The country singer Dolly Parton said could touch your soul: “One of the greatest”
Like many musicians, Dolly Parton is obsessed with the idea of timelessness and making sure that whatever it is that she has to say stays with her audience for a long, long time.
It’s not the sole reason why she writes, of course. Her main driving force is expressing her own thoughts, feelings, and experiences and channelling them through art. However, when it comes to the purpose of said art, she loves the fact that she has the platform to give something to the world forever.
As she said herself, “I love thinking I’m putting something in the world today that wasn’t there yesterday – and hopefully will be there forever.”
Parton has also been able to achieve such high levels of respectability because she’s one of the hardest-working people in music history. No, really; considering that she came from a working-class background and managed to climb her way to the top, despite several sonic and artistic shifts and navigating being in an inherently misogynistic industry, Parton has really proven herself as a true master of meritocracy.
She should actually be given more credit for all of that – Parton is no doubt a massive name in music, but people often forget all that she’s been through to earn her crown. That, plus the fact that she’s also remained humble through it all, facing masses of opinions about her appearance and whatnot, means she’s definitely underappreciated when it comes to being a real game-changing force of music beyond her country roots.
Through it all, however, music has been Parton’s solace. In fact, she once told Billboard that the only way she was always able to survive through tough times – whether industry-related or otherwise – was because of her writing. And through that, she found comfort in being able to help others through tough times, too, once she’d put out something that “hopefully will be there forever”.
At the same time, Parton looked to her own heroes for guidance and inspiration when she needed it the most. As expected, a lot of these figures revolutionised the country space and showed Parton what it was like to become a real singer-songwriter who can transform their experiences into musical masterpieces.
She looked up to all of the usual suspects, from Merle Haggard to Elton John. But when it comes to one that really changed things, there’s only one name that comes to her mind. “I have so many: Merle Haggard, Elton John, Billy Joel, Paul Simon,” she said. “Hank Williams is one of the greatest ever because people can take his songs and do them in any fashion. They are simple, sweet songs, but they just touch your guts and reach you wherever they want to.”
Many of Parton’s songs achieve the same feat, as well as the kind of honesty and authenticity you find in much of Williams’ work. Songs like ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘Coat of Many Colors’ proved how easily Parton could make tunes that also revealed details about her upbringing and values while being ambiguous enough for others to apply their own individual meaning.
