Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 435 - Dolly Parton: WWDD?

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

Time for some year end inspiration from the incomparable Dolly Parton! A true living legend. If all you think about when you think of Dolly is big hair, bigger boobs, and some catchy songs, I hope you give this one a listen. She is so much more than that. A truly incredible, inspiring soul who has built an incredible life on a foundation of generosity, kindness, and her faith. Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [e-mail] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

How much do you know about Dolly Parton? If you only think of big hair, bigger boobs, and a few catchy songs, I hope you listen to this whole episode because that is barely the tip of the Dolly iceberg. Dolly has led and continues to lead a truly extraordinary inspirational life, which is why I picked her for this year-end inspirational episode. Dolly Parton grew up dirt poor, one of 12 kids in a one-room cabin in the great smoky mountains of eastern Tennessee. Some of her very first memories involve singing in a one room cabin in the great smoky mountains of eastern Tennessee.

Some of her very first memories involved singing and a deep longing to see the world. From an early age, her biggest wish was to become a country superstar and to sing her own songs for crowds of thousands. She grew up singing with her 11 siblings, often playing her guitar on the top of a wood pile for an audience of family and farm animals. Unfortunately for Dolly, her dreams were not just dreams. They were reasonable goals. She had raw talents, an incredible determination to succeed, and most importantly, she believed

in herself. And still does. She built a remarkable life on a foundation of Christian faith and strong moral values that gave her the courage to leave home and build a career in music. With hard work, family support, and exceptional talent, Dolly became a superstar across multiple genres. Truly a household name as she has been for around half a century now. Her name, likeness, and music are recognized around the world. Dolly's produced 49 studio albums and counting, she's registered more number one songs on

Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart than any other female artist, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Her songs have charted in every single decade of her career, a career that goes all the way back to the 1960s. She's earned Grammys and Emmy, been nominated for Academy Awards and a Tony, has won several Lifetime Achievement Awards, not to mention various Hall of Fame inductions. And along the way, she's had some struggles. She dealt with tabloid scandals and bad press and emotional affair combined with other personal troubles that nearly led her to taking her own life. She's lost friendships, had family members take advantage of her, lost business relationships, been attacked by fans and detractors alike for taking bold

public stances on divisive polarizing issues. This week we will learn how Dolly Parton rose to fame and became America's sweetheart, while share the most influential moments of her career and cover how she has continued to share her success by giving back to her community in this year-end annual dose of positivity and inspiration edition of Time Suck. This is Michael McDonald and you're listening to Time Suck. Ah! You're listening to Time Suck. Well, happy Monday and welcome to the Cult of the Curious for the last time in 2025. Hope you had a nice holiday. Dan Cummins, suck master, 47 year old

eighth grader. Shelby Hewitt's life coach and you are listening to Time Suck. Thank you for doing so. Hail Nimrod, hail Lucifina, praise be to good boy Bojangles, glory be to Triple M. Thanks for watching over all the shows all year, gods of Time Suck. And keep an eye on this last episode. Before I go full Dolly, first something Dolly would definitely approve of me doing here at this point in the episode. Let's talk a little bit about charity and then we'll get into it. What an amazing effort on the annual Bad Magic Giving Tree this year, Meat Sacks. It was wonderful to see so many of you come together to love and support our most vulnerable community members during the holidays and that's the kids. This holiday season you donated an additional $15,789 in gift cards and brought our giving tree total spend to $33,792. We were able to support 110 kids and have a wonderful holiday season. Lindsay and her mom St. Joan are the ones who keep the giving tree running and the giving tree was not very smooth this year. Behind the scenes there was a variety of issues that we're looking into trying

to figure out, fix for next year. The biggest issue we ran into was Amazon canceling all of our orders not once but twice locking us out of our account and reporting us as fraudsters because of all the different gift cards used to purchase so many gifts shipped to so many different addresses. But thanks to St. Joan the shopping was still completed on time. Fuck the world's scammers who create the need for such stringent anti-fraud measures that make this kind of stuff a pain in the ass for the rest of us. Made us look like we were running a scam for yeah, using those gift cards to buy presents for a lot of different people.

But still pulled it off. I've seen some of the emails from those who have gotten their presents. It's truly heartwarming seeing some posts in the Cult of Curious and some other places of people sharing the presents for the kids. Additionally, we want to take a moment to thank all of you who support the show by listing, rating, and reviewing, telling people about us, or subscribing on Patreon. We donated this year in total in 2024, $141,326 to various charities and added $16,846 to the scholarship fund plus the additional giving tree funds and that brings the grand total to $191,964 in charitable giving, almost 200 grand, which is absolutely amazing. As we roll into 25, we have a goal of hitting a million dollars total and lifetime bad magic donations and charitable giving This coming year will need to donate just under eighty four thousand dollars to achieve that goal

If you're interested in helping us achieve it You can join our patreon as that's where the donation money comes from and by the way with patreon the Apple Store now charging additional Fees for people who sign up on patreon, but you can easily avoid all the fees by just going to a web browser to sign up to sign up on a web browser go to patreon.com instead of doing it through the iOS app and then you can go back to the iOS app and and use it just like you would as if you had made the initial subscription purchase through the app and get all the same benefits but none of the fees you just get that five dollars a month. Again thank you to all the space

leaders for the support over the years. It has been tremendous! And now let's move on towards our topic. I picked Dolly Parton this year for a few reasons. One because I think she's such a great example of how amazing things can come to those who work really really hard in an area where they already have not only natural talent but like like true passion for. And moreover, I picked Dolly because I think she's a fantastic example of someone who has not let fame, not over five decades of fame,

change her in seemingly any bad ways. She had a great moral compass, a lot of integrity, when she started her career as a kid back in the 1960s, and she never lost it. In reading a lot of articles on her over the past few days, two adjectives kept coming up more than any others when it came to people describing her. And it wasn't sexy, it wasn't talented, it wasn't hard-working even though she's definitely all those things. It wasn't you know business savvy smart, those things as

well. But no, it was kind and generous. She has long been known for being extremely kind and extremely generous Under those famous big boobs is an even bigger heart So how is today's info being conveyed? Well start with a brief overview of why the world loves Dolly Parton before diving into a full timeline of her life and career Then after recapping her big old inspiring life I'll share a bit of recap where I'm uh of where I'm at with Time Suck and and more after a year away from touring and what I'll be focusing on this next year and Now as Dolly Parton frequently likes to say let's fucking go you, you piece of shit, motherfucking backwoods bitch shit, dog dick, butthole licker!

Wait, I'm not sure that's actually one of Dolly's catchphrases. It would be great if it was. Sorry, I've covered a lot of topics over the years, and sometimes they start to bleed together. Maybe somebody else said that. Let's just get started. In 2021, Time Magazine added then-75-year-old Dolly Parton to its annual list of the year's most influential people. Singer Miley Cyrus, Dolly's goddaughter, wrote for Time Magazine, "'Dolly is not only my idol because of her incomparable career, she's also my role model

because of her steadfast morals and values. At her core, she is the definition of a humanitarian. Though she created an identity that she downplays on being built on wigs, a lot of gig'em, or excuse me, a lot of gingham, and silicone, the foundation for this empire is actually her honesty, truth, and her faith. The Library of Congress also praised Dolly in their biography page about the singer, writing that Dolly's progressive lyrics and willingness to speak out about her beliefs have made her stand out in the country music industry. The bio also mentioned

Dolly's music has touched the hearts of people all over the world from the UK to Australia to Zimbabwe. Her music showcases her Appalachian roots. Appalachian roots, how do you want to say? But her songs deal with universal issues we all experience like love and heartbreak. Dolly's a talented singer and a songwriter and for many years she might have been best known for being a sex symbol. What really makes her worthy of universal acclaim is wit, passion, and dedication to her craft, her career, her kind heart, her continual standing up for the marginalized, her integrity, her many philanthropic ventures over the years.

Most of the world truly seems to love Dolly Parton. To me, she is the epitome of a national treasure. In today's timeline, we will cover her humble beginnings in the Tennessee Mountains learn how she became a superstar and one of the world's sweethearts and And if by the end of all that if you're still like nah still not a fan Fuck that bitch. Well, then I want you to email me your home address so I can find you and kill you All right. Here we go Let's get into this timeline and kill you. All right, here we go. Let's get into this timeline.

Shrap on those boots, soldier. We're marching down a time suck timeline. Dolly Rebecca Parton was born January 19th, 1946 in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Most sources say the cabin was located in the little 454 berg of Pittman Center. It would be the coldest day of that winter and snow was falling when she fought like a fucking terror to make it past the final boss in the video game of her birth, her mama's ferocious vagina. Dolly's mother's vagina, known as the Smoky Mountains Bearcat, had a reputation for being a so-called baby eater and had already taken the lives

of Dolly's previous three siblings. Mama Parton's Bearcat was always hungry, always playing for blood, and it badly wanted young Dolly's blood that cold Tennessee day and was willing to do damn near anything to get it. The Bearcat could it could snap as the labia shut with the power of a vice grip. It could generate enough force to pop a baby's head clean off. The Bearcat's vaginal opening was said to be able to sprout fangs at will, able to bite into a baby, prevent it from ever leaving the womb alive. But Dolly, no ordinary baby.

She'd been preparing for her exit for months. She taught herself how to box. By the time she was due, she could throw one hell of a left hook and a right cross, and she punched the ever-loving fuck out of that pussy. She truly beat it into submission. Beat it until it whimpered and begged for mercy. Punched that pussy so hard she was the only baby in history to have been documented to literally just walk on out of her mama's birth canal.

That bear-cat beaver never even dilated. It was wide open enough for her to walk out because it was literally screaming in terror. That bullshit probably went on a little bit longer than it should have. And if you believed any of that, I want you to get your head checked out. We're all worried about you. There's a good chance a tumor in your brain is growing. It actually would be the coldest day of that winter though, and snow really was falling when Dolly was born. Dolly's mother, Abby Lee Parton, was having a difficult labor. So her father Robert Lee Parton sent for the local doctor or missionary preaching in the area named Robert F. Thomas.

Let's hope for another Lee there. Dr. Thomas helped Dolly arrive safe and sound. He bested that ferocious bearcat. And Dolly was a healthy new addition to her family. Her parents couldn't afford to pay Dr. Thomas with cash. They didn't have any. So they gave him a sack of cornmeal as payment. And that is how you know you are definitely fucking super poor. Her parents couldn't afford to pay Dr. Thomas with cash. They didn't have any. So they gave him a sack of cornmeal as payment.

And that is how you know you are definitely fucking super poor when you have to pay for a baby with cornmeal. Dolly wrote in her 1994 autobiography, My Life and Other Unfinished Business, the main source for this timeline, being born poor is something I am neither proud nor ashamed of. I have found that poverty is something you don't really realize while you're in it, at least not

if you're a kid with a head full of dreams and a house full of a loving family. I have found that poverty is something you don't really realize while you're in it. At least not if you're a kid with a head full of dreams and a house full of a loving family. I love that. Yeah being poor doesn't mean you can't be happy. Plenty of miserable rich people. Plenty of happy poor people. Being poor doesn't mean you can't be surrounded by love. Dolly's father Robert Lee Parton was 24 when she was born. He had been born on March 22nd 1921 in Sevierville Tennessee. Literally just a few miles down the road from Pittman Center her mother Abby Lee Owens just 22 when Dolly beat her bearcat born on October 5th 1923 in Lockhart, South Carolina and

Abby Lee and Robert Lee pretty funny that both her parents had been named Lee I got married in 1939 when Abby was 15 and Lee was 17 He would just go by Lee for most of his life. The couple would end up having 12 children by the time Avi Lee turned 35 and that is fucking wild. She really did have a ferocious bearcat down there between her legs. Robert Lee again just went by Lee, passed away in 2000 and Avi Lee passed three years later in 2003. They were married over 60 years together and were able to watch Dolly and several other

of their children build pretty successful careers. Dolly was the fourth child in the family. Her siblings were and would remain an important part of her life. She's still close with many of them today, especially her sisters. Dolly wrote about each sibling in her autobiography. She said their little sister, Stella,

is a quote, filthy backstabbing dirty little bitch who'd suck the devil's dick for a shiny nickel without batting an eye. But the rest of them are quote pretty cool. She of course didn't say that. She and Stella were and remain close. Willa Dean. Oh god that's a great name. You know me a lot Willa Deans. Willa Dean! What does somebody born with the name of Willa Dean destined to do? I feel like if you're Willadine, probably not a neurosurgeon. I'm just going to say that there's no neurosurgeon named Willadine. But probably some people who, I don't know, can give you some good, like, folksy advice. I just don't know what to do, Willadine.

Well, you just got to get the kid out of the kettle and walk on down to this brook and bop a robin on his noggin and then the sun will come out tomorrow. I don't know some kind of weird shit. Anyway, this is Bablin. Willadine, the oldest parton child. Born on March 24th, 1940, Dolly wrote about her sister, Within my immediate family my sister Willadine is a wonderful poet. Willadine writes some of the sweetest purest things I've ever read. Okay, yeah, poet would be good for Willadine. Our big brother David Parton, born in 1942. David reminds Dolly of their father. She wrote, He's a very quiet, intelligent man. He joined in on our sing-alongs, but of all the boys, he is the least interested in music.

David is great with numbers and organization. Coy Denver was born in 1943. According to Dolly, Denver and I have a very unusual but special relationship we're lovers no we were very close in age when we were growing up we were a troublesome pair but I believe that's what has made us even closer now that we're adults Denver probably has the best voice of all the boys but he's just too shy to play his guitar or sing in front of anybody even family Robert Jr. was born in 1948 Bobby Dolly Dolly said, or Bobbert if you prefer. Not that interested in music, but he's one of the most creative members of the family. He's a talented developer, contractor, and builder.

Stella? Dirty, dirty, fucking hillbilly backstabbing Stella Parton. Born May 4th, 1949, Stella's an accomplished businesswoman with a lot of talent. Dolly wrote, She's one of the hardest working women I've ever met. Stella has always been helpful to me. She is also a wonderful songwriter. Stella is another country singer who has released 22 studio albums to date and has had 28 charting country and gospel singles. So pretty impressive in her own right.

Cassie Parton was born February 12, 1951 and according to Dolly, Cassie is the only one of us girls who is not at all interested in writing, singing, or performing. She has never even liked singing in church. Cassie has a great sense of humor that I take to the bone. We've always been very close. She's more like a daughter than a sister. And I feel like the fairy grandmother to her kids. There's Randy Parton, born December 15, 1953. Went on to become an established publisher and has earned

various awards for his work. He recently died of cancer January 21st, 2021 at the age of 67. After Randy were the twins Floyd and Frieda. Born June 1st, 1957. Dolly considered Floyd to be one of the greatest writers and singers she knew. He wrote a ballad she sang with Ricky Van Shelton, rocking years that was nominated for best country vocal performance for their performance of the song at the 34th Grammy Awards. He passed away December 6, 2018 of an unspecified illness. And Dolly wrote about her sister, Frida, You will never meet anyone so gifted in your life.

