave outside their hotel rooms from their room service orders.
Anyhow, she followed her dream to go to Nashville and be a star. People didn’t take her seriously, of course. Anyhow, listen. Even if you don’t have the time to listen to the whole 30 minutes, listen to the first ten minutes or so. You’ll not be disappointed.
Here it is.
In closing, let’s listen to Miley Cyrus do the definitive cover of Jolene. Dolly Parton was Miley Cyrus’s godmother, and they are also distant relatives—7th cousins once removed.
Goodbye and god bless, Dolly!
BTW it’s been a while since I did an “Ask me anything.” Here it is. Leave a comment and/or a question. It’s always good to hear from readers. Thank you.
NOTES
[1] This was before NPR was mortally infected with the leftist woke nonsense. Those were the days when NPR (together with MRP and APR) was great radio. My local public radio station was KQED 88.5fm which serves the San Francisco Bay area.
KQED used to air awesome programs. Terry Gross hosted what in my considered opinion was the best interview program: Fresh Air. Lucky for us, the archives are available on the internet.
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 