- 7 weeks ago
Looking back on our 2023 interview with Dolly Parton, celebrating her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction and her album, 'Rockstar,' featuring music's biggest stars as her collaborators.
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00:00Where is the most remote or obscure place that you have found your music or
00:05influence that just kind of took you by surprise? Well I think that happened many
00:08years ago in South Africa. I wrote, my first album was called Just Because I'm
00:14a Woman and I found out that that song in South Africa had stayed on the charts
00:22for, it was set on the charts for like 40 years but it was like it was number one
00:28for, I mean, for weeks and maybe even years. We're joined this week by the most
00:36honored and revered female singer-songwriter in history. Her list of awards and
00:41accolades are endless but what she's beloved for all over the world is the
00:45way she makes people feel, Miss Dolly Parton. Well hi Katie, how are you? I'm doing
00:50great, Dolly. Thank you for all those sweet words. You are so welcome. I could go on and on. I
00:54don't know if they're true but thank you for them anyhow. They are absolutely true.
00:57We have so much to talk about today. You've got a new book and an album. I do. So we'll
01:02jump right in. The new book, My Life in Rhinestones, Behind the Scenes, coming out
01:07October 17th. This is a collection of so many beautiful outfits and memories and
01:13one of the ones I loved was the story about the little red high heels that you
01:16wanted to keep as a little girl and your mom took them away from you. It broke my
01:19heart for you but what was it like revisiting all of these outfits and
01:24memories while you were working on this book? Well it's always emotional to me when I
01:27when I wrote my life story back many many many years ago. Just going back to
01:32kind of dig into all those things that so many things you'd forgotten. So many you
01:37didn't want to remember but just kind of how you felt at that time and what you
01:41were going through at that time. But in this book, Behind the Seams, My Life in
01:46Rhinestones, really I thought that people would enjoy seeing all the stuff. I've been in
01:51this business for six decades now. I started when I was this tiny little thing and from
01:57the clothes my mom used to make for me to be on stage and other people and just in my
02:03climb through the years all the way up to the greatest clothes and designers that
02:08anybody could ever hope for in Hollywood and in the movies and all that. So and then
02:12the stories that I tell about the wigs and the clothes what I was going through at the time. But
02:18the main thing I love the fact that I'm getting to introduce so many people that
02:24did the clothes. Talking about them, that's what I love Behind the Seams. The
02:29people that put all this together and have made me look like I look throughout the
02:33years. Absolutely and I don't want you to give anything away too big from this
02:37question because we want people to buy a book. But is there anything you think
02:40people will be surprised to learn when they're reading this and flipping through it? Well I
02:44think most of my fans pretty much know my life know the story of my life but and
02:50they've seen a lot of pictures they've seen some things here and there because
02:53I only have you know so many pictures as far as my my childhood and all that
02:58because we didn't have lots of cameras and stuff but in this book it has been
03:02chronicled with photos and people through the years whether it be from album
03:07covers or from TV shows and a lot of the clothes that they've never physically seen
03:12and the stories and seeing how they made them and what all went into them. How
03:17many hours this might have taken and how many stones might have been on this
03:21outfit. Just little details that I think people are going to love and enjoy and
03:26especially the fans even though they've seen some of the pictures and heard some
03:30of the stories there's always some new things that people can learn about me and
03:34the ones that don't know me that well will get to know the whole whole story. For
03:38sure. Through rhinestones. Yes, through rhinestones. There was something you mentioned in the book that I
03:42can remember vividly the first time I heard it as a little girl and it was you
03:45have to suffer to be beautiful a little bit. So is there anything for you when
03:50it comes to clothes that's like too uncomfortable you won't do it? Well
03:54there's just some of my clothes that are so tight they just are uncomfortable but I
03:57usually will wear them anyway if they look good. That's where they say when beauty
04:02bears no pain. You know they usually say that about exercise. I say that about clothes. But
04:08there's some things that I'll put on I think yeah well depending on the occasion like for instance the
04:14book lady has a certain look. You know when I'm working with the imagination library I
04:19wear what I call book lady clothes. You know I don't because the children I don't like to
04:23wear something that's so low cut or real short. I try to look more like a you know the more
04:29toned down version of me as the book lady. But for some things I think that's too much for that
04:36but
04:36sometimes I think I can just go for it so I'll just change it if I don't feel it's
04:41right for the occasion more than it is whether it's right for me. You've gotten
04:45to wear so many amazing outfits and you still have so many great events and
04:49performances that you get to go to. What gets you excited about an outfit today?