I marvel at the songs she writes. They are filled with fire and passion, by writing pales in comparison to hers Frida's actually mostly worked in hip-hop randomly. She's penned a lot of tracks for groups like mostly like in the 90s Too short to live crew easy Some of her best-known most critically acclaimed songs are blowjob Betty Cocktails me so horny. We want some pussy. Real motherfucking G's and nuts on your chin. That's not true of course, but those are all real names of real songs by Too Short Too Life Crew and Eazy-E. The final sibling Rachel was born August 31st 1959. Dolly wrote, you've never seen such beauty and sweetness and warmth. Hers is an angelic voice too beautiful to believe, and her lyrics are true poetry. Rachel loves everybody and everybody loves Rachel. The part in kids as I mentioned never had much money growing up, but Dolly grew up in a loving

household. She wrote in her autobiography, my mom and daddy always gave us everything they could, and all of us kids knew and appreciated that. Although it was never spoken. There's a funny thing about mountain folks. There's an awful lot that is never said out loud. I can remember very few times one member of my family said the word I love you to another one. That doesn't mean it wasn't communicated. Like with the majority of siblings there was plenty of fighting and mischief in the part in house. Dolly wrote that she had a real mean streak as a kid. Which usually meant tormenting both of her siblings

and the chickens. Not like both as in two siblings, but like her siblings and chickens, she said. She didn't say what she did to those chickens. Did she maybe twist the heads off little baby chicks? She might have, right? You know, she never said she did that, but she never said she didn't. How dark did Dolly get? Her parents often had to discipline their kids according to Dolly. I don't mean as some celebrities have to claim that I was abused. None of us kids were. We were not beaten. We got plain old Tennessee butt whippens and in truth we deserve them. When one of the kids did something wrong Dolly said no one would snitch on them but then that loyalty meant they would all get in trouble. Lee typically would

whip the kids with a leather strap, very common at the time, while Abby Lee would make them go outside and pick a little switch for their whooping. Lee worked primarily as a sharecropper. Family lived on land owned by an elderly woman named Martha Williams whom the kids called Aunt Martha. Some of Dolly's earliest memories as a toddler sent around Aunt Martha. Martha liked to bake, always shared her treats with the parking kids. Dolly loved Martha, spent a lot of time over at her house. Martha struggled with pretty intense asthma and sometimes her coffin fits a frightened young Dolly but she always stayed. I feel like she and Aunt Marth needed each other. When she was able,

Martha would sit with little Dolly, make up a song with her name in it. One of those songs, the very first song that Dolly remembers and it made her feel special and that is adorable. When Dolly was five and the family moved away from excuse me, when Dolly was five, my family moved away from Antmar's land. That marked a big milestone for the Partons. For the first time, Lee was able to buy a house. He purchased a one-bedroom cabin on nearby Locust Ridge for five grand. The family called their home over in the holler.

Locust Ridge is, according to Dolly, nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains. The cabin was in an isolated, rural location northeast of Gatlinburg and southeast of Sevierville, and this cabin still stands in its original location today. Dolly wrote that when her dad bought it, it was overgrown, the fences were all down, the roof leaked. Making something out of this was going to be more work than sharecropping ever was, but daddy did it. Golly said that she grew up with no electricity, two rooms and a path and running water if you were willing to run to get it. Golly and her siblings were excited to move because it meant they got to put new newspapers on the wall. She explained the people who didn't have much money used newspapers as wallpaper

back then because it helped insulate the house. And putting up new papers meant they could look at new pictures and read some new articles. That's pretty funny thing to get excited about. I like it. Growing up poor fostered creativity. The kids had very few store-bought toys so they played together made up their own games. When he had time Lee made wooden toys and Abby Lee made corn cob dolls for the girls. How cute is that? Corn cob dolls. I had to look up pictures of corncob dolls, and they are exactly what I was picturing. Literally just corncobs dressed in doll clothes. Some have like little plastic eyes stuck on them and stuff, little wigs, that sort of thing. Dolly named her first corncob doll Big Tits. No, Tiny Tassel Top. That'd be pretty funny though if a little girl...

Uh, Momma can I play with Big Tits? I'm sorry, what? No, Tiny Tassel Top was her little corn cob doll. And the first song she ever wrote was about this doll and it went like this. I don't know the melody, but she had the words written down in her book. Uh, little tiny tassel top, I love you an awful lot. Corn silk hair and big brown eyes, how you make me smile. Little tiny tassel top, you're the only friend that I've got. Hope you'll never go away. I want you to stay."

And those lyrics made me laugh so hard when I first read them because it reminded me of my daughter Monroe when she was a little girl. Like three, four, five. Also of my sister Donna when she was that age. They just make up songs, you know? Just like sometimes like sad songs about like, you know, you're the only friend I've got little tassel top. Dolly probably wrote that after getting in a fight with her sister or something Monroe used to kill me when she would make up songs because she would talk so much shit in song form And just blatantly complain about something you had done in front of you But think that she wouldn't get in trouble because it was a song I'm in trouble for hitting my brother

But I didn't do it and my dad's bigging me cuz I'm in trouble But I didn't do it cuz he is stupid for thinking I did it. Papa dog hit my brother but I was not just doing it. I hold it it but that is all but my dad doesn't care cause he's big and stupid and mean. I mean that's obviously that's not right exactly what she said but I mean it was that kind of thing. She would just insult you and you're like Monroe. She She's like, no, I just sing a song. What? What about you? Get out of here. Earliest bad memory Dolly had of growing up was of chasing after a butterfly one day near the family cabin. She chased it so far before she knew it. She was totally lost in the woods. First she wasn't worried. She walked in circles trying to find something she recognized and that went on for hours.

She got further and further from the cabin. Then terror set in. Once it got dark, she had no idea still where she was. Like little Dolly cried, shouted for help, but she was too far from home to be heard. She ended up collapsing to the ground in a small clearing and bawling her eyes out. Being lost as a little kid is such a terrifying feeling. I had a few moments in the woods as a kid when I thought I was lost and it's crazy how quickly a feeling of just pure and total panic sets in. And you think that no one's ever gonna find you and you're gonna die alone in the woods or you

know wherever you happen to be. Eventually Dolly heard a cow bell in the distance. It was the family milk cow Bessie who was approaching the house for feeding time and as the cow passed by Dolly grabbed onto her leather collar and hung on, rode her all the way home. She recounted that experience in her book, writing, When I was finally dragged into the yard, I thought Mama would be thrilled beyond words to see my bruised and bloodied carcass. She must have been, because she didn't use any words, as she administered a few extra bruises to my butt with a hickory switch. One of Dolly's most traumatic childhood memories was the death of her beloved Aunt Marth, the first woman to sing her that song.

One day, her mother, Abby Lee, told everyone to get dressed and announced they were going to see Aunt Marth. Dolly was so excited to see her friend again, but then was shocked when she entered the house and saw a coffin containing Marth's body. So I guess mom was worried that if she, you know, gave the kids a heads up, it would be too hard to get them all over into the cabin. Dolly tried to leave the room when the adults were distracted by a couple little boys at the funeral, You know gave the kids a heads up. It would be too hard to get them all over into the cabin Dolly tried to leave the room when the adults were distracted But a couple little boys at the funeral being little boys who loved to terrorize little girls Dragged her over to the coffin and forced her to look they wouldn't they wouldn't let her go They described in great detail how aunt Marth was cut open and embalmed Told Dolly she was gonna be put in the ground worms are gonna crawl in and out of her body and they even grabbed

All his little hand and forced her to touch the body. Because of that traumatic memory, Dolly, to this day, will not go to funerals and will not look at dead bodies. And those little assholes, isn't it crazy how some shit like that can happen when we're a little kid

and it can stick with us for the rest of our lives? I have a few memories of, you know, I don't know, just like whatever bullies saying this or that to me as a little kid, things that if I saw them today and asked them about I doubt they would even remember But still that shit has fucked with me like little moments is ever since and I know it's stupid but the feeling you know Those feelings sometimes they just still linger In addition to lessons on family and morality dolly's parents taught their kids skills to survive accidents in the remote mountain home For example every spring

Abby Lee allowed the kids to take off their boots and spend the next several months running around barefoot. One spring, on the day they got to remove their shoes, they were given the task of walking around the property to collect broken bottles, canned lids, and other trash. And it seems like maybe mom should have waited like one more day before she let the kids take their boots off. Maybe wait until the day after the kids are to wander the property picking up broken bottles and sharp metal lids and stuff. While out collecting trash, Dolly spotted a piece of broken glass on the other side of the fence. She climbed over, she jumped down, and she landed on a sharp jagged piece of metal that was half buried in

the dirt and her foot was cut so bad that a few of her toes were almost severed, almost cut clean off. Several family members would have to hold her down a little while later while her mom packed the wound with kerosene and cornmeal to stop the bleeding and then her mom sewed her toes back together with no pain relief. My god, that must have hurt something fierce. Avalee's treatment worked. Dolly kept the full use of her foot. Didn't lose any toes. Also never really enjoyed outdoor labor after that and would do anything she could to get out of field work. Yeah, I don't blame her. Sometimes she would fake an illness. She once saw her older sister

get a nosebleed and then she got to stay inside doing housework because of that. So Dolly decided she'd do the same. Thinking that if she could write, sing some songs, you know, once she was free from her chores. So she went behind a tree and just bopped herself in the nose several times, but couldn't make it bleed. So now she still had to do her chores, but just with a red, hurty nose that was throbbing. Dolly was an exceptionally curious kid. She longed to see and explore the world outside our mountain community. She wrote, I can remember always having a desperate need to bring something fine or beautiful or at least different into my life. In an effort to bring beauty to her everyday life, she once stole a pack of crayons from school, hid them in a hollow tree trunk to come back together later

to come back later, grab them and do some drawings. But a classmate saw her and classmate was a rat, ratted her out to the teacher. The college teacher at the time was an intimidating man who often told the students, you be good to me and I'll be good to you. She thought she was going to get the strap once she found out, back when teachers could beat the shit out of kids. But instead the teacher called the class together and said,

do you all see what Dolly has done? She's stolen. And that public shaming was worse than the strap. Made Dolly feel small, terrified, embarrassed, worthless. That experience left her with negative feelings about school that never fully went away. She got a little older, Dolly noticed that boys were interested in her.

Of course, she was a super cute little kid, grew up into a beautiful woman. First time she noticed a boy's interest was at a local pie supper. It was an event where each girl would bring a pie and then boys would bid to sit with the girl who made the pie so they could eat it together. And that is cute and weird.

I would have loved that as a kid, actually. I loved pies and girls, but I was so shy around girls. I would have loved to have a girl, you know, have to sit and eat a pie with me. I also probably would have disgusted her, you know, just eating like a fucking dirty animal. It's so good. She stares at me just ugh. You know, just eating like a fucking dirty animal. I'm so good.

She stares at me just ugh. A boy named Dewey King had a bid against several other boys to sit with Dolly and he was overjoyed to win that honor with the cute little girl and that was a nice little boost to young Dolly's self-esteem that she's never forgotten. It was around that time that Dolly met her lifelong best friend, Judy Ogle, who will come up several times throughout this timeline. Dolly was in third grade when her family moved from Locust Ridge to a new cabin in the unincorporated community of Canton's Chapel just a few miles away. Dolly was nervous, saw a shy girl with copper hair, two girls who didn't seem to fit in, now formed a close bond. Dolly had a hard time in school, didn't have many friends, but Judy would always be loyal

to her. And Dolly later described young Judy as being even more shy than herself, adding, she was an absolutely withdrawn little girl with ragged clothes, chapped lips, and skin knees, with a piece of a rubber band taken from an old pair of underwear, what we used to call bloomer rubber in her hair. Man, that's quite the visual. She's like a fucking Charlie Brown character. rubber in her hair. Man that's quite the visual. She's like a fucking Charlie Brown character. Back at home, Abby Lee continued dedicating her life to raising Dolly and her siblings. She worked from sunrise to sunset to take care of her family despite some ongoing health issues. Sometimes Abby Lee and her husband fought and he'd disappear for days at a time, leaving her alone with the kids. Despite challenges like that, Abby Lee always able to notice when one of her kids need

a little extra attention. One way she'd make the kids feel special is by making some stone soup. Each kid picked out a stone as in a rock and Abby Lee would choose one to add to the soup. She always picked the stone chosen by the kid who is feeling the most down. And before I share more about this stone soup, time for the first of two mid-show sponsor breaks. And I'm back. And now let's hear more about Dolly eating this rock soup. Is that a real thing?

Dolly wrote, I can remember the feeling of having my stone picked to go in the soup. It's a warm feeling, a sense of being needed and of knowing or at least believing that you have had a hand in feeding your whole family for a day. Man, stone soup. Talk about poor people's food. What kind of soup we have them today? Stone, stone soup. Just try not to eat the rock.

Bust your shit out of your teeth. And stone soup is a real thing. You literally boil a big rock and water. I feel like I've heard, I feel like I might have talked about this before a long time ago. It sounds familiar, but you literally boil a rock and water and then you add whatever vegetables and or meat and spices, know you happen to have. The thought was that you would get some additional healthy minerals from the stone and they

would add some some kind of flavor. Maybe. I guess. I don't know. I don't think I'm gonna try it anytime soon. I don't know. I would eat some stone soup actually. I would try some stone soup broth. One fall, Avie Lee tried again to make Dolly feel special by making her a patchwork coat. She chose bright and colorful scraps of fabric that matched Dolly's personality. While she worked, she told Dolly the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors and she said the coat was a sign from God that he was loved and special and that Dolly should feel the same way about her coat. Once it was finished, Dolly loved her coat. She was so excited to wear it to school, show it off to the other kids, and then to her surprise, her classmates fucking hated it. Made fun of her ruthlessly, calling her homemade coat, quote, a bunch of rags.

Dolly cried. Right? Kids are such dicks. And I say that as a kid who 100% would have mocked her for that coat. Dolly was determined to wear her coat with pride though, and this coat went on to inspire her to write her famous song, Coat of Many Colors. And here's a little snippet of that song from a 1983 Dolly Parton concert in London. She has such a beautiful voice and is such an incredible songwriter. She's playing the guitar there as she sings as well. So I had to give her some extra points for. While she would later romanticize it, sometimes growing up Dolly was ashamed of being poor.

One day in a high school health class, the teacher asked each student to share what they had for breakfast that her kids described these big spreads of like eggs and sausage and bacon and fresh orange juice and Dolly hated that they had Excuse me Dolly hated that she ate biscuits and gravy in the morning. I fucking love biscuits and gravy Literally my favorite breakfast of all time ate it so much growing up first meal I ever learned how to cook but I get it You know, I guess it's a this is poor people's food when it was Dolly's turn to answer. She lied She don't want to say biscuits and gravy. She said they ate eggs, waffles, fresh OJ, sausage, some cornflakes.

Well her brother Denver was in this class with her and he witnessed this lie and Dolly was worried he was gonna reveal the truth but he didn't. Not in class at least. These two siblings fought often and on the way home Denver beat Dolly's ass. They ratted on her. Told on her to the parents which meant she was punished a second time for lying. Got her butt whooped again. Another year around Christmas time, the school put all the students names into a box for a drawing where each student would be assigned to get a gift for one another. Lee told his kids not to participate, but Dolly disobeyed. She was ashamed to not do that, so she put her name in. She won't feel left out.

She wrote, it was a traumatic thing though. Even if I could explain away not being able to buy someone a gift or worse yet give the person a really cheap or homemade Gift there were always the possibility that somebody would give me something really nice This made me feel terrible guilty poor and terrible the worst thing about poverty is not the actual living of it But the shame of it That is so insightful actually the worst thing about poverty is not the actual living of it, but the shame of it. I never thought of it that way, but that makes so much sense. Right? I never cared about being poor as when I was a kid until I decided to go try to live with my dad in Las Vegas, my freshman year high

school. Before that, all the other kids I went to school with in Riggins, they're all poor. So no one noticed or you didn't think about it. Because nobody nobody felt different. For not having much, you know, at least not that I remember. And when I visited my dad in Vegas, you know, we lived in a huge apartment complex where basically everybody else there was poor. So I didn't feel left out there either. Didn't feel less than. But then I started school, a bunch of the kids at the high school I went with, Bonanza, very wealthy. Or at least, I don't know, maybe wealthy to me at that point was like middle class or upper middle class, but they seemed

wealthy to me. They lived in these middle class or upper middle class, but they seemed wealthy to me. They lived in these gated communities around the apartments, you know, they drove these fancy cars. Some of the kids had like beamers and stuff. You know, they made fun of my flea market Bart Simpson t-shirts, my knockoff sneakers. And all of a sudden, for the first time, I was like, oh, I don't like this. Now I was ashamed of how little we had. And then I would feel guilty for feeling ashamed because I knew my dad was Working hard in construction for whatever we did have but before that they actually being poor they're not having much part I didn't give a shit You know played with my friends outside shot hoops at the school basketball court checked out books in the town library and felt great

Despite being poor Christmas was always a warm wonderful time for Dolly's family Lee would chop down the perfect Christmas tree the The kids would make homemade decorations out of popcorn and gingerbread and such. All would sing hymns together on Christmas Eve, listen to Abby Lee, tell the Christmas story from the Bible. And before I move forward, did I mention that Dolly and her family were Pentecostal?

