Rob Blackhurst

A Transcript of my Interview with Dolly Parton conducted on Friday 12 June, 2009. There was a lot of material that didn't make it into the piece.

---

With Dollywood are you trying to challenge the image of the South – which often gets reduced to stereotypes?

I'm not really trying to challenge it but I do think we have our own amount of white trash and trailer trash. We have that, but we don't like it when they act like that's all that we are. Of course you've got your poor people and you've got your illiterate people anyplace that you are. But this is a wonderful, wonderful part of the world where people are very special even though they are very country. So many of them are very simple but very pure of heart. They are intelligent, kind, creative people. It's good – I like feeling like people can see - because I'm a very country girl in accent and nature but I think I can just fit myself right in with the best of them wherever I go. And I want people to know that there are many like me in these parts.

Your more bare, stripped back albums have recently been critically acclaimed. Is this part of a change in the way we look at the South?

I think people want to get back to basics and this world is so high-tech – it's all wonderful – progress is great. And there is so much chaos – so much stuff going on in the world. I think one of the reasons that simple acoustic music – that real authentic sound – people have a tendency to want to go back to nature –that's part of being simple, a simple life. The way that music used to be before it got so complicated. The music that I do, the Grass is Blue songs the music that Alison does - songs that talk about life, real people with real feelings, told in a simple way, it gives people a rest and break. It's a peaceful place to go musically. It's almost like a therapy to bring you down to that level"

Do you still have relatives working at Dollywood?

"A lot of my relatives work at Dollywood. Owens family. My mother's people were the most musical. They played musical instruments and they write and sing. But a lot of my Daddy's people as well. I had a lot of cousins and Aunts and Uncles and people who work here on the ground."

Do you ever wander around the park yourself?

"There's no way I could go round this park or any park looking like this. But I do go around the park a lot of times in the wintertime we come here for creative meetings and we all get together and we do walk around the park. Sometimes when the park is closed – early – we'll walk around certain areas to look at new things. I do ride around on the antique car. I do get around like that"

Do you make a distinction in your mind between the cartoon dolly and the real dolly?

"I think it's all the same. Whenever I dress up it comes from a very serious place the way I look. This is how I think I look the best. It's what fits your height and your body build. I'm comfortable with this – I'm more comfortable when I'm over-exxagerating because I have a very outgoing personality so I can afford to be a little bit more outrageous than a shy withdrawn person. It's not separate from me although when I go home I tear all this down and wash my face. I still have a tendency to be a bit over-exaggerated even in my comfy clothes".

"In the early days – people believed because I was a great song-writer and a great talent. They would say to me – even people like Chet Atkins – they would say you need to change your image or you are not going to be taken that serious. But I thought, you know, this a journey for me. This is my journey. This is my adventure. I was comfortable with me whether anybody else was or not. I took my work more seriously than I took myself. I was enjoying my life – I was enjoying my paints and crayons and my big hair. It was fun for me – just like you'll dress up for a costume party or you'll pick a certain tie or a certain jacket you love and you'll say "Oh, I want to wear my vest today". It's like me – I'm going to wear the Rhinestone dress. It may have taken a long time but it got people's attention and people would look at me and think "God, what is that?" Who is that? What would possess a person to look like that? With my hair being so big a little family of pygmies could live under there. But I was comfortable with it. So I was just doing my work and people were looking at me close enough to see when I did sing or I did write they would think "Oh, that's really good" So I think it worked well. If I have any magic at all, the magic I might possess is I think because I look totally artificial but I am totally real. After so many years people saw that.

What is the basis of your appeal? Is it that you are seen as genuine?

"I hope so. A lot of people know that I'm sincere and honest as can be without selling one's soul. I do tell people what they want to know. If someone asks me if I've had plastic surgery, I'm not one to say no. I wish nobody knew – I wish nobody didn't ask me about it. I wish it didn't matter. They are private matters. But since they do, I'm not going to want to lie about it. I also think that if I'm open about it someone will say "well at least if you do it – you've got to get a good doctor and don't do something stupid. People relate to me because they appreciate the fact that I say what I feel. It may not always be the truth, but it is my truth"

Do you deliberately stay out of politics? You have said some very positive things about Gay marriage.