04:53Well I'm still like a crazy kid with that. I mean I love beautiful clothes and I love
04:58all the rhinestones. I love the sequins and the styles and the designs and especially if
05:03they you try them on and you look great in them you think oh I can't wait to get out
05:07there in this. So yeah I still get excited about that. I love the clothes and I never
05:12minded spending a lot of money on my stage clothes because that's how I make my
05:16living. Behind the scenes though so much for my own life you know I don't have to
05:22have all that most expensive clothes ever. You know I wear a lot of things off the
05:27rack but then Steve Summers who does most of my things these days and I've had I have
05:32other designers but Steve and I work together you know on a daily basis for
05:38what we're planning and what we do. So you know we we just kind of map it out and
05:43he knows kind of what I should be wearing and what I shouldn't and what's what's
05:48right for the occasion. That's so wonderful and you I know have had so much
05:52fun with the fashion for the Rockstar album. Let's talk about that. Rockstar coming out
05:57November 17. Yeah I'm looking forward to that. It's gonna be so great this is 30
06:02songs with nine original rock songs. What did you learn about writing rock
06:07music while you were working on this? Well actually I worked with Kent Wells who
06:12produced the album. He did a great job and he's kind of a rock and roller even
06:15though he's worked in country music and he is a country boy but that's his he's he
06:20loves rock and roll so I knew he'd be the perfect person for it. So when I when we
06:25wrote some of the the songs together he gave me some good help with that because
06:31he knows the great melodies he's very strong with with the ones that we put in
06:35here with the melodies and of course I can write about anything. And so but some of
06:40the originals that I wrote I just tried to make myself think okay now you're just
06:45gonna be in a rock and roll album like the the title song Rockstar. I thought well I
06:50think I'd probably be safer to write a story about the rock star kind of like a
06:55girl like a Joan Jett say starting out as a youngster. So you just kind of have to put
07:01your mind to what you're doing and stay in that zone and that rock and roll is a
07:06different genre as they say. It's a different style of music all the way around.
07:11Definitely and you had the most amazing list of collaborators on this record.
07:16Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Sting, Elton John, Linda Perry. What were some of the
07:21most cherished memories you got to make making this record?
07:26Well all of them had a hat was a precious memory and just knowing that I got to sing
07:31with Paul McCartney, him singing and playing the piano and Ringo being on that
07:36record that was major major major and Elton John who I've loved for years I
07:41loved that Don't Let the Sun Go Down on me and just hearing us singing that
07:45together just hearing their voices was just enough to just hearing them in my
07:50headphones when we were singing together was just amazing to me and some of them
07:55were so much fun to do like when Stevie Nicks came down she stayed in Nashville
07:59about four days and so we got a chance to visit and get to know each other but we
08:04had fun singing the song together and and but they all had a great memory just
08:10dragging some of those people out of retirement some of them had thought well
08:14I'm not doing it much anymore I said well you're going to do it now I need you to do
08:19this yeah
08:20and we know that your husband Carl is a big rock fan were you nervous at all to
08:25play the record for him well I was I wanted it to be really good for him so I
08:29don't know if nerves as much as just really having the desire for it to be
08:35really great I think it made me try extra hard because I wanted it to be
08:39something he would think was good and then he when I played it to him he said
08:43that's pretty good so for him to say that would be like somebody else jumping up and
08:48down and saying that's that's great that's so wonderful and this is your 49th
08:54solo studio album if this is what you do for 49 you cross a genre you do a rock
09:00album what do you do for album 50 I don't know what I'll do after this I just want
09:05people to really enjoy this rock album I have to say it's really some really good
09:10music and then I did okay singing it because I sounded wonderful thank you I
09:15really busted a gut try and I wanted it to be great I gave it everything I had and
09:19it was fun for me it was a challenge but it was fun to get to sing these songs I
09:23usually sing so many of my own songs it's not great to get to sing something
09:27else especially some classic song but I didn't want to sing them so different
09:32that they weren't recognizable as the song I wanted to stay as true to the
09:36melody and not get too far you know out of whack you know with it staying on the
09:41beat and all the stuff you need to kind of do with in rock music but it was fun it
09:46was challenged but I don't know what I'll do next I'll just probably continue doing
09:51more of what I'm doing and then if a great opportunity like being put in the
09:54Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gives me an opportunity to do a rock album if I get
09:58put in the R&B Hall of Fame I'll have to do an R&B yes you will I wish
10:02I would because I love R&B
10:04how much do you find that you're still writing is this like a daily weekly thing
10:08oh I still write all the time that's the way of life with me that's not something
10:12I don't always finish everything I start but I write something down almost every day
10:17some idea some title and I just throw them and I got a little basket and I carry a
10:22little ziploc in my purse because I'm always coming up with titles I don't want
10:26to lose and I've got a stack of that right now in my in my purse that I'm coming up
10:32with stuff but I write all the time you have said before that getting your
10:37thoughts and emotions out through songwriting is always really healing for
10:40you like that's very therapeutic and I think that's because your music has always
10:44been so vulnerable and it was you've always done that even at times in your
10:49career when you know being vulnerable was taboo what do you why do you think
10:52it's always been so important for you to share that vulnerability with the world
10:56well I'm people I'm in the business I wanted to be a star and I'm one of those