Yep, they were. And the one knock I have about Dolly as far as her music career, I'm just kind of bummed that she's never mixed a little bit of tongues into one of her songs. A little nod, a little nod to her faith. It would just, it would be a nice respectful gesture, right? Little nod to her roots and it would sound so good. You know, it might sound something like this.

Oh, maybe my favorite song of hers, nine to five, so catchy. Sounds great on its own. Right. Let her 5, so catchy. Sounds great on its own. All right, let her sing a little bit. It's on her own. Tumble out a bit and stumble to the kitchen for myself. A cup of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to come to life. Now check this out. How much nicer it is.

Ha ha. Ooh, don't worry. The end starts with a little. Not on the street. The traffic starts jumping. The smoke's like me. On the drive. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. No more go, no more jay-bah. Workin' like a jay-bah. Oh, it's so good!

You have to admit that's- that song got fucking way better when I added the tongues. And if you- if you kind of wove tongues into songs, then you wouldn't have to worry so much about like, you know, remembering the lyrics. You know, it'd just be easier to sing a lot of songs. Or every once in a while you can just be like, Ba-ba-da-da-da-da-da-da! Just, you know, kind of throw some of that in. Just scat a little bit. Uh, now that I've been able to get- get that out of my system, you some of that in, just scat a little bit. Now that I've been able to get Get that out of my system. You guys are probably like shut the fuck up. We've heard you do that like 17 times now. Back to one of Dolly's childhood Christmas memories.

Family of all listen to mom, tell them the Christmas story from the Bible, then Lee takes kids at the barn and beats the shit out of them. No, he tells them. That'd be kind of crazy. That'd be funny though. Not funny for them, but funny just in this moment if that was like a part in tradition. Yeah, mom would read us the story from Joseph in the Bible, and then dad would take us to the barn and inexplicably That'd be funny though. Not funny for them, but funny just in this moment. If that was like a part tradition. Yeah, mom would read us the story of Joseph in the Bible and then dad would take us to the barn and inexplicably he would just fucking beat the shit out of us for about five minutes, just get all of his frustrations

from the year out on us. No, Lee would take the kids out to the barn and tell them at the stroke of midnight, all of the farm animals were gonna kneel to honor Jesus. And then the kids would never see that because they would always fall asleep before midnight. And then dad was able to tell him next morning, ah man, you should have stayed up. It's pretty crazy, all those all the cows and the chickens and everything kneeling down. Christmas morning each kid would have their own stocking. Dolly wrote,

This was the one day, the one hour of the year when we experienced plenty. A Christmas stocking is a marvelous thing. You leave an empty limp sock hanging there at night and then wake up to find it fat with promise, nearly bursting at the seams with rare and precious goodies. Here was a lesson in hope, faith and fulfillment you could actually hold in your hands. And that is beautiful. Dolly's parents saved up for months to buy each kid

a store bought gift for their stockings. The boys usually got fireworks. Girls would get plastic dolls. Big upgrade from the corn cob with dresses. Abby Lee always gave her husband a box of chocolate covered cherries and a package of handkerchiefs. Dolly's most memorable Christmas

was the year her dad saved up to buy her mom a big gift, a ring. They gathered the kids together, told them they wouldn't be getting their usual gifts because all the money went towards this ring. But he, and you know, at least one kid was like, oh fuck, it is fucking bullshit. But he reassured them if one of them could find

where he hid the ring, they'd win a gift. One of the kids did find the ring, presented it to Abby Lee, and the one gift turned out to be a box of chocolates that everybody got to enjoy together. Adorable. Soon, Dolly graduated away from dolls. As they got older, Dolly and her sisters

wanted to wear makeup, because they thought it would make them look more feminine and glamorous like the models and movie stars they'd read about in the papers and in magazines. Dolly wrote in her book, womanhood was a difficult thing to get a grip on in those hills unless you were a man. My sisters and I used to cling desperately

to anything halfway feminine. For a long time, I was a tomboy. Once I got a better idea of what it meant to be a woman, I wanted it with everything in me. When Dolly's aunts came to visit from out of town, the girls would marvel at the makeup they would carry in their purses. But they weren't allowed to wear it, per their father's rules. With her make-do mindset, Dolly set out to create her own makeup, though. Out of what she had at home. Wear that. She used merthiolate, a mercury- mercury containing preservative that was used to kill germs as

her lipstick, and that sounds dangerous. Gave her lips an orange tint, probably a tiny bit of cancer. She used flour to face powder to hide her freckles, and Dolly would lit light matches and then lick the blackened tips to use as eyeliner and mascara. And then she would finally use berry juice for blush and lip stain. That's some serious country ingenuity. Dolly wrote that she didn't consider herself a natural beauty, which is crazy because she definitely is. And sometimes she wondered if she was even her parents' child. She always felt different from her siblings and her parents,

explaining the person might think that a kid growing up with that many others would never be lonely, but I often was. To combat her loneliness Dolly would often think about guardian angels that she believed were always watching over her. A type of invisible friend I guess. With so many children, Dolly's mother, Avie Lee, created a buddy system to ensure each had proper supervision. She assigned the older kids a younger buddy. When Avie Lee announced she was pregnant again in 1955 when Dolly was nine, she told Dolly the new baby was gonna be hers to help care for. And Dolly was fucking pumped.

She was eager to have a little baby buddy, little buddy baby to help care for her. Look forward to the birth of her new sibling. It'd be a very difficult pregnancy, like real, real difficult. Abby Lee contracted spinal meningitis, actually fell into a coma at one point during the pregnancy. Then even worse, the doctor told the family she was going to die. They all gathered together, prayed through the night. Incredibly, Abby Lee did regain consciousness in the morning. She had lost hearing in one ear, but was otherwise all right. The doctor who was also administered declared it a miracle and in Dali's autobiography,

she wrote that her mother's case was later referenced in medical books. Abby Lee told the family that when she nearly died that night, she saw herself walking through a tunnel with a white light at the end, but then she heard her children calling her back and she woke up. And then for the rest of Dolly's childhood, whenever the other kids or Dolly would act up, her mom would frequently tell her children that she should have went towards the light, that she regretted not going towards the light. She would talk about how she was pissed, that she was stuck down on earth with a bunch of fucking dirty, shitty, backwards hillbilly brats who took all her money and time, destroyed her vagina, destroyed her sanity. She could have been up in heaven listening to some harp rock with JC and his bulging biceps and washboard abs.

Of course she didn't do that. She might have thought about it though from time to time. If I had 12 kids during the thick of raising them, I would be fantasizing about abandoning my family probably on a daily basis. According to Dolly, her mom was a very spiritual woman, had visions that were highly accurate, During the thick of raising them, I would be fantasizing about abandoning my family, probably on a daily basis. According to Dolly, her mom was a very spiritual woman, had visions that were highly accurate. For example, one night she woke her husband up, told him their son Denver had been in a car accident. She even knew exactly where he was and they did find him injured at the scene of the accident where she thought he would be. Denver had broken his neck, wouldn't have survived the night if he hadn't been found. So that's pretty spooky actually.

Something science can't explain was going on there it seems. Avie Lee also told her husband Sally that the baby she was carrying, the baby that Dolly was supposed to help look out for, would not live. And then Avie Lee went into labor July 4th 1955. Larry Parton born July 5th. Tragically baby Larry would die just four days later. And Dolly was heartbroken and angry at God. She questioned why everything that was hers had to die. She couldn't eat, sleep, or sing. She spent hours at her baby brother's grave. But when she looked at a picture of Larry in his coffin she realized he was no longer there. She said quote,

I came to think of his spirit as something apart from his body. Something not bound to that grave that I kept mourning over but set free to live a perfect existence in heaven. In my childlike way I came to understand that death is only frightening to those of us left behind. I made peace with that idea and with God and I went on with my life. And Dolly still identifies as Christian and a believer in the spiritual realm to this day. In 1956 now at at the age of 10, Dolly had her first experience with performing for people outside of her family. She was always performing for her family and dreaming up big plans to be a big star. Dolly wrote, since I've been able to form words, I've been able to rhyme them. I could catch

on to anything that had a rhythm and make a song to go with it. My sisters were musically abused. That is the only way I can think of how to describe what I put them through in my constant search for musical satisfaction. I like that. Musically abused. A lot of you have been musically abused on this show. Dolly thought the path to stardom would be to form a... this is such a little kid idea. She thought that the path to stardom would be to form a pig Latin singing group with her sisters Stella and Cassie, which obviously did not work out for them. Hard to pen a catchy pig Latin jingle. That's a tough market to crack, the Pig

Latin music business. Dolly continued dreaming, singing and practicing her mandolin. Her family members noticed her skill, dedication to improvement. Dolly's uncle Lewis was the only one who was the one, excuse me, who went to teach her how to play an old guitar. She'd sit up on a woodpile at home singing and playing the guitar for her siblings and farm animals. Dolly and her sister started performing at churches in the area in 1956, giving her a taste of performing

for a live audience that wasn't family. Dolly primarily credits her grandfather, Jake Owens, for both her love of music and of God. She wrote, for the most part, my mother's family, the Owens', are vagabonds. They live to play music and will let nothing, earning a living, for example, standing in the way of that. That's hilarious. My father's people are hard-working, relatively no-nonsense farmers. It was the Owens in me that made me plant the dreams,

but I probably would not have had the will to put out the sweat and tears without the pardons. Dolly's uncle, Billy Earl Owens, a decade older than her, began to take an interest in her talent. He wanted to break into the music industry in Nashville as a songwriter, wanted to write songs, have big artists sing them. He actually recently passed away, April 7th, 2021, at the age of 85. Uncle Billy, in addition to Uncle Lewis, taught Dolly guitar chords and was impressed by how she quickly mastered new skills and created her own songs. And when Dolly was still a kid, she and Bill decided to join forces and do business together. Bill brought Dolly to Cass Walker, a man who once sold produce out of a wheelbarrow

and went on to open stores in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. He was a local legend who had become a multimillionaire and had his own local radio and TV show. Bill wanted to get Dolly on that show, so he arranged a backstage meeting. And young Dolly, just 10 years old, told Kat Kat Walker, Mr. Walker I want to work for you. Walker immediately offered the kid a job saying a lot of people come to me and say Mr. Walker I want a job but you said I want to work for you. You're hired because you're the first one that ever wanted to work. Dolly started off singing a excuse me Dolly started off singing for Cass Walker's radio show which was broadcast

live in the middle of the day from an auditorium at the radio station WIVK in Knoxville, Tennessee. Knoxville, just 30 miles from where Dolly grew up. Man, what a cool thing for a little kid. There was a room for an audience of about 60 people, and people would come in and sit and listen when the show started. Dolly made her debut on Caswalkers Farm and Home Hour, July 8, 1956. She was terrified before her first performance. I bet she was 10. That's wow. I would have absolutely folded under the pressure of performing in, you know, on the radio at that age. 100% would have failed. Dolly recounted the experience

in her book writing, it was at that very moment that everything came to a head for me as a performer. My insecurity came face to face with my ambition. My shyness banged head on into my need for attention. This is what I always wanted and yet there was this fear. I'm not quite sure if it was the fear of failure or of success. Maybe it was both. I was either going to do this thing and do it for the rest of my life or not at all. Somehow I walked out to that microphone and began to sing. My voice was thin and tentative at first, but I got more and more confident as I went along.

By the last verse, I was belting that song out at the top of my lungs, singing with joy just the way I had done on top of the woodpile. I sang as if it would be my only chance ever to sing for a crowd like that or on the radio, for all I knew it could be. Well the crowd clapped and cheered when she was done and shouted for an encore. And how cool for a 10-year year old, right? I love that. Following that performance, Dolly became a regular on the show and was paid $5 for each appearance. That was a lot of money back then. I was equivalent to about 60 bucks today. A lot of money for a little

kid. When she got a little older, Dolly used some of that money she had saved up to buy peroxide, makeup, and quote, sexy clothes. I Guess dad loosened up on his rules. Dolly even made more money as a kid working the pole for Cass, not even joking. Yeah, yeah, Cass loved, loved to watch little girls work the pole, that was just his way. It was a different time. Cass Walker offered $250 prize money

to anyone who would climb a greasy pole. Dolly was able to claim the prize and she decided to buy a TV for her family with some of the money. Before that all they had was radio. Now the entire family became addicted to the TV. Everyone's favorite show was Gunsmoke. It's a great show. I also watched that show as a kid. My mom loves it. I loved it. Neighbors and distant relatives, sometimes up to 30 people, would all cram into their little cabin, the Parton house, for hours at a time now,

staying into the late evening hours, which didn't always please Lee Parton, because he had to get up for work early the next morning. And eventually Lee got tired of that shit and ordered the family to get rid of the TV. But it was fun while it lasted. Dolly continued singing on the Cass Walker Show on radio and TV for a few years.

Her uncle Bill or another relative would drive her to Knoxville to do shows as well. Or I guess do those shows. And then soon Dolly's aunt Estelle took her to a recording booth to make her own record. Dolly's uncle Henry Owens, another performer in the family, was in the military and stationed in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He lived next to a recording studio and was friends with the owner. Dolly's uncle Bill arranged for her to come to that studio and record her first real record. The problem was it was a few states away. Dolly was only 12 years old and she needed someone to come with her so her grandma Rina made the big trip. After initially getting confused and missing their bus during a

bathroom break, grandma and Dolly finally arrived in Lake Charles some 30 hours later. This is so cute. Our recording studio was called Gold Band Records owned by a man named Ed Schuller and Dolly's first record featured the song Puppy Love which she wrote with her Uncle Bill. That's pretty creepy, she wrote it about her Uncle Bill. And Girl Left Alone written by her Uncle Bill and Aunt Dorothy Jo. And it's pretty funny hearing this song today. She sounds so different than the Dolly we are used to hearing.

I mean of course she does, she was 12. This is a little snippet of young 12 year old Dolly Parton used to hearing. I mean of course she does, she was 12. This is a little snippet of young 12 year old Dolly Parton singing Puppy Love. They don't call it puppy love. I'm overlooking now, I'm missing her. Can I rock? It's puppy love. Got some confidence. Got some confidence that little kid. During this trip, Dolly met Ed Schuller's son Johnny.