"I ain't going to get involved. don't have to think through all of that. I love everybody. I am not God I do not judge people nor am I God. We are supposed to love each other. And people are going to love whoever they love. I'm going to love who I want to love. I don't go round preaching it. I don't like people even to ask me questions about what I feel about this or what I feel about that. Usually I say, hey, I'm not talking about it, I'm not making any political statements because I see what happens to other artists – I've seen what can happen. You can destroy a whole career. So you'd better just keep your damn mouth shut if you are smart. I love people, I care people. I don't judge them. That's not my place"

Could a young person now born in poverty in America do what you did?

"You can always come out of anything. If you have a dream you can have it. There's always going to be poor people. There's going to always be poverty. But in some ways there may be even more opportunities – because there are so many outlets and so many ways to follow your dream – like American Idol and America's Got Talent and all the rest of it. But I think it's always going to be hard to make a dream come true. But you have to decide that's what you want to do and you have to keep working at that"

Your father was illiterate. Did you ever try and teach him to read?

My daddy was embarrassed about the fact that he couldn't read or write and it's not the kind of thing a child could do and say "Daddy- here lets sit down and read. We knew that he was sensitive about that. It wasn't something we talked about – it was just something we knew. My Daddy was so smart and so good and so intelligent. I think after so many years, he was so smart that he could have learned it – but you know how it is. Because he couldn't read when he was young then he believed it was hard – harder than it really is. And then when you're grown with children of your own it would be an embarrassing thing to admit that or try and do something about it in front of your own kids. I loved my Daddy. He had a good heart. So it means so much to me that I can do this in his honour – not just for him but for a lot of my relatives. A lot of my relatives couldn't read or write because you've got to remember that we're from way back – back woods people and a lot of country people didn't get the chance to have a good education. So many had large families when they were born – they had to go out in the fields and help everybody else. School – they were out in the country. They were one-room schools –way off –the weather. So it means a lot for me to do this – not just for my people, but for all people. This literacy programme, the Imagination Library, is not just for poor people- these books go out to all people. It doesn't matter if their parents are millionaires. Because there are a lot of well-to-do people that can't read or write or don't buy books or don't take the time with their children. I'm still reading a little book called the Baker's Apprentice. Judith Hendricks- I read everything. I tried to read everything that's on the New York Best-seller list. I follow the Oprah's Book Club – some of the best stuff I get from Oprah. I study religion and spiritual things. I'll still love that.

Were you embarrassed about how poor you were when you were young?

m

There were a lot of poor children in the earlier schools. It was where we started going to bigger public schools where there were more children where they would have real store-bought bread for sandwiches and we were still carrying biscuits with a piece of meat or honey or molasses or something on it –whatever we happened to have to fill our bellies up. We would all carry our lunch in a lard-bucket or something. There were so many of us – we all went to the same school. Mama would pack it in a big bucket and we would have to sneak off to eat and we were ashamed because other kids could afford to go to the cafeteria and buy store-bought meat or whatever. It's hard, it's always hard when you feel less than what you are. My mother was always very strong . One of the lines in the the songs – one is only poor if they choose to be. We may be poor as far as money goes but we're not poor. She had a way of saying "we are not in bad shape. There are a lot of people who are worse off than us"

You say that noone has ever stood in the way of your success?

That's true. And nobody ever will. I'm fourth down and there is eight children below me so I was a child that needed a lot of attention and didn't get it. And I learnt early on that by writing songs on my guitar and people would pay attention to me. My mother would say "run and get your guitar. Sing a little song you wrote" so I realized early on that I had something I could use to make a living. And I was always very close to God. I always had a very personal relationship with God as I perceived him - I guess we all do. Even people that are atheists. There's something you had to believe in- even if you are just superstitious. My lucky charm was always God and I just always had a great relationship. I had great support and help. And I did it.

People forget that you were a child star….

No, I was working hard. But it was not like a Michael Jackson/Elvis kind of thing. I was a local star. How big could that be? It was just simple shows. People say you never got a big head. How come it didn't go to your head? I never even thought of it like that. I still don't think of myself as a star. I think of myself as a working girl – doing what I love to do. I know that I'm a star – the way that people talk about that - but I don't take that in a vain way, I'm humbled by it and thank God for every day. Because this Is what I wanted to be . I would be afraid to be arrogant and silly about that. I'd be afraid that God would take it from me so I work hard at what I do. God gives me this stuff and he expects me to do with it what I can. I work too hard to be conceited about it.