11:01people that I want to leave myself wide open and my heart wide open and I think
11:05when you're a writer you can't really close that off and so the kind of writer I
11:09am I live off of emotion and I'm I'm very sensitive and I feel the
11:14sensitivity in other people and so what I don't write about myself or something
11:18I've been through I write about the people that I might love or people that
11:22I see that are suffering and I can write their sorrow or their joy in a song
11:27because I'm able to rhyme and I'm I mean that's just something it's a skill you
11:32know to to that degree to be able to just to put something down and rhyme it but I
11:36really get involved in it when I'm when I get myself in what I call my God zone to
11:41where I really am getting deep with it and that's when I say it's like therapy
11:45for me I write about my own sorrows I write about my own joys but I think that
11:50we all suffer and feel the same emotions so my emotions are everybody's and
11:57everybody's is mine so I can write about that exactly and I think that's such an
12:00important thing to remember because I think when you feel a really big emotion
12:02sometimes you can feel like I'm the only person that's ever felt this way and I
12:06know that's why your music has touched to touch so many people but are you ever
12:09shocked at how many people react to something that you felt so strongly yeah
12:14I am often am and a good example that was even in my earliest days when I put
12:20out the little coat of many colors I got so much mail so many people reaching out
12:26to say that song had healed him of hurts that they had carried around forever and
12:32so many people that have been hurt or laughed at made fun of for one reason or
12:38another and or had been snubbed or bullied or whatever that little song in
12:43itself was just really like a you know like a prayer cloth so to speak it was a
12:48rag of many colors and it was in a way kind of like was healing to other people and so
12:55that one I thought was was a special one definitely and your words are so
13:01healing for so many people and it's touched them I'm sure in the toughest
13:04the time toughest times of their lives but what are the things that get you
13:07through like what are the words that have helped you through tough times in
13:10your life oh I'm big I'm a I grew up in in the church and my grandpa was a
13:16preacher so I just remember scriptures and I still do my meditations every day my
13:21readings and all that and I read the Bible you know I have certain things that
13:26I'll go to I know the Bible pretty good so if I'm going through a certain thing I'll
13:30just kind of you know read about that but I pray a lot and I just throw it out
13:35there and just expect him to handle it handle it yeah please please just handle it
13:41handle it when it gets too much for me you know one of the things I want to ask you
13:45about May 30th of next year you and Carl Dean are going to celebrate your 58th
13:49wedding anniversary and 60 years together oh congratulations we met 60 years ago
13:55in May of 64 when I the first day I came to Nashville from high school when I came
14:02to live you guys have such an amazing love story and I've been making the
14:06habit that when I meet somebody who's had a very long and successful marriage to
14:11ask what is your advice well you gotta have a respect for each other and liking
14:16one another is a really good thing I really like Carl Dean and I love him too but he's just
14:22a he's just a really
14:24good guy and he's funny as he can be and I think having a sense of humor both of us
14:30do he's crazy and we can laugh our way through so much stuff but I think just
14:35trust and love and respect and just trying to you know they say a lot of those old
14:40things never go to bed angry so many of those things try not to do that because
14:44we've always got along great and I think that's we don't have a bunch of stuff that
14:48we've built up between us of hateful words and things like that so I think now
14:54that we're older we're both glad that we never allowed that to happen so don't
14:58start a big bunch arguing because once you started it becomes a habit seeing it
15:03all the time so we never had that so just trusting and respect I think is best
15:09stuff that's so special and that's great advice when I was getting ready for this
15:13interview I was kind of going through just some of my like memories of you and
15:18experiences with your music and one of the things I thought of was in 2019 I was
15:23on a trip to Morocco and we were doing this excursion we were driving 11 hours
15:26into the desert and I remember sitting in the car thinking like I'm so far away
15:30from home and Jolene came on the radio and I remember thinking oh my gosh there is no
15:35corner of the world too remote for Dolly Parton so I want to ask you where is the
15:41most remote or obscure place that you have found your music or influence that
15:46just kind of took you by surprise well I think that happened many years ago in
15:49South Africa I wrote it I wrote my first album was called just because I'm a
15:55woman and I found out that that song in South Africa had stayed on the charts for
16:04it was said on the charts for like 40 years but it was like it was number one for I
16:09mean for weeks and maybe even years because the women felt so you know
16:15oppressed and it was a really about speaking for them I guess this was and I
16:19did some shows in Johannesburg in my early years but I was never so shocked as to
16:24how that record was the biggest thing for so many years on on the charts there so
16:31but all over the world now I've been around so much of that too is because of the
16:37movies you know I've done movies that are worldwide too and but in my early days
16:42just singing my real country songs in those areas of people like country music
16:46but I'm I'm always surprised at how how much that people say they know me or like
16:52just what you said somebody say I was out in the middle of nowhere and here comes
16:57you or you had a picture of you in the airport and it just makes me feel loved and it
17:01makes me feel
17:01like you know how lucky I am that my my dreams have come true that's what I
17:06wanted to travel the world and be famous and you have done it Dolly Parton I said at
17:12the beginning of this you are so beloved because of the way you make people feel
17:15and you have made me feel so wonderful to get to spend this time with you today
17:18that makes me feel good thank you so much congratulations yes it is it is thank you so much for
17:23the time I so appreciate it
17:24you're welcome