She described as a dark-haired, or no, excuse me, dark-eyed Cajun boy. And she said this little boy was her first real love. By the end of the trip, Dolly felt like a woman of the world. She'd fall in love, made a record, traveled through three different states, all at the ripe old age of 12 years old. Dolly's record would get some airtime on the local radio, and then she would continue performing on the cast Walker show. During her summer vacation and school breaks, she'd continue heading to Knoxville so she could do more TV and radio following her trip down south She stayed her aunt and uncle's house in Knoxville take a bus from their home to get where she was performing and she liked to Play a guitar while she waited

Pretty soon she was getting attention from bystanders doing that one man tipped her a quarter Thinking she was playing for tips and then Dolly felt guilty at first because her dad wouldn't approve of her quote begging for money But she also wanted to buy a Jiffy burger from a restaurant near her aunt's house I don't know what a Jiffy burger is but sounds delicious. Following that experience because her parents weren't there to punish her she decided to put on a raggedy shirt while she practiced so she would look like a kid in need and she would earn more money. She later wrote a song about that with her brother Floyd titled Nichols and Dimes. Soon Dolly's

uncle Bill decided she needed to get to Nashville the heart of the country music industry. New goal was to get Dolly on the Grand Ole Opry, the most important stage in all the country music. Dolly and her uncle would get as close as they could to the venue, which is just over 200 miles from Dolly's childhood home, and Bill would talk her up to anyone by, you know, standing by who would listen. One night after a show at the Ryman Auditorium, the former home of the Opry, Dolly and her uncle waited for Johnny Cash in the parking lot. When he finally came out, Bill introduced her and Dolly said, Oh, Mr. Cash, I've just

got to sing at the Grand Ole Opry. According to Dolly, even though she was so young, he could sense she was serious. He didn't offer her a spot then and there, told her she'd have to keep working at it. He encouraged her to follow her own instincts regarding her musical career. Because of the Cass Walker Show, Dolly had connections to the husband and wife, country duo, Karl and Pearl Butler. The Butlers had recently moved to Nashville

to further their career. Their biggest hit would be the 1962 single Don't Let Me Cross Over. And the Butlers had put together a band and gave Bill a job playing guitar for them. They had lots of connections and Dolly believed they were going to be her key to the grand ol Ole Opry. They tried telling Dolly she was too young but she would not be denied. While seeking fame, Dolly was also

seeking spiritual answers. At the age of 12 she claimed she had a profound religious experience that changed her life. Dolly wrote, all my life, at least from the time I have been able to grasp more of my life than my own toes in my crib, I have been driven by three things, three mysteries I wanted to know more about, three passions. They are God, music, and sex. Fuck yeah, love that so much. Like everything else in my life, she continues, I found God in my own unique way.

I felt a need for God and always wanted to have a relationship with him, but I was the ultimate nightmare for a fundamentalist Christian out to save souls. I was a kid with their own opinions. Dolly always strongly disliked how the Christian God was presented in the churches she attended. He seemed scary and vengeful instead of loving and forgiving. Dolly also thought that people took the Bible too literally while simultaneously being real selective about which particular rules they chose to stick to and follow. All seemed a little hypocritical to her.

And when she voiced any complaints, she was told that questioning anything was blasphemy. The sermons made Dolly feel like a sinner. Dolly wrote as a kid, you might have told a lie or two or maybe taken some small thing that wasn't yours, but these don't seem to be capital offenses. So it must be sex that condemns you to hell. Not that you've had sex or anything close to it, but somehow just being aware that it exists feels like a grievous sin in itself. The fact that you might have actually thought about doing something or touched your brother during a community bath or yourself in your bed at night must be your quote great sin. Dolly had a hard time reconciling the lessons she heard on sin with the

feelings she was experiencing. She was aware of boys romantically in church and after the service was over it was normal for boys and girls to talk outside and some couples would sneak off into the woods to be alone and make out and whatnot. Dolly wrote, so I sat there trying to be holy, praying for forgiveness for sins I couldn't put my finger on, repenting for things I'd put my finger on, and all the while being aware of the boys looking at me, the woods behind the church, and the possible combination of all these things. The devil and I certainly had one thing in common. We were both horny. Hail Lucifina, hail Nimrod, and hail Dolly Parton. Oh my god, I love her. So talented and smart and driven and just fucking cool. All that adds to her natural looks

and just makes her so sexy. A young Dolly prayed often for her salvation, but she preferred to do it in private. She found an old abandoned church in Canton's Chapel. It was a rundown building, but Dolly felt God's presence there. She wrote, Ironically, it'd become a place

for all types of sin and vice. Boys would meet there to shoot craps or drink beer and moonshine. Couples would use it at night for sexual encounters. Boys and men fought there. There had been more than one stabbing. And yet, for me, God still lived there. Sometimes Dolly found condom wrappers, which fascinated her because she knew what they were used for.

She was also interested in some of the dirty graffiti on the walls. Other times she sang and wrote songs in the abandoned church. One day she had a religious breakthrough in her private sanctuary, she wrote. And so I would sing hymns to God for a while and look at dirty pictures for a while and pray for a while. And one day as I prayed in earnest I broke through some sort of spirit wall and found God. Away from the stairs of the boys and the mothers and the preachers, I had met him not as a

chastising bombastic bully, but as a friend I could talk to on a one-on-one basis. Here in this place of seemingly confusing images I had found real truth. I had come to know that it was all right for me to be a sexual being. I knew that was one of the things God meant for me to be. I also knew that my dreams of making music, of traveling outside the Smokies and pursuing a greater purpose, were not silly childhood ideas, but grand real schemes ordained and co-created by my newfound Heavenly Father. That's beautiful.

Dolly thanked God for showing himself and sang with joy and after this epiphany she decided to get baptized. Dolly's faith has always been an important part of her life. She explains her views further in her autobiography writing, an important part of her life. She explains her views further in her autobiography, writing, While Christianity and its symbols are powerful parts of my own life, I am not one of those who believes that a person has to embrace them to be a decent and worthwhile human being. Spirituality is the most intimate part of a person's makeup, and it's strictly up to the individual to choose how to express it. I have known wonderful, caring people who never professed to believe in God, and I have known evil people who have cloaked themselves in the outward appearance of godliness.

I believe that a person who is truly good is in touch with God, whether he is consciously aware of it or not. That is really fucking awesome. I was a fan of Dolly's before this episode. I adore her now. Dolly, if you hear this, can you please be my godmother? And now before moving forward, time for today's second of two mid-show sponsor breaks. Thanks for listening to those sponsors. Now let's head back to Dolly Parton's timeline and find out about her first really big dream come true break.

One of Dolly's first big musical dreams came true July 25, 1959. At the age of just 13, she played the grand old Opry. Jimmy C Newman, a star of the Opry that time, a regular at a spot booked for him that night, and he graciously gave it to young Dolly. Dolly was introduced by fellow legend Johnny Cash, right, who she'd already met, who now told the audience, we've got a little girl here from up in East Tennessee.

Her daddy's listening to the radio at home, and she's gonna be in real trouble if she doesn't sing tonight. So let's bring her out. Dolly wrote about her first big performance later saying, as I heard the band play my introduction I lifted my head and looked up toward the lights. I smiled at the people in the balcony and then let her rip. I sang the way I had that day in the old chapel. I sang for God and mama and daddy. I sang for everybody who had ever believed in me. Somehow I believed in me. I sang for God and Mama and Daddy. I sang for everybody who had ever believed in me. Somehow I believed in me. I guess it showed in my voice.

Man, first time I read that it hit me right in the feels. God, my allergies all worked up. I don't even totally understand why. Dolly sang, You Gotta Be My Baby by George Jones and received not one, not two, but three encores. Fucking incredible moment in her life. Unfortunately, there's no video of this moment. She continued in her autobiography. I was stunned by the way the crowd reacted. I don't think I had ever seen 2,000 people in one place before. I know I had never heard a crowd cheer and shout and clap that way and they were doing it all for me. After this performance Dolly and her uncle Bill

fully dedicated themselves to growing her career. They spent countless nights and his as well, I mean he wants to be the songwriter. They spent countless nights in Bill's beat up car outside clubs, record companies, and promoters offices. Dolly's uncle Bill helped make her a star. Whatever uncle Bill was or wasn't, there was no doubt he believed in me, or at least that something could be made of or from me. He was always on the case. He would knock on doors wearing his best smile and sell me as if I were a vacuum cleaner. He would approach people with sparkly boots, getting out of Cadillacs and talk me up in every possible way. And if you're wondering again, yeah, what Uncle Bill is getting out of this. Yeah, aspiring songwriter. He was

a not just a fucking come across as like maybe a creepy uncle, like some predatory uncle, but no, it seemed like he was a good dude. And he'll actually go on to have an incredible songwriting career. He will pen or help write, like fully write or help write over 800 songs. He'll write a ton of songs for Dolly, but also a bunch for a lot of other artists. Bill was able to convince several people to give Dolly an audition or take a tape of their songs. And one day Bill set his mind on seeing Buddy Killeen, or Killeen, excuse me, the owner of Tree Publishing, a major country publisher based in Nashville, now part of Sony. Dolly and Bill were told that Mr. Killeen was busy so they waited until 6 p.m. that day to talk to him. Dolly then sang for Killeen and he was impressed. So impressed she and Uncle Bill signed

a deal with songwriters and Dolly got the opportunity to do a demo recording session for Mercury Records. Huge, huge deal. Dolly's record featured the song, It May Not Kill Me, But It's Sure Gonna Hurt. The other side of the record was a song she wrote with Bill and another uncle titled, I Wasted My Tears When I Cried Over You. Unfortunately, the association with Mercury and Tree does not last long. Dolly didn't receive enough of response to the early songs for them to pursue future recordings. Dolly's family now thought it might be best for her to come back home and finish school. And she could have easily given up all her dreams of country music right there and

we would never know her name today. Dolly did come back, she did try to go back to school, but now the other kids, especially other girls outside of Judy Ogle, who was still her loyal best friend, well now they really resent her because she was trying to make a name for herself. Dolly had to deal with cruel rumors and name calling. One rumor was that Dolly had been raped by a whole group of men in Nashville and she was devastated and angry because if that were true she was being looked down upon with scorn for being a f***ing victim of a serious crime. After that rumor, Dolly left school, told her mom she was never going back. And then Abby Lee told her mom she was never going back. And then Abby Lee told her she could quit if she really wanted to, but that would just make everyone think that the story was true.

So Dolly decided she would go back and finish school, and the gossip continued. A new rumor was that Dolly was pregnant by a man named Curly Dan Bailey, who had worked with her on the cast Walker show. Other rumors were that she must have slept with this guy or that guy to get this or that opportunity. You know, you get the idea. Jealous girls in her class were shredding her boys eager to please those jealous girls or boys rejected by Dolly all too happy to help spread the rumors. In June of 1964 now, Dolly graduates high school and she will say goodbye to those petty small-town fucking losers spreading those rumors forever.

She would finally have the freedom she longed for. Dolly wrote that her graduation was almost a non-event for her. Her mother Abby, Abby Lee and some of Dolly's siblings attended the ceremony but not her dad. Because her graduating class was so small, each senior was asked what they wanted to do and when Dolly told the audience, I'm going to Nashville to become a star, everyone literally laughed at her. And that just made her more determined to succeed. The very next day she boarded the Greyhound bus to Nashville with her dreams, her guitar, and some songs she'd written. She bought a one-way ticket. She was not coming home. She put the rest of her belongings in paper bags from the grocery store. Didn't even have a suitcase. She wrote, some disappointment I was prepared for. I was not prepared for the amount I was dealt.

My money disappeared in no time. I was hungry and homesick and disheartened. She wrote a letter to her parents a week or so later that said, Dear Mama and Daddy, I hope this letter finds you well. As for me, I'm fine, I guess. Just a little lonesome and a whole lot homesick. I got here okay and I thought I'd write to let you know that because I knew you'd be worried about me. I didn't realize how much I loved you and them noisy kids until I left. And I didn't realize how hard it was to leave home until I started to leave and everybody started crying. I cried nearly all the way and in a way I wanted to turn around and come back. But you know how I've always wanted to move to Nashville and be a singer.

And I believe that someday if I try long and hard enough, I'll make it. Nashville is not exactly what I thought it would be. But I think I'm going to like it here once I get used to it. Dolly barely had enough money to survive. Sometimes she snuck into hotels, took food off the room service trays that were left out for pickup. Occasionally she would go into a grocery store, pretend to shop, and just eat food inside the store without paying. She got herself a tiny apartment where she lived by herself on Wedgwood Avenue above a laundromat named Wishy Washy. One day she was waiting for her clothes to dry outside that laundromat drinking a Coke on the sidewalk. Young man drove by told

her she was gonna get a sunburn in her revealing outfit. Man circled the block came back. Dolly thought he was quote drop-dead handsome and she enjoyed talking to him. He introduced himself as Carl Dean and he will be Dolly's one and only future husband. Eventually it was time for her to get her clothes from the machine. She expected Carl to leave, but instead the lucky bastard shot a shot, followed her into the laundromat. Dollar recalled, I was surprised and delighted

that while he talked to me, he looked at my face, a rare thing for me. He said, she seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about. A little note to guys there, if you like some girl, don't stare at her tits. You know the occasional glance okay okay maybe but yeah yeah look at her look at her face stare at her face. Human being let's listen to what you say. Carl Thomas Dean four years dollars

Dolly Sr. was born July 20th 1942 in Nashville. His mom was Virginia Bade-Steen. His dad was Edgar Henry Dean. When Virginia was pregnant with Carl her husband was drafted to fight in World War II. Carl and Virginia moved in with their mom. The two women taught Carl to cook, sew, and do housework. Dolly wrote that Carl was not easy to get to know, but he would be a devoted husband and friend, and he was a devoted son. In addition to domestic skills, Carl was and is an avid outdoorsman, good mechanic, also likes to paint and write poems, and he's a loner, which pairs well with Dolly and her busy lifestyle. Carl came to see Dolly every single day for the next week. She was working a

babysitting job at the time and she'd sit with her, he would sit with her on the bottom of the steps of the home he was, she was babysitting you know while she watched the kid. Carl took her on a real date on Dolly's day off. He didn't tell her where they were going and she was shocked when he took her to see his parents. Went to his parents' house. And then Carl said to his mom in front of her, fix this girl a plate. She's the one I'm going to marry.

Ballsy. Good for him. This guy knew what he had and he was all in. Dolly wrote, I felt flattered, outraged, touched, turned on, scared to death and completely confused. Dolly became close with her future mother-in-law who she called Mama Dean. Mama Dean will be one. Dolly became close with her future mother-in-law who she called Mama Dean. Mama Dean will be one of Dolly's best friends until she passes away from from liver

cancer many years later. During their courtship, Carl often showed up to Dolly's place without warning sometimes in the middle of the night. She thought it was a bit odd, but a fascinating person, and she said he was always a gentleman. They obviously had a strong connection, but Carl had a hard time telling Dolly exactly how he felt about her. One day Carl told Dolly he was joining the Army and going to Vietnam. Dolly panicked. Then Carl told her that he was joining the National Guard. There was only a small chance he was going to be deployed overseas.

She was still worried though. By the time he boarded the bus for basic training, despite his marriage declaration, still had not told Dolly he loved her. And he didn't. He took off. Dolly now focused on trying to told Dolly he loved her. And he didn't. He took off. Dolly now focused on trying to find work while he was away. She performed live on the Ralph Emory show and early morning radio show called the Eddie Hill Show.

Her uncle Bill was still making connections through his work with Carl and Pearl Butler. That work would pay off. He and Dolly would get a deal with Fred Foster, owner of Combine Publishing and Monument Records. Fred Foster bought Dolly some new clothes to improve her image and helped get her name out there. He was able to book her on the show American Bandstand and at a jukebox convention in Chicago. To get to Chicago Dolly flew for the first time in her life and was terrified. When Carl returned from training he continued visiting Dolly into the early morning hours.

At the time, he was working for his dad's asphalt paving business in Nashville, and Dolly was living in Madison, Tennessee. Carl wasn't getting much sleep, and he finally told Dolly, you're either going to have to move to the other side of town, or we're going to have to get married. That was his proposal. Dolly was surprised, considering Carl still had not told her he loved her. She pointed that out to Carl, to which he responded, Hell, you know I love you. Fred Foster asked Dolly to wait to get married

until she was more established in her career. He thought having a husband would make her less appealing to men. Dolly worried about that too. And she told Carl the news, and Carl heard her out. But he didn't want to wait. And neither did Dolly. In her words, I was getting pretty horny. I love how candid she is.