What is your Daily Routine?

"I get up way before Dawn usually. I can't wait to get up. The bad part for me of getting up in the morning is that it takes so long to get daylight. I look out of the window and think "is it not daylight yet?" I get up, have my coffee, I do my spiritual readings. I go over my paperwork, my notes. Sometimes I get real creative when the whole world is quiet and still. That's my God-time. I'm in a space that nobody else is going to occupy but me and God for a while. I don't write full songs every day but there's never a day that I don't come up with some kind of song title or idea or grab a guitar and put a melody down. In some days I may write three or four songs in one day if I'm really on one of those writing binges and all the elements are going great.

You've made some great business decisions – including not allowing Elvis to take the publishing for the song "I will Always Love You"

"Elvis felt as bad about it as me because he loved that song. And Colonel Tom used to make decisions – I'm sure Elvis hated him for it as well. And at that time I already had that song out and Elvis heard it, loved it, and he was going to do it. But Colonel Tom waited at the last minute to tell me that after I'd told everybody, and talked about in the papers. But the copywrite is what I'm leaving for my family and I thought, well, I can't do that. I can't give half of the publishing away. It was a business decision made with Colonel Tom – not Elvis. But I still dream about hearing Elvis. But I even dreamed about him. I wrote a song called "I dreamed about Elvis" and we were singing and I got an Elvis sound alike to sing with me. And I'm going to put that out someday because it's really good. He sounds great on "I Can Always Love You"

Do you consider yourself a feminist writer? Some of your songs were not played because they were considered too controversial.

PMS Blues I think they thought that the subject matter people don't want to hear about. But it was a funny song. Eagle when she flies – I actually wrote the song for the movie Steel Magnolias – but they didn't take it – but that's why I wrote that – because it was about a group of women who were strong. But I've had a lot of things not played back in the old days. I don't just write for women, I write for men too. I just write what I feel so why wouldn't I? I had a good time when I was doing the 9-5 Musical here recently that I got to write for all those characters. One of the things I had the most fun with was writing for the male character who was a male chauvinist pig. I wrote the most horrible songs about women that you've ever heard. I thought "woman are going to kill me" – so I was writing all these awful things that he was saying about women. I thought I'd better watch myself as women will be burning crosses in yard.

Was it a good move to go from Country into more mainstream Pop?

"Obviously. I have to honestly say. That was a well-intentioned move to make. I wanted to do bigger things and appeal to a broader audience. I never wanted to leave the country market. Even on the Here You Come Again album I was still doing Country songs – I had my song "Me and Little Andy". I have to honestly say Little Sparrow suit my voice more than anything because that it is in my gut. It's in my Smoky Mountain DNA and that is those songs that come from the old world – England, Ireland, Scotland. They resonate in your soul as truth. They go all the way down. You hear them as children in the mountains. Your Aunts, people singing those songs –tell stories. It creates something inside you and my voice I think is so much more suited to that kind of music. But you can't make a dime doing it. So I always said I had to get rich in order to sing like I'm poor. I purposely tried to crossover. But I'm going to put together a band and do a whole tour of "Dolly Pure and Simple". Like Dolly Unplugged and not just Bluegrass but the songs that matter. Like Down from Dover and My Blue Tears mixed in.

A film is being made about your life?

I don't think she probably will. I think it will be less likely only because she played the June Carter role. She's wonderful, I'm crazy about her, but we'd have to get her a really big boob job. I think probably we'll go a different route with that – she's won an Oscar playing someone else in Country. The film is definitely going to do it; we're still working on the script"

Have you thought of taking it easy as you come up to retirement age?

"I'm going to slow down and take a few vacations sometime soon because I've been really working hard the last few years. But I'll never retire – I've got too many dreams to dream and dreams to fulfil".

How would you like to be remembered?

"I would like to be known as an all round entertainer. I would be remembered for the work we're doing –as the "book lady". That means a lot to me. For my personal self – I think if I had to quite everything – I love to sing the songs I write. The two greatest things in the world is writing the songs and then going in the recording studio to see those songs come to life. I want to be remembered as someone who had a good time and loved what I did and did it on my own terms - somebody that tried to have fun, that tried to get other people around me to have fun, and gave back. The big joke that I say is that one hundred years from now I want them to say: "Damn, don't she look good for her age".