February 19th , 1974. The five foot tall country queen walks down the hallway of a tv studio, her blonde bouffant wig carefully styled. She’s walking to her boss’ office to pitch her new song; her last song, for his show that is. Recently the young Dolly Parton has told her “boss”, fellow country singer Porter Wagoner, that she will be leaving his weekly TV show. She enters his office and sings to him a beautiful song entitled, “I Will Always Love You”. Wagoner is in tears as she ends because he knows the song is about him. This song was not written about a romantic kind of love; it was about a deep love for a friend, a colleague, a mentor. All the things Wagoner was Parton. It’s a hard moment for Parton but she knows it’s time for her to go out on her own.
Parton was born on January 19th 1946, the fourth child to Avie and Lee Parton. The family was well below the poverty line and lived in a one room cabin in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, just north of the Smoky Mountains. Her father was a construction worker and a part time farmer; raising only enough food to feed his family and occasionally take to market. The family couldn’t afford store bought clothes so Avie handmade them for her 12 children. While in grade school, Avie made a coat from a box of old rags for young Dolly; this would later inspire her to write the song “Coat of Many Colors”.
Dolly Parton first began performing at her local church at the age of six. She taught herself guitar at age seven. She began singing for local radio stations when she was ten and recorded her first song at a small record label in Louisiana at age 13. Upon graduating from high school in 1964, Parton moved to Nashville to pursue a songwriting career. Between 1964 and 1967, she wrote several charting songs and two top ten singles. She saw little recording time of her own, however.
In 1967, after seeing her sing at the studio she worked at, hit singer Porter Wagoner offered her a spot on his weekly syndicated TV show, The Porter Wagoner Show. Later that year, Wagoner convinced RCA to sign Parton, and the two began recording duets together. “Last Thing only Mind”, their first single recorded in late 1967, went to the top ten; launching a six year uninterrupted top ten streak for the duo. The following year they won Vocal Group of the Year at the CMA awards.
The young singer struggled to launch a solo recording career until 1971, when her single “Joshua” went to number one on the charts. Over the next few years she released several more top ten hits; including her hit song “Coat of Many Colors” in late 1971. Her biggest hit of this time period was the song “Jolene”, which she released in 1973. The song went to number one on the country charts and charted on the Billboard hot 100.
“I Will Always Love You” went to number one on the charts in 1974 and shortly after, Parton stopped appearing on Wagoner’s show. Their last duet concert was held in April of 1974. She won her first Grammy Award in 1978 for her song “Here You Come Again” and continued to release several top 40 hits for the remainder of the decade. In 1980 she released her hit song “9 to 5”, the theme song of her movie of the same name. “9 to 5” went to number one on the country, pop, and adult contemporary charts. This makes Parton the only female country singer to have had a triple hit.
Her pop career continued through the 1980’s alongside her country career. She recorded numerous duets with fellow country artist Kenny Rogers throughout the 80’s. In the 90’s her career stalled but she successfully launched a comeback, earning her first number one hit of the 2000’s in 2005 with “When I Get Where I’m Going”, a duet with fellow singer Brad Paisley. Today Parton continues to appear at the Grand Ole Opry and continues to write songs. She has also turned to philanthropy, launching numerous organizations for numerous causes,
My Picks
- “Coat of many colors”
- “Islands in the stream” (A duet with Kenny Rogers in the 80’s)
- “Just someone I used to know” (A duet with Wagoner in 1969)
- “I will always love you”
- “Jolene”