Yeah, come on, let the lady come. Good thing for Carl that sex toys for women weren't commonly used that time. Had she found herself a vibrating wand, she might have taken care of those horny feelings herself and been able to wait. But also, toys just can't replace that skin-to-skin feeling of intimacy nearly all of us crave, can they? The young couple told everyone they postponed the wedding and then they made plans to get married in another state. They decided, told everybody like the music business. They were keeping it secret. They decided to get married in Ringgold, Georgia, which has a whole industry dedicated to quick weddings. They took Dolly's mother with them on a Friday, got the marriage license easily, justice of the peace, started the ceremony,

but then Dolly wanted to get married in a church. They met with the minister Don Duvall at the Ringgold Baptist Church. He agreed to marry them, but not until the following Monday. So now the couple returned to Tennessee with plans to return to Georgia in just a few days. And on May 30th, 1966, Dolly, Carl, and her mom drove 150 miles back to Ringgold for their secret wedding ceremony. There's a big beautiful mural in downtown Ringgold today memorializing Dolly getting married there. The young couple didn't plan a honeymoon because Carl had to go to work next day and she had a booking on the Ralph Emory show the following morning at 5 a.m.

and had to be there at 5 a.m. And I don't know that they ever took a proper honeymoon but they didn't need one to make their marriage work. For almost 60 years now Dolly and Carl have had a strong and loving marriage. She wrote in that 1994 autobiography, My prayer is that we will die at the same time so I won't have to worry about such things. We'd sure lose a lot if we lost each other. Man, Lindsay and I talk about that. Ideally, we grow old and die together. Despite Dolly having been a sex symbol for nearly the entirety of their marriage,

neither Carl nor Dolly have been jealous because they are so secure in their marriage. Carl has had numerous people approach him over the years accusing Dolly of having an affair and I guess he has normally responded with quote, well, I would think less of any man that didn't fall in love with her. And that is fantastic. Yeah, I don't doubt it. I don't doubt he's tried at least. You know, I mean, look at her. God damn, my wife is hot as fuck and an incredible human being to boot. Dolly wrote, he seems to know that I'll be back and that love affairs and relationships are just part of my dealings with people. He knows that I will always come home and as long as I live we will always be together. And that quote there, when she's talking about love affairs and relationships, she's talking about like

people she cares about deeply, not people she's having sex with. Just for the to be clear. About a year after they were married, Carl asked Dolly if she was the only man she'd ever been with She wasn't sure why he asked her that but she was honest and she told him no and Carl was devastated Which hurt Dolly's feelings also inspired her to write the song just because I'm a woman. I can see you're disappointed by the way you look at me and I'm sorry that I'm not the woman Yes, I've made my mistakes, but listen and understand. My mistakes are no worse than yours, just because I'm a woman. Love it. Look at that. Dolly Parton singing about the double standard decades ago. And double standards. So damaging to both men and women. More

the world needs to stop viewing women as primarily men's sexual property. They're bicycles. And start seeing them as full-fledged independent creatures with their own autonomous and healthy and natural desires. Dolly and Carl would never have children. Dolly believed that she was meant, Dolly has long believed that she was meant to be an aunt and it is close to their nieces and nephews. Plus Carl just hasn't aged well and Dolly didn't want to have babies that would very likely grow up to be fugly. No, no they just decided they didn't need to have kids and he's aged fine. Dolly's biggest focus has always been her career and good on her for knowing that early on and knowing that you know kids were not not part of her plan. People tried to

make her feel guilty over the years about not having kids but it doesn't work. Dolly is happy, totally fulfilled with the family she does have. I love that she doesn't doesn't just follow conventions right? She does what's right for her. What she feels is the right thing to do as opposed to what others are telling her is the right thing to do. Such a great role model. Shortly after getting married Dolly and Uncle Bill, well you know shortly after Dolly got married, Dolly and Uncle Bill, well, you know, shortly after Dolly got married. Dolly did not also marry her Uncle Bill. Dolly and Uncle Bill got their first big break from that publishing deal with Fred Foster.

They were asked to record a song they wrote titled, Why Can't Uncles and Nieces Fuck at Least One Time? No, they co-wrote, put it, can you imagine? They submitted that back then? Here's what we have. What do you think of this song? It's a little different. It's edgy. It's edgier. There's going to be some pushback. But I think there's a market.

No, they co-wrote, put it off until tomorrow. Country singer Bill Phillips wanted Dolly to sing harmony with him. She did, and the song was a hit. Dolly was not officially credited as the backup singer, but still people all over the industry and around the country were wondering who she was. And that allowed Dolly and Bill to convince Fred Foster that she needed to focus on country music. So far, he'd been trying to push her towards pop, feeling that pop music better suited her look and voice. He now agreed. Dolly began recording country songs, one of which was Dumb Blonde, which hit top 10 on the country charts. It was her first hit.

Here's a bit from Dolly singing this song on the Bobby Lord show. He seems like a fucking tool, so I'm skipping his introduction part. January 31st, 1967. You're way out of this and don't try to lie Or I'll catch you in it Don't try to make me feel sorry for you Just because I'm blonde don't think I'm done She reminds me of Patsy Cline there a little bit. Following the success of this song, Fred Foster called Dolly for a meeting and told her that if she wanted to get married, it was going to be okay now. And then Dolly revealed that, yep, she had already done so about a year earlier. Another Dolly song, Put It Off Until Tomorrow, was named BMI Song of the Year in 1966. She and Bill were invited to the

award ceremony because they co-wrote it. She asked Carl to go with her as well. He did, but he didn't like it. He didn't do well in a crowded environment full of lights and cameras and people schmoozing. When it was all over, he told Dolly, honey, I love you and I will support you

in your career any way that I can. I know it's a big part of you and you wouldn't be the same person if you didn't do it. But the limelight's just not from me. I'll be there at home waiting for you. But I am not going to any more of these wingdings. I love that you actually called it a wingding. I am. I am out on the wingdings.

1967 was the year Dolly and Uncle Bill founded OPAR, a little combination of last names there, Owens and Parton, to administer their songwriting business. Dolly was quoted as saying, As soon as I could, I started my own publishing company and my own record label. I think it's important, if you can, to keep all your goods close to home where you can control them and know what's happening with them. I love that she certainly was not a dumb blonde. One of the things Dolly's most known for in the music business is her business savvy. Oprah Entertainment was active as a publishing company all the way until 1981 and then it was relaunched in 2019.

Dolly released her full full her first full studio album Hello I'm Dolly February 13th 1967. The album would chart for a total of 14 weeks on the country charts and receive a number of positive reviews. And 1967 was also the year, and she's only 21 years old at this point, that she would partner with country star Porter Wagner on the Porter Wagner show. Wagner, who died in 2007, was originally from Mississippi, got a start in a band called the Blue Ridge Boys. They performed on the radio for from an actual butcher shop where Wagner worked as an actual butcher. Come for the filets, stay for the hits.

1951 he was hired as a performer for KWTO in Springfield and got a contract with RCA Victor. Wagner's program, The Porter Wagner Show, aired from 1960 all the way to 1981. That's a hell of a run. At its peak it had an average viewership of over 3 million and here's how Dolly met him. One day Dolly walked into the office at Monument Records, was surprised to find a message from Porter Wagner asking her to come to his office at a specified time and to bring her guitar. Dolly had sent songs to people all over Nashville including Porter who had the number one syndicated TV show and all the country music at the time. He already had a

female singer on his show Norma Jean Beasler. Dolly had actually submitted her songs to Porter because she thought they'd be a good fit for Norma to sing. Now during her audition Dolly sang the song Everything is Beautiful in its own Dali actually submitted her songs to Porter because she thought they'd be a good fit for Norma to sing. Now during her audition, Dali sang the song, Everything is Beautiful in Its Own Way. When she was done, Porter told her that Norma Jean was getting married and moving on, heading out of town. And they wanted Dali to be his new female singer. He offered her a salary of $60,000 a year, equivalent to almost 10 times that amount

today. Dali about fell out of her chair. She tried to play it cool. Porter asked her if she would accept. Dolly said, I'll have to think about it. Then after thinking for less than two seconds, she said, yes, I will. Dolly's years with Porter would be influential in helping to build her career, but the two would have a toxic relationship. She would write, any relationship is like a house with an upstairs.

It's got two stories. I know that everybody who knows anything about me and Porter would like to have the true story of what happened to us. Nobody would like to know that any more than Porter Wagner and me. I could bad mouth and say all manner of bad things about Porter as he has about me through the years.

I choose instead to tell it from my own standpoint and try to see it through the spiritual rather than the natural eye. I truly believe that all things and all people are brought into our lives for good God reason. Before moving forward, can we take a moment to appreciate how fucking clever and witty Dolly is? Just constantly. Any relationship is like a house with an upstairs, it's got two stories. That's such a good saying. And as far as I know, she came up with that. Dolly described her time with Porter as the hardest and worst period of her life, but

those seven years were the most prosperous, productive, and growth-filled ones as well. In her book, Dolly emphasized the fact that Porter didn't discover her. He heard about the new girl on the scene and asked her to audition. Two always denied having a romantic relationship despite persistent rumors. There's going to be rumors that would follow Dolly about all kinds of dudes for her whole career. They had a loving friendship at the start But as the years passed they began to disagree on major issues about her solo career

Porter did teach Dolly a lot in the beginning such as the art of the performance Dolly made her debut on the Porter Wagner show on September 5th, 1967 It was a tough transition at first for about a whole year. The audience just constantly wanted to know when the hell Norma Jean was coming back Dolly also disliked doing live commercials. She had to advertise a product that would help with menstrual cramps and water bloat. Had to advertise a laxative that made you smile from the inside out. Dolly wrote, the jingles were sung, the smiles were faked, and the checks were cashed. Try to imagine what $60,000 represented to a young woman who had grown up in poverty in the

Smoky Mountains. It was a world of money. It was probably more than my daddy had earned in his lifetime. With her salary, Dolly was able to buy her family new furniture, carpet, and curtains. Within Dolly's first year on the show, she and Porter also worked together on their version of Tom Paxton's The Last Thing on My Mind, and it rose to number seven on the Billboard country charts. In total, Dolly and Porter would release 13 albums together. Dolly wrote that in the early 70s, those years were, or Dolly wrote, excuse me, that the early 70s were some of the best songwriting years of her life. Jolene, oh such a good song, arguably one of Dolly's

most famous best songs, released October 15th, 1973, definitely one of my favorites of hers. Dolly claims that the true story behind the famous song Jolene came out of her time with Porter. During an autograph signing session she met a beautiful young girl with long auburn hair who said her name was Jolene. Dolly had never heard the name before, remembered it a year later when she got the idea for the song. Jolene was also inspired by a differently named sexy red hair bank teller who was flirting with her husband Carl in front of her in the early days of their marriage. red hair bank teller who was flirting with her husband Carl in front of her in the early days of their marriage.

Dolly said in a 2008 interview with NPR, this bank teller, she had everything I didn't, like legs. You know, she was about six feet tall and had all that stuff that some short, sawed-off, honky like me don't have. That is fucking funny. Here's a little bit of Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, please don't take him just because you can. That's hard not to play the entire song. Also insane the Dolly part would be intimidated by the beauty of any other woman.

When Dolly, especially Dolly back in the 70s, I mean, in my opinion, and I think in the opinion of a lot of guys, one of the most beautiful women of all time. Just shows it like, man, you just never know what's going on in people's heads. You know, you can be like, oh my God, they must be so confident. They have it all. Right? They have this great career. They're fucking preposterously attractive. And yet that person, you know, might be wildly intimidated by the bank teller thinking that that person could just easily take their man.

February 19th, 1974, Dolly announces the end of her partnership with Porter Wagner. Dolly wrote in her book, I guess the real problems that arose between Porter and me were all about dueling dreams. Porter dreamed of me staying with his show forever, and I dreamed to have my own show. I had only promised to stay with the show for five years. Time went by and I wrote more and more songs and dreamed bigger and bigger dreams. Porter became very competitive and possessive and very intimidated. Porter was ultimately the boss but Dolly wanted to branch out on her own. Both of them were stubborn which did not help their relationship.

Sometimes they argued loud enough to be allegedly heard a full block away. After three or four years they were quote past the point of no return according to Dolly but they continued working together. By the time seven years had passed, the relationship could not continue. Dolly wrote, Making the decision to leave was much easier than the actual leaving. It happened while we were on the road. I can still see the taxi waiting there in front of the hotel with its door open, welcoming me to my new beginning. A few weeks later, Dolly met with Porter to work out business details of their parting. She cried after she left his office, then sang a song to herself. By the time she got home, she'd written another song, Light of a Clear Blue Morning. Another issue that needed to be worked out was her contract with RCA after leaving. Porter Wagner insinuated that they would not want Dolly without him.

She asked for a meeting, flew to New York. She told him, I know I'm not the same without Porter, but I'll be something really special by myself. The record executives were surprised by the breakup, but then they told her that, I know I'm not the same without Porter, but I'll be something really special by myself. The record executives were surprised by the breakup, but then they told her that, I don't know, well, we want to work with you. We've always thought you were the real star anyway. And how good did that feel? And I'm surprised she didn't see that coming.

I mean, Porter, talented dude, had a hell of a run, you know, but she is a much better songwriter than him, much better voice, and in a business where looks definitely matter, if she's a 10 on the attractiveness scale, he's maybe a 4. I'm not trying to be mean, but Porter was not a handsome man. He looked like someone you would cast in Revenge of the Nerds as one of the nerds. One of the nerdiest nerds.

Not in her league at all, as far as star power goes. Not even fucking close shows how again this is a difference between like you know what the rest of the world's seeing what's going on someone's head for him to think like you'd never make it without me is fucking insane Dolly's hit song I Will Always Love You released in March 1974 was a tribute to Porter Wagner as Dolly started her solo career she wrote that song the same day she wrote Jolene famous day in music and it's the song Whitney Houston would later record. And Houston's rendition

would go on to be the best-selling single by a female artist of all time. I believe it still is. It has sold over 24 million copies. I will always love you I will always love you Did you know that Dolly Parton wrote that? That it was originally a country song? I did not actually Elvis Presley actually wanted to record a cover of that song, but Dolly refused when his manager, Colonel Parker, remember him from the Elvis Presley Suck,

tried to get her to sign over half of the publishing rights. And she was like, nope, that's too greedy. In an interview with the BBC in September of 2023, Dolly revealed Elvis loved that song. In fact, I talked to Priscilla Presley not very long ago, and she said to me, you know, Elvis sang that song to me when we walked down the courthouse steps when we got divorced. He was singing to me, I will always love you. Oh, my God, that's actually so sad. Dolly put together a new band to tour her new songs. They consisted mostly of family members now.

They called themselves the Traveling Family Band, and this band turned out to be a complete disaster. Dolly took on a maternal role trying to manage everybody. She soon realized that a family band was a fucking colossal mistake. She was trying to move her career in a new direction. Her family was holding her back. It was painful to bring the band to an end but necessary. After the band quickly failed, Dolly reconnected with an old industry friend, Mac Davis, who booked her and her new band to professional, to open for his TV variety show that summer, and that was a big boost to

Dolly's solo career. Mac, by the way, mostly known for writing several of Elvis's hits like In the Ghetto and A Little Less Conversation. In 1975 and 1976, Dolly, as a solo artist, wins the CMA Award for Female Vocalist of the year. Go suck a dick, Porter! Back to back, baby. Also in 1976, Dolly began working with Sandy Gallin, who will manage Dolly for the next 25 years. Sandy was one of the most powerful talent reps in the entertainment industry in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. He also managed, shaped the careers of Elizabeth Taylor, Cher, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Mariah Carey, helped get The Beatles booked on The Ed Sullivan Show, all kinds of shit.

Legendary entertainment figure, Albert Samuel Gatlin, born in Brooklyn, May 27th, 1940, grew up in Long Island, moved to LA in 1968. And Dolly wrote that Sandy was the only person I ever met other than Uncle Bill who wanted me to be a star even more than I did. During their first meeting in LA, Dolly told Sandy I'm going to be a superstar and whoever helps me will also be rich and famous. And Sandy laughed and quickly told her he was laughing with her. Dolly wrote, He was laughing for joy at having found me. I instantly felt as if all my life I had been waiting for Sandy. In that one moment, I realized I'd found someone who understood me completely and that made me want to cry

Sandy got to work dealing with RCA Records to make her a crossover star in both country and pop Her first crossover release was a song here you come again, which came on on October of a night Excuse me in October of 1977 here you come again topped the country charts reached number three on the pop charts Won her first her first Grammy for best female country or best female country vocal performance such a great song I think her voice just keeps getting better. So good! Dolly now 31 years old, more gorgeous than ever, faced some pushback from the Nashville crowd over that song.

I guess they felt that she was selling out by singing a song that wasn't as country as her old stuff. They wanted to keep her in that little box. Dolly thought moving into pop space was the most logical thing to do to grow her audience. When she was accused of leaving country, she said, I'm not leaving it. I'm taking it with me to new places. Clever again. When a lot of big players in Nashville ended up really listening to her song, she felt vindicated because they liked it. She had proved herself. Sandy capitalized on the success of her new hit. He helped Dolly develop her business.

One of their first ventures was her TV show, Dolly, which was produced in Nashville. Dolly's variety show ran from September 13th, 1976 to March 7th, 1977. One episode featured Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. The three sang together and the collaboration would be a little preview of their 1987 album, Trio, which would win Dolly another Grammy.

Kenny Rogers also a guest on Dolly's show which marked the start of their working relationship. Islands in the Stream was their first duet released in 1983 song would top the Billboard Hot 100. I actually sang that song with a buddy at a talent show back in college. He was Kenny. I was Dolly. I think we won. Kind of wish I had a recording of it somewhere, but maybe it's better that I don't.

Probably a lot better in my mind than it was in real life. Dolly's variety show did not last long, but it lasted long enough for her to know that she wanted to do it again someday. Dolly appeared on this night show for the first time on her birthday in 1977, and the viewers fell in love with her. She wanted to do more big national tv spots after the outside, or after that, outside of the kinds of shows, you know, typical for country artists, like the Porter Wagner stuff. People told her she was crazy when she decided to do an interview with Barbara Walters, but once Barbara realized, after being pretty fucking condescending at first, I watched this interview, that her insides weren't as phony as her outsides. It became a powerful TV moment for Dolly, give her a lot of new fans. And the phony part, most likely a reference to Dolly's most famous body parts right her boobs. Based on photos of her it seems as if she got her first boob job sometime in the early 1970s. They did

shift in size a bit over the years. Speaking of Dolly's boobs she would pose for Playboy in October of 1978 but easy not nude. She was on the cover though wearing bunny ears showing some cleavage. Back then a lot of people did read Playboy and her interview in the magazine gave her a lot of exposure, showed her that she was a lot more than her boobs. Or showed people that she was a lot more than her boobs. Her manager Sandy Gallin was the one getting her these press appearances. He would also help Dolly open her future theme park and together they founded Sand Dollar Productions in 1985, which produced Father of the Bride,

right, it's a big big movie, and the hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I had no idea there was a Dolly-Buffy connection. That was actually a really fun show. Dolly said in a 2017 interview, nobody could quite get how the Christian Southern girl and the New York Jewish boy could have so much in common, but it was real. quite get how the Christian Southern girl and the New York Jewish boy could have so much in common, but it was real. She added, my husband didn't love to travel and Sandy was gay and did. He knew everybody. Now for some not so great news. Her old variety show co-star Porter Fuckface Wagner. Old nerdy McNerdpants filed a three million dollar suit against her on March 21st, 1979,

claiming he was entitled to a percentage of her earnings for life because he had made her a star and what a prick I hate shit like that she kept that fucking nerd show afloat after he lost his first co-host when she got married she didn't know him shit right if anything he should be thankful thing in her thanks for keeping my fucking show around for a couple years yeah they were even Dolly didn't want her family or husband to suffer the backlash of a public court battle, so she settled on a court for a million dollars. Problem was Dolly surprisingly did not have a million dollars in cash this time. She was eventually able to pay it, but it took years. Dolly would write about having to deal with men's egos like porters in her autobiography.

She wrote, there are basically two kinds of men you have to deal with in business. The ones who want to screw you out of money and the ones who want to screw you, period. The second guy is the easiest to deal with. If I catch a man who is not looking into my eyes as he talks to me, I have scored two really big points with him already. A smart woman can take a man who thinks with his small head

and quickly turn the would-be screwer into the screwy. She's so fucking funny. I hope she manipulated the fuck out of a bunch of dipshits. We'll try to take advantage of her. Dolly experienced a bit more trouble in the early 80s. She later admitted to an affair of the heart, where she didn't physically cheat on her husband, but you know started to have romantic tender feelings for a man she worked with. A man she you know shared feelings for, the feelings left her feeling guilty. She was also dealing with health issues at this time.

She ended up canceling concerts, doing her health issues, stayed out of the spotlight for about two years. She said about this time, it was devastating to be in that depressed state of mind for about six months there. I woke up every morning feeling dead. Her personal troubles started when Dolly met Greg Perry, her new band leader, the man she would develop feelings for. Perry, who recently died in March of 2023, was a child

prodigy, played at Carnegie Music Hall as a kid. Dolly and Greg became close, spent a lot of time together. She admired his knowledge of history, art, and literature, and Dolly quote, let herself get completely wrapped up in it. And that made her best friend Judy Ogle, remember her little dirty pig pen pal? Pig pen pal back from grade school. Well now Judy feels neglected. Judy just moved to Nashville became a Thickened thieves with her old best bud Dolly again after Judy had served in the army for a while And now the two Dolly would later describe her as a Thelma to her Louise. Well, they have a little falling out And then Dolly's personal troubles become intertwined with her film career

She had been sent several movie scripts well, they have a little falling out. And then Dolly's personal troubles become intertwined with her film career. She had been sent several movie scripts, but none of them seemed right for her until Jane Fonda centered the script for 9 to 5 in 1980. 9 to 5 released in theaters December 19, 1980, starring Dolly, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin. Dolly plays a secretary who, along with her two co-workers, plots against the boss. This movie actually did a lot at the time to raise awareness of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination. Jane Fonda thought Dolly would be perfect for the film and would help the film do well in the South. After listening to one of Dolly's songs, she knew she wanted her to play the

secretary role and modeled the character after Dolly's own personality. Dolly later wrote in her autobiography, the whole experience to do nine to five was as much fun as I have ever had with two women. It made me wonder what had taken me so long to get into the movies. It whetted my appetite to do more. Dolly wrote the now famous theme song on set. She wrote lyrics on the back of her script, used her fingernails to create the rhythm for the song, and in fact the bass line at the beginning of the song is Dolly's nails. I'll play the beginning of the song again so you can hear it. I think this is really cool. I never noticed it before. Now you hear her fingernails come in.

A little clicking right there is her fingernails. Such a catchy song too. I just want to come to life. Jump in the shower. I just want to keep playing it. Ah, man. Biography.com quotes her as saying, I always play the nails and I'd come up with little things like that on set, like I tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition,

and I thought, wow, that sounds like a typewriter. The women on set gathered around to listen to Dolly while she worked on this song, when she worked out the details. Her hairdresser beat her brushes to the rhythm. The script supervisor used her clipboard for a little percussion. When Dolly sang the first version, like actual version 9 to 5, you know, like studio version, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, both got goosebumps. 9 to 5 was released as a single in November of 1980.

It was another number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the country chart for Dolly. Dolly won two Grammys for Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. The movie would earn over a hundred million at the box office, the second highest grossing movie of the year after Star Wars Episode 5. So huge success. But then husband and wife duo Neil and Jan Goldberg filed a lawsuit claiming their 1976 song Money World was stolen from them. The couple claimed that Jane Fonda took their song and gave it to Dolly to rewrite it. They sued for a million dollars and other unspecified damages.

However, on December 18th, 1985, a Los Angeles federal jury ruled in favor of Dolly finding that she did not copy the work of the Goldbergs and told them to get the fuck out of here. Maybe. Maybe, maybe just, you know, maybe they just didn't win the lawsuit. Dolly's lawyer Peter Hoffman quoted her as saying, I'm relieved that it's all over. I feel that my reputation has been vindicated. Let's now discuss how Dolly's first film production was related to the troubles in her personal life I alluded to.

Dolly's band leader, Greg Perry, the guy she's having this emotional affair with, produced the single 9 to 5, but composer Mike Post produced the album. He was often credited for the single as well. Greg and Mike did not get along. Greg was disappointed that the label wanted Mike to do the album over him. Dolly felt caught in the middle. During filming, Dolly was living with two women from the costume department. Her best friend, Judy, and Judy's army boyfriend moved in next door.

Now they're all friends again. Judy and her man started having relationship problems. Judy's boyfriend was jealous of Judy's relationship with Dolly. There were all kinds of rumors that began in the late 70s that Dolly and Judy were lesbian lovers and that Dolly's marriage had just been a cover for her lesbianism. And now Dolly had to pull back away from her best friend for her own mental health. Dolly would later tell People magazine in 1991 addressing the rumors that still continue to float around or that you know word at that time she's not my lover she's never been my lover if we were lovers I would not be ashamed of it.

I just say there's a great love between us so there. This led to Dolly becoming depressed and starting to eat for comfort which then caused her to gain weight she also began to have, female problems due to nerves and stress. Ended up having to have a DNC procedures to control hemorrhaging from her uterus. Then she got her tubes tied so she could stop taking birth control. Then she felt guilty about not consulting her husband Carl about that. Dolly also felt guilty because some of her siblings were trying to establish their careers in music, but they were always compared to her and she felt like now they resented

her because of her success and then she's offered a role in the musical movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Dolly and Greg's relationship is further damaged while working on that movie which will be released in July of 1982. In the film she stars along Burt Reynolds and Dom Deleuze. This movie introduced a new generation to her song I Will Always Love You and she earned a Grammy nomination for the new version. She also had to now now had to deny rumors that she was having an affair with her co-star Burt all while still dealing with what she called her affair of the heart with Greg Perry. Greg wanted to produce the music for the

best little whorehouse in Texas. Dolly got him the job but then he quit in the middle of the project telling Dolly he couldn't handle the pressure. Dolly's relationship with Greg is now over and her relationship with her best friend Judy is damaged. Dolly wrote about her heartbreak at this time, saying, "...it seemed that all my support systems had disappeared. The very foundation of all my beliefs had been shaken. The dreamy little kid from the mountains had become a fat, disillusioned, hopeless woman."

She's exaggerating there. Being a little dramatic, she was not fat. Her husband Carl didn't know how to comfort Dolly. She needed his support, but she didn't think that she could tell him everything that was happening. He's just not good with dealing with certain emotional situations, I guess. Dolly now starts to question her faith in God. For the first time in my life, I understood how people could let themselves become dependent on drugs and alcohol, she wrote. I understood how a person could consider suicide. I yelled and screamed at God in ways that would curdle some people's blood.

All right, this is it, I screamed. I'm going to blow my brains out if you don't give me some kind of help. But I'd always believed that the commandment, I'd always believed that the commandment, thou shalt not kill, apply to killing myself as well as someone else. I did not want that sin on my hands nor on my head. In her 2017 book, Dolly on Dolly, Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton, she opened up about how the heartbreak and guilt over her emotional affair with Greg, they never did anything again but you know, she had romantic feelings for him, led her to pick up a gun.

She said, I looked at it a long time, then just as I picked it up just to hold it and look at it for a moment our little dog Popeye came running up the stairs. The tap tap of his paws jolted me back to reality. I suddenly froze and put the gun down. I kind of believe Popeye was a spiritual messenger from God. I don't think I'd have done it, killed myself, but I can't say for sure. Now that I've gone through that terrible moment, I can certainly understand the possibilities, even for someone solid like me, if the pain gets bad enough. Dolly decided that if she were going to die, she wanted to have read the Bible cover to cover before she did. And so she starts doing that as she reads through it. She starts to get answers

to some of her questions and solutions to some of her problems. Then finally after one really good night of peaceful sleep she wakes up with a clear head and her depression is lifted. By the time Dolly came out of her depression it had been months since she had worked or written a new song and now she was ready to get back after it. Interesting thing about depression there, right? Money and fame. They won't make it go away or prevent it from showing up. The problems she just went through might seem trivial to some people compared to their own problems, but they mattered so much to her. She literally almost blew her brains out. And right after she had released one of the most successful soundtrack songs ever for one of the most successful movies of the 80s. So don't discount your feelings. If

they're real to you, they're real. Sandy Gallagher now plans a trip to help Dolly recharge, start kicking ass again. He books tickets for them to travel to Sydney, Australia, but he doesn't realize they will be arriving in the middle of a big country music festival. Thousands of country fans are waiting for Dolly at the airport on her plane lands. They couldn't even sit down in a restaurant without being bombarded so Sandy quickly puts together a new plan and take a little trip to a remote island off the coast of Australia. He charters what they think is a yacht but it's more like a small houseboat. They end up going far offshore and then a powerful storm swoops through the area. Massive waves now rock the

houseboat threatening to capsize it washing over the deck. Dolly is almost thrown overboard. She actually slid across the deck, managed to grab onto a railing just in time before she fell over and would have likely drowned. Her body was still hanging over the edge when Sandy grabbed her, dragged her back up onto the boat. So fucking dramatic. They managed to get into a cabin and they stayed in there, waited the storm out. They truly believed they were going to die.

Dolly thought to herself, here I am, a country girl from East Tennessee about to die somewhere off the coast of Australia, side by side with a gay man from New York. They both prayed. Eventually, the storm broke, and after the experience, Dolly felt like she could survive anything. Although this time in her life overall was painful, the best little whorehouse in Texas was a big financial success. Crushed at the box office

Turned Dolly into a movie star even if she hated film filming it She would later write about the experience saying the wonderful time I had on nine to five had whetted my appetite for another movie whorehouse was a completely opposite experience It was as if nine to five had been my first lover sweetly seductive before and gentle and caring during our lovemaking whorehouse then was a rapist. She said Burt Reynolds was tough to work with. He had just broken up with Sally Fields and I guess he was pissed off the whole time and the producers were firing people left and right. Dolly would write people were being fired right and left. In fact at one point there was a bumper sticker circling around Hollywood that read honk if you've been fired from best little

whorehouse. It's pretty funny for everyone who was in fire of course. Despite the negative experiences filming best little whorehouse Dolly who is now truly a sex symbol thanks to that movie. There were some scenes where she's wearing some lingerie and looks so sexy. She starred in the musical comedy Rhinestone in 1984 where she plays a country singer who tries to turn a New York City cab driver played by Sylvester Stallone into a country star and Rhinestone turned out to be a financial and critical disaster. Pretty much everybody hated this movie. Lost money for the studio, panned pretty much universally by critics. However, Dolly did receive a lot of press attention for three reasons. She had lost

a significant amount of weight. I don't think she needed to, but whatever. And the tabloids speculated about an affair with Stallone and people were talking more than ever about possible plastic surgery that the now 38 year old may have had. Dolly for her part has never denied having cosmetic surgery. She wrote in her autobiography, I've had nips and tucks and trims and sucks, boobs and waist and butt and such, eyes and chin and back again, pills and peels and other frills and I'll never graduate from collagen." Dolly feels that it's a woman's right to look as good as she can. She wrote, whatever you are comfortable with and can afford you should do. She added, my

spirit is too beautiful and alive to live in some dilapidated old body if it doesn't have to. Dolly is 78 years old now and I watched an interview with her from just a few months ago. And while I'm not generally the biggest fan of cosmetic surgery, I will have to admit that she still looks fucking gorgeous. She has been gorgeous for over 60 years, which is insane. Good for her. And it's not just her physical looks. It's like, I don't know, her energy or spirit or wit, class. I don't know. What if she's ever had her IQ tested. I bet she's a fucking genius I'll stop kissing her ass for a second as if she's gonna listen to this and suddenly want to become my godmother Which I'm very open to

At one point around the filming of rhinestone Dolly was called the queen of the tabloids and then she learned that some of the inside stories about her appearing the tabloids were Coming from her fucking aunt who was making shit up because she was pissed that Dolly hadn't invited her to a house party during the filming of Rhinestone. That's ridiculous. One point around this time, some of Dolly's friends, and I use that term loosely, tried to blackmail her. They approached her manager, Sandy, demanded money for some supposedly damaging pictures

and videos they had, so Sandy paid them off without telling her. Turned out these damaging images and videos, it was just Dolly having dinner at the house. And in some of the audio they had, like this damaging, I guess they said they had damaging audio too, it was just Dolly talking into their answer machine. So some friends. Now people who feel entitled to anything from a family member or a friend who suddenly starts to do well are just so gross Like why would you ever feel entitled to someone else's success? I've never felt anyone in my family or or any of my friends, you know

Have owed me shit like if they've gone on to do some cool things Doesn't cross my mind, you know Like if my dad or somebody all of a sudden like, you know felon that had some money all sudden I was like, oh, I wonder if I'm gonna get some. But some people are gross like that. Dolly hosted her second variety show from 1987 to 1988. A show which in her words was doomed from day one. Almost everyone involved wanted to revive a variety shows that were popular in the 50s and 60s. First episode got good ratings, mostly because the audience was

curious though. Viewership steadily declined after that show ended up getting canceled, which actually would benefit Dolly because she had a two year deal. Network had to pay her millions to cancel the show. And now she was free to do better projects. And she appeared in a better project in 1989 called Steel Magnolias, the film. She enjoyed working on that movie, but wrote that the director Herbert Ross disliked her. Ross told Dolly she couldn't act.

She responded, I'm not an actress. I'm Dolly Parton. I'm a personality who's been hired to do this movie. You're the director. It's your job to make me look like I'm acting. Yeah, motherfucker! Don't be a douche, Herbert! Herbert was actually a good director. He directed Footloose, amongst other great movies, and by the end of Steel Magnolias, he and Dolly would become friends and he would respect her acting. And the film crushed.

Grossed almost $100 million at the box office against a $15 million budget, won a People's Choice Award for Best Picture, and Julia Roberts won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Dolly will not really focus on acting going forward, but she will star in a few other things like the 1992 film straight talk 1996 made for TV movie unlike the angel and a few lesser-known projects 1986 dolly partnered with her shint family entertainment to transform an amusement park called silver dollar city into dollywood Dolly was inspired to make her own theme park after looking at the Hollywood sign and thinking she'd like to replace that H with a D She aspired to make her own theme park after looking at the Hollywood sign and thinking she'd like to replace that H with a D.

A lot of people thought Dollywood was just a big ego trip, but Dolly wrote that it was more about the mountains and culture of Tennessee than it was about her and she's proud of how the park has benefited the local economy and created a bunch of jobs. She said she invested in the park because, quote, I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great. Something that would bring a lot of jobs into the area. The grand opening took place May 3rd 1986 and it was a big success. Still is today. About 3 million people come to Dollywood

annually. Today the Dollywood company owns and operates a number of properties and entertainment venues including a water park called Dollywood Splash Country, a dinner show called Dolly Parton Stampede, the Dream More Resort and Spa and More. And Dolly's 50% stake is estimated to be worth about $165 million dollars according to Forbes. Over the years Dolly has used her considerable wealth to do a whole lot of good, not just for Sevier County but for the entire country. In 1988 Dolly started the Dollywood Foundation in Sevier County with the goal of decreasing high school dropout rates. She started a buddy program, just like her little buddy when she was a kid, where she gave

$500 to every seventh and eighth grader who finished high school. And largely due to that program, the county dropout rate declined from 35% to somewhere around 6%. Following year, 1989, Dolly offered a $500 scholarship to every student in Sevier County who wanted to attend High Walsie College. 1991, Dolly established a $30,000 square foot aviary sanctuary inside Dollywood managed by the American Eagle Foundation which shelters the largest collection of non-released bald eagles in the whole country. And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Dolly's philanthropy. She does all kinds of good deeds. 1992 was a big year for Dolly. Whitney Houston

sang her famous cover of I Will Always Love You from the 1992 movie The Bodyguard. Whitney's version made the song unbelievably popular. The single topped the pop charts for 14 weeks, became again one of the best-selling singles of all time. When Anderson Cooper asked Dolly how she spent her royalties, she answered, Whitney did it I got all the money for the publishing and for the writing and I bought a lot of cheap wigs. And she is downplaying that. She's made millions off Whitney's version. Forbes reported that just in the 1990s Dolly made about 10 million dollars in royalties off of Houston's rendition of her song. And then Dolly spent all that money helping revitalize a black neighborhood in Nashville buying an old abandoned strip mall, renovating it, putting a lot of black businesses in it.

So that's very cool. Dolly was driving when she first heard Whitney Houston's version, and she said she almost wrecked her car when she heard the singer's powerful vocals. Kevin Cosner, the producer and male lead of the movie, was the one who asked Dolly to send her the song to potentially be used in the film. In 2008, Cosner said it took some convincing with executives at Whitney's label Arista Records, but they eventually let her do the cover. And then Whitney ended up winning the 1992 Grammy for best female pop vocal performance and the Bodyguard soundtrack won two Grammys. Dolly said, When Whitney did, I will always love you. I mean, look what a grand song she made out of that simple heartfelt, you know, song. It was just amazing.

Whitney is the one who took it worldwide and really made it a household word or song, I should say. So I'll always be thankful to her for that. Dolly also acknowledged that the success of Whitney's version put her in the forefront as a writer. Before then, Dolly said, I was just a girl with the big hair and the big tits and a big personality. But I think that one kind, but I think that one kind of pointed a finger at me as a serious songwriter.

And the fact that it did so well and I was so touched by it and so honored by that, that one will stand out in my mind forever. I love it. I also love how self-aware and humble Dolly is, right? Combined with being such a boss. Now back to some charity. One of Dolly's most impactful charitable ventures has been her Imagination Library founded in 1995. Dolly wrote in her autobiography published a year before she founded the charity. I always loved books. I don't remember

learning to read. It was just something I always did. I was hungry for knowledge, I guess, and information. I was a curious kid. I still am. I love to write stories. I wrote stories back then, not just songs, but long involved stories. Even when I was in school and was supposed to give a book report, I would make up the story, make up a fictitious author, then get up and talk about it. I love that. Each month the Imagination Library, which is still around, going strong, stronger than ever, at ImaginationLibrary.com. Excuse me, ImaginationLibrary.com, and each month they mail a free book to children in the program. Enrollment can start at birth,

last until age 5. Imagination Library is available to all children regardless of financial status. The first book that each kid receives is The Little Engine That Could. Oh man, I used to read that one to both Kyler Monroe when they were little things. Dolly's book, I Am a Rainbow, also part of the program. Dolly was inspired to start a nonprofit because of her father Lee. She said in 2019, well my dad, like so many country people, the hard-working people, especially back in the rural areas, my dad never had a chance to go to school because he had to help make a living for the family. And so daddy couldn't read or write. Her father Lee was embarrassed and frustrated by illiteracy, couldn't do things like complete forms, scan a newspaper,

read to his children, despite the fact that he was highly intelligent. Dolly wanted to do something that would inspire kids to love reading and to love learning. He never had anyone that inspired him in such a way. The program started in Sevier County, but an overwhelming positive response led it to explode nationally.

Dolly's dad Lee Parton was able to see the success of the program before he died in 2000 at the age of 79, the year the program went national. On February 27th 2018, Dolly donated her 100 millionth book through the program, Code of Many Colors, to the Library of Congress. That's fucking wild. Man, that one program of hers has donated over a hundred million books to help kids read. The Imagination Library aims to pick books that foster a quote, love of reading and learning, regard for diversity of people, their roles, culture and environment, promotion of self-esteem and confidence, appreciation of art and aesthetics. That's fucking great. Dolly told NPR

in 2018, if you can read, even if you can't afford education, you can go on and learn about anything you want to know. There's a book on everything. She loves that a lot of kids now call her the book lady. Dolly told PBS, the older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the book lady title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person. Not just a singer or an entertainer, but it makes me feel like I've done something good with my life and with my success. Is Dolly Parton a fucking angel? Is she real? Is she the sexiest, coolest angel of all time? Dolly hopes to distribute a billion books in her lifetime.

In 1999, Dolly explored the Appalachian music of her early childhood with her album The Grass is Blue, which won her a sixth Grammy, one for best bluegrass album. She was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame that same year. In 2000, the Dollywood Foundation established the Dolly Parton Scholarship. Every year, five high school seniors in Severe County earn a $15,000 scholarship. 2001, she's inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. That year, she also won another Grammy for her cover of the song Shine, written by alt rock act collective soul

from her album little sparrow I did not know about this I love collective soul back in like the late 90s they had some great songs and shine is definitely one of them here is Dolly's version Heaven let your light shine down Oh, oh, oh Heaven let your light shine Mm-hmm I didn't, uh, read about the collective soul thing at first when I just heard about the song and I was like, man, this song sounds familiar. Oh yeah!

Love is in the water, love is in the air Show me where to go and tell me will love be there? Oh yeah! Ah! So good. 2006, millions of people around the country learned that Dolly is the godmother of Miley Cyrus, who became famous for starring in the Disney show Hannah Montana. Dolly has known Miley since she was a little baby because of her long friendship with Billy Ray Cyrus. Billy Ray has asked Dolly to be Miley's godmother. Oh Billy Ray Cyrus. I was just talking about Billy Ray Cyrus. I got to have uh, Lindsay and I got to have dinner there tonight with uh, Chad Daniels and Kelsey Cook when they were in town. Not touring or anything, just coming through to visit some Kelsey's family and we're having dinner and talking about perms randomly. Talking about like dudes with perms and I was like oh yeah I had a perm when I was a

kid and they're like what are you talking about and I had the I had the biliris Cyrus cut I wanted it so bad my aunt is a hairstylist and I was like sixth grade an achy breaky heart was huge and so I got the most ridiculous haircut of my life where I had like the sides really tight like a number two on the trimmers probably on the sides of my head and on the back, but also had a mullet. So I had like short hair on the back of my head, but just that little fringe on the bottom, I grew down about six inches long.

And then and the top of my hair was like a spike, just like a real spiky, like a flat top though, like very flat. So I had this flat like hard lots of gel on top, hard spike on top, short sides, short back of my head, long mullet. And then I had the mullet part curled with a perm. So, so it looked like Billy Ray Cyrus's haircut for Akebrakeheart. And I'm pretty sure I would sometimes wear a jean vest, uh, with no sleeves. Like he would wear.

And I can do his line dance, whatever. I wanted to be Billy Ray Cyrus for a couple of months. Anyway, actually one more thing about that. It was just one of the funniest moments I think about from grade school. I have a specific memory, and I'm sure most of the kids are like, who's this fucking dork? What's he doing? But I have a specific memory of walking into class the day after I got that haircut. Like just literally strutting. And Kim Dowdy, who I thought was the cutest girl in class, she came over to me. She's like, I love your haircut. And I remember like that was probably the biggest moment I had that year. And I just did like, like a little like, I think I did like a hair flip with my mullet. And he's like, yeah, thanks. Strut it away.

Okay. Anyway, Billy Ray Cyrus, he asked Dolly to be Miley's godmother. And the two women have done several collaborations over the years. They've become very, very close. The first professional project together was an episode of Hannah Montana 2006. Dolly actually appeared in three episodes of that show. And Miley's latest version of her song Wrecking Ball was featured in Dolly's November 2023 album Rockstar. Dolly has publicly praised Miley many times for her songwriting skills, also supported

Miley when she faced backlash from the public during her career transition from child actor to sex symbol and pop star. She told The Sun, people didn't want her to grow up. They got mad at her. One day she'd had enough and she told me I need to murder Hannah Montana in order for people to accept who I really am. When Miley was selected for the Time 100 most influential people in 2014, Adali wrote, if I didn't know how smart and talented Miley is, I might worry about her. But I've watched her grow up, so I don't. She knows what she's doing. She was very proud of the work she did as Hannah Montana, but people were gonna leave her there forever.

She felt she had to do something completely drastic and she did. She made her point, she made her mark, and more power to her. In 2007, Dolly hosted a benefit concert that raised half a million dollars for the new Sevier County Hospital, which opened in 2010 and features a Dolly Parton Center for Women's Services. She has fucking single-handedly revitalized Sevier County, Tennessee. Jumping ahead to 2015, Dolly Parton's coat of many colors, a made-for-TV movie based on Dolly's life story, debuts on NBC, December 10th.

Over 13 million people tune in to the initial broadcast the highest viewership for any TV film made for TV or theatrical or miniseries on any of the broadcast networks since 2012 also receives the mostly favorable favorable reviews from critics and fans alike on May 30th 2016 Dolly and Carl Dean renewed their wedding vows for their 50th wedding anniversary. Carl said in 2016, I wouldn't trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth. And Dolly said in her statement,

I sure as shit would you fucking peckerwood, are you kidding me? If I would have known how rich and famous and sexy and powerful I would have become when I first showed up in Nashville fucking poor and dirty, no fucking way I married this clown wouldn't even go on the road with me shit an insecure douche Got mad that I slept with other men before he married me. Are you fucking looking? Look how much sexier? I am to him. He's a dud. He's got the personality of a break-room wall and an accounting firm I got a fuck slice alone. I could have had Burt Reynolds eat my fucking great smokey mouth pussy Kenny Rogers literally begged to lick my fucking asshole, but I said no, because I'm stuck with fucking Carl.

Fifty years on, this prick still won't do the decent thing and just fucking die, Carl. Just fucking die. What the fuck has that bum ever brought to the table? I should have told that slut, Jolene, to suck his dick like show him money. So yeah, it was awkward. It was an awkward 50th wedding anniversary. I mean she's not wrong, but some of that probably didn't need to be said out loud, you know. And of course none of that was said out loud. What she really said was, I do love picturing Dolly Parton

getting that angry too. Not just saying that stuff, but like just rage. She said, if I had to do it all over, I'd do it all over again. And we did. I'm dragging him, kicking and screaming into the next 50 years. And we did. I'm dragging him kicking and screaming into the next 50 years, wish us luck. Over the years, Carl has inspired the songs from here to the moon and back, forever love, say forever you'll be mine and tomorrow's forever. Dolly told Good Morning Britain in 2019 though,

that her music is not his favorite. Saying he likes hard rock, he likes Led Zeppelin and bluegrass music. So my music is somewhere in between he doesn't dislike it but he doesn't go out of his way to play my records let's put it that way fucking Carl what does he bring to the table at the 50th annual CMA Awards in 2016 Dolly received the Willie Nelson lifetime achievement award later that year she owed even more support or showed even more support for her hometown

after a wildfire swept through the area. She sent Carl. She sent Carl to go help put out the fire hoping that he'd be burned alive. No. November 28th 2016 Sevier County experienced a wildfire that damaged the tourist town of Gatlinburg and Moore. Over 2,500 buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged. That's intense. The fire was started by two teens who are walking hiking on the on the chimney tops trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on November 23rd and those dipshits tossed a few lit matches on the ground and then the boys claimed they were unaware the fire started. Dolly Parton

paid a million dollars to make those boys disappear. At least that's one rumor. Another rumor is that she sent Carl to murder both those boys and that Carl's been killing lots of people over the years for Dolly. And I started both those rumors. The National Park Service decided to let the fire burn rather than extinguish it, thinking it would burn itself out in an unpopulated area. But five days later, some high winds spread the flames towards Gatlinburg. Whoops!

14 people were killed and almost 200 more were injured. The downtown business district was mostly unscathed and the flames did not spread further than the outskirts of Pigeon Forge. Those two teens were charged with starting the fire, could have went to prison for the rest of their lives for a bunch of manslaughter charges and everything, but the charges were later dismissed. David Dotson, the CEO of the Dollywood Foundation, remembered a meeting with Dolly two days after the fires. She was on tour, she called and asked what could they do and how fast could they do it. Dolly established the My People Fund, which provided $1,000 a month for six months to over 900 families whose homes were destroyed by the fires. The fund also donated just under $9 million to people in need.

Man, she just gave so much money, you know, when the government and insurance companies aren't stepping up fast enough, Dolly does. Her donation helped pay for rent, utilities, food, mental health resources. The Dollywood Foundation received so many donations. They were also able to give $5,000 the final month to each of those 900 plus families. Also organized a telethon called Smokey Mountains Rise, a benefit for the My People Fund. The telethon raised more than $13 million. Featured big stars like Chris Stapleton, Chris Young, Kenny Rogers, Lauren Elena, Reva McIntyre, holy shit. 2017, Dolly donates a million dollars to the Monroe Carroll Junior Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University

Medical Center. There's a lot of words in a row in honor of her niece who was treated for leukemia at that hospital. Dolly's former manager Sandy Galland dies April 21st 2017 from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 76. According to the New York Times Dolly was caught off guard by Sandy's earlier decision to retire from management. Led to the two not speaking for a couple years but they rekindled their friendship long before he died. 2018 Dolly renamed her Dixie Stampede Dinner Theatre Show to Dolly Parton Stampede Dinner Attraction after facing criticism in the wake of the 2017 Charlottesville white supremacist rally.

In an interview with Billboard, Dolly said she was guilty of innocent ignorance and would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose. When they said Dixie was an offensive word, I thought, well, I don't want to offend anybody. This is a business. We just call it the Stampede now. As soon as you realize that something is a problem, you should fix it. don't want to offend anybody. This is a business. We just call it the Sam Pied now. As soon as you realize that something is a problem, you should fix it. Don't be a dumbass. That's where my heart is.

In August of 2020, Dolly did an interview with Billboard where she expressed her support for the BLM movement, saying, I understand people have to make themselves known and felt and seen. And of course, black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No. God, I love her. In the midst of the 2020 pandemic, Dolly donated a million dollars to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Again.

Or I guess this is a different Vanderbilt University Medical place. Which worked with Moderna to develop a COVID vaccine. Research leader Mark Denison said Dolly's donation funded critical early stages of vaccine, the vaccine development. On March 2nd, 2021, Dolly filmed herself receiving a Moderna shot at Vanderbilt Health in Tennessee. She told her fans she was excited to get vaccinated and sang a parody to the tune of Jolene. Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I'm begging of you please don't hesitate because once you're dead, I don't have the rest ability, but the rest of the words are because once you're dead it's a bit too late. She ended her video by saying, I just want to say to all you cowards out there, don't

be such a chicken squat, get out there and get your shot. She's sassy. July 20th, 2021 for her husband Carl's 79th birthday, 75-year-old Dolly recreates the look she had for her Playboy cover 43 years earlier. Dressed in bunny ears, a black bustier with matching gloves and a pink bow tie, Parton shares her sexiest fuck look in a video posted to her social media accounts. She said in the video, You're probably wondering why I'm dressed like this. Well, it's for my husband's birthday.

Remember some time back I said I was going to pose on Playboy magazine when I'm 75? Well I'm 75 and they don't have a magazine anymore. But my husband always loved the original cover of Playboy. I was trying to think of something to do to make him happy. He still thinks I'm a hot chick after 57 years and I'm not going to try and talk him out of it. What did Carl do in a previous life or some shit to hit the fucking Dolly jackpot this one? And she really does look incredible in this recreation. Like truly sexy at 75. Living legend. Later that year Dolly and her business raised $700,000 to help some Tennessee residents impacted by flooding in October of 2021. Partially to pay back Loretta Lynn for Loretta helping her earlier.

Dolly said in a statement after the severe county wildfires in 2016, Loretta was one of the first who reached out to offer anything she could. It meant so much to me that Loretta and so many folks were ready to give in any way they could. This was just one small way I could help Loretta's people for all they did to help my people. I hope that this money can be put to good use to help the people of middle Tennessee with what they need during their recovery." Making these massive donations doesn't do much damage to Dolly's wallet. Because she started her own publishing company back in the 60s, she held on to nearly all of her publishing rights. I told you she was good at business. That means she gets a larger royalty when one of her songs is played or covered than most artists. Dolly's hits like 9 to 5 and Jolene still earn between 6 and 8 million dollars in royalties each year. Forbes estimated her catalog

is worth at least 150 million dollars. In 2021 her net worth was estimated to be 350 million, according to Forbes. Her music catalog makes up about a third of her net worth, but her largest asset is Dollywood. Despite all that money, Dolly and Carl still live in Brentwood, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville, in the same house since 1999, which they bought for $400,000. A modest home. She could live in the biggest mansion in Malibu, but she just doesn't need that shit. February 2022, Dollywood announced that it would cover 100% of tuition fees and books for its employees seeking higher education. 100%.

And that program is available not just to full-time employees or even just full-time and part-time, but also to seasonal employees at Dollywood. This was the year Dollywood was awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy given every other year to multiple philanthropists. Wow. Remember earlier how I told you that Dolly liked to write stories as a kid? Well on March 7th, 2022, Dolly at the age of 76 published her first novel, Run Rose Run, in collaboration with pretty well-known author James Patterson. The thriller features an aspiring

country singer named Annie Lee who moves to Nashville to avoid her dark past and receives help from a charismatic star named Ruth Anna, a star similar to Dolly Parton. She also recorded the companion album for the book. The album debuted and peaked at number four on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart. Two weeks later, March 21, 2022, it was announced that Parton will star in and help produce a film adaptation of the novel with Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine production company who bought the rights. The book quickly became a New York Times number one bestseller currently has over 50,000 ratings on Amazon where it was an editor's pick for best mystery and thriller and over 130,000 ratings on Goodreads and it's well rated you know overall both places. So it's like it's doing pretty well

and stuff for a first book. November of 2022 Dolly announced plans to release her first rock album titled Rock Star in response to her nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At first she actually declined her nomination because she didn't feel like she had earned it. She later accepted only after learning that other non-rock musicians were being inducted. The album was released in November of 2023, features covers of famous rock songs. Rock star hit number one on Billboard's top album sales charts, selling 118,000 copies in the first week and getting a lot of positive reviews. November 3rd, 2023, Dolly comments on her long-standing relationship with the LGBTQIA-plus community.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she shared some of her thoughts on an anti-transgender bill passed in Tennessee earlier in the year. She said, I try not to get into the politics of everything. I try to get into the human element of it. I have some of everybody in my own immediate family and in my circle of employees. She said, I've got transgender people. I've got gays. I've got lesbians. I've got drunks. I've got drug addicts all within my own family. I know and love them all and I do not judge. Regarding the bill, she said, I know how important this is to them.

That's who they are. They cannot help that any more than I can help being Dolly Parton. You know, the way people know me. If there's something to be judged, that is God's business. But we are all God's children and how we are is who we are. And that's beautiful. I love how she says, I try to get into the human element of it and not get political. Yep. I've been accused of getting political more like in the last five or six years defending the LGBTQIA

plus community and it's so fucking annoying because it has nothing to do with politics. Not for me. It's about human rights. So many people today, it seems to me, they just want to see. They want to be outraged. They want to see politics everywhere. They read it into everything. It's a fucking weird choice that they make. Just because you've decided that something is a political issue for you, that doesn't mean it actually is a political issue. Dolly, while seemingly not a big fan of politicians, has long been a big advocate for equal rights, human rights.

She's publicly supported gay marriage, respected gender identity, all while also maintaining her Christian faith. And I just find all that very, very commendable. And I love her all the more for it. Hail Nimrod! Dolly's even participated in at least one drag show, a drag show contest to see who could do the best Dolly Parton impression back in 2012, and she said she lost. May of 2024, this year, Dolly announced another upcoming album and a companion four-part docu-series titled Dolly Parton and Family, Smokey Mountain DNA,

Family, Faith and Fables. The album was released November 15th, features 37 tracks with vocals from Dolly and her extended family. Spotlights the history of the Parton and Owens families by following their historic journey from the UK to the Smokey Mountains. Dolly said in a press release, I cannot believe that it has been 60 years this month since

I graduated from Sevier County High School and moved to Nashville to pursue my dreams. My uncle Bill Owens was by my side for many years, helping me develop my music. I owe so much to him and all the family members past and present who've inspired me along this journey. I am honored to spotlight our family's musical legacy that is my smoky mountain DNA. The four-part docu-series is expected to be released in 2025. We'll feature family interviews with a focus on Dolly's paternal grandfather, Reverend Jake Owens. Dolly recently said the album is her favorite out of all of her albums.

In August this year, Dolly launched her own cosmetic brand, because fuck it, why not, called Dolly Beauty, still expanding her business in her late 70s. On October 4th, Dolly announced she would donate a million dollars of her own money to the Mountain Ways Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing assistance to victims of flooding after Hurricane Helene. She held an event at a Walmart in Newport, Tennessee

with Walmart CEO John Ferner, who said Walmart, Sam's Club, and the Walmart Foundation would donate another 10 million to hurricane relief efforts in affected states. Dollywood Parks and Resorts and the Dollywood Foundation also announced they would match Dolly's donation with another million dollars. Also in November, Dolly said that while she no longer plans to tour, she will occasionally still perform live, and has no plans to stop making albums or to stop working. I imagine she will be whipping up new tunes and tales until the day she dies.

And she will remain fucking phenomenal until the very end. And finally in 2026 Dolly is going to be on Broadway. Remember that 2015 NBC made for TV movie about Dolly's life I mentioned? Coat of many colors. Well much of the material for that movie will be adapted for the stage and more of Dolly's life will also be covered. She told Variety, The whole first act is my early days before I went to Nashville. The second act is about my days in Nashville and beyond. So the first part of the musical will be a lot like coat

of many colors with music and songs and will involve more details. I thought it would be a good boost and kickoff for the musical and a good promotional tool. And I think she's talking about the album there. December 5th Dolly released a video on social media sharing or actually I'm sorry the good promotional tool is I think yeah she's gonna have an album sorry I didn't actually put that on my notes but I think so. Pretty sure. December 5th Dolly released a video on social media sharing details for open auditions for the musical currently titled Dolly in Original Musical. Anyone can audition.

Open audition. Because Dolly wants to give unknowns a chance to live out their performance dreams just like she was given a chance back when she was a poor little girl singing her songs in the great smoky mountains of eastern Tennessee. Good job soldier. You've made it back. Barely. Dolly Parton. What a legend. I admire her so much. Right, she takes care of those who work for her. Think about how even seasonal Dollywood employees get a hundred percent of their college tuition paid for. That's so fucking cool. She's taking so much care of her family. No offense to any of her siblings, but had Dolly never moved to Nashville, had she and her uncle Bill never worked so hard to get

Dolly's name out, none of her siblings would have ever had a career in the music business. It was too much extra info to get into in the timeline, but all of her siblings who recorded albums or got their songs on the radio or who wrote songs for other artists, all of that was due directly to the opportunities that Dolly created in one way or another for her family. Opportunities that she did not have to create. She's also been so loyal to her husband, Karl. Long-term marriages are rare, very rare

in the music business for somebody at Dolly's level. Can't imagine how many wealthy producers or influential radio DJs, et cetera, et cetera, hit on Dolly when she was starting out, promising her this or that career opportunity back when she needed those opportunities, but she stayed true to Carl. Can't imagine how many big Hollywood stars hit on her

at the height of her film career, but she still stayed true to Carl. She remained true to her faith too, a faith that she leaned on much more to accept people than to label them as sinners. And she used her success and wealth to bring attention to and give back to the place where she grew up investing in a hospital,

higher education, economic recovery, following a devastating fire, et cetera, et cetera. In short, Dolly Parton has consistently been cool as fuck for a long time. So if you need a role model, you need to be inspired, be reminded that the world has, in addition to so many dirtbags, some truly genuine, wonderful souls,

look no further than Dolly Parton. You can do a lot worse. When making a decision, you might want to ask yourself, what would Dolly do? Which is a phrase that I've seen on T-shirts and stuff before. I thought it was cute, but now I really get it. And what would Dolly do is the name of a song

Kristin Dawn Chenoweth wrote as a little tribute to Dolly. I got a bull that we can't off the shelf, the heart is up for somewhere else. I ask myself, what would Dolly do? Well, I may look just like barbeque, but this ain't my first barbeque. The question is, what would Dolly do? W W W E W W W E W W W W W W W W W E What would Dolly do? Probably be kind. So be kind, meet Zach, be generous, be loving, be accepting. Don't let this world change you for the worse.

Dolly has stayed true to herself in spite of criticism. She's been criticized by some of her fans for being too pro-LGBTQIA+. She's been criticized for being pro-vaccine. She's been criticized for being too Christian. She's been criticized for dressing too provocatively, for getting cosmetic surgeries. She's actually been criticized for being too non-judgmental. The Federalist.com writer Erica Anderson criticized Parton back in June of this year for her non-judgmental approach to life. Specifically, Anderson took issue with Parton's claim that she

loves everyone, including members of the LGBTQI plus community. And Anderson argued that if Parton was truly a Christian, she should call out homosexuality for being a filthy sin. Anderson stated, Parton's version of love, which includes condoning immoral sexual behavior, be who you are, she said, is unaligned with God's vision for humanity. Dolly was classy enough not to respond. Then after a whole bunch of backlash, she got fucking destroyed on the internet. Anderson apologized, funny how that works, a few days later saying, I regret I regret using Dolly as the example for the point I was trying to make in the article. Dolly's one of the few people who is beloved by all and who loves all. The world is lucky to have

her. Yep, you're damn right the world is Erica. Much more lucky to have her than you. Now let's review a bit of Dolly and then learn something new in today's takeaways about her. And then after the takeaways for this week's updates, I will not be sharing any emails. I will share instead a brief look back at this year and a look ahead at next year for a little end of the year recap. Time Shuck Top 5 Takeaways Number one, Dolly and her 11 siblings grew up in a one-bedroom cabin in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee. They didn't have much but they also had what they needed and a lot more. Dolly grew up in a loving family that

fostered her talent and creativity and supported her when she left home to follow her dreams. Number two Dolly's uncle Bill Owens was her first manager. The two wrote many songs together, traveled all over Tennessee, booking auditions and gigs. Bill's dedication helped Dolly become a big star and the two made a publishing company together that allowed Dolly to keep all the rights to her songs and allowed Bill to make millions and millions of dollars as well. Number three, Dolly met her husband Carl Dean when she first moved to Nashville in 1964. They've been married for almost 60 years now. Carl is a quiet man who prefers to stay out of the spotlight,

but he's always been an important part of Dolly's life and one of her biggest supporters. Fine, Carl. I guess you can stay, Carl! Number four. Many children know Dolly as the Book Lady because of her nonprofit, The Imagination Library. The Imagination Library was founded in 1995, sends a book every month to children enrolled in the program. Dolly created the program because she believes reading can help children learn anything they want to know. It was inspired by her father who never learned to read.

The Imagination Library has donated over a hundred million books to kids learning to read. And number five, new info, encounters with spirits. In addition to being a spiritual person, Doahlia has claimed to have had encounters of the paranormal nature throughout her life. She wrote, since I believe in my own spirit so strongly, I have to believe that the spirits of others can visit me as well. She described several paranormal experiences in her autobiography.

She remembered her family sitting down for bed one night shortly after baby Larry died or settling down. The house was locked, but they heard someone coming to the front door then walk around the children's beds as they all listened. Then the footsteps moved to her parents room and stopped by the door. All the siblings got up saw the door to the cabin was still locked and barred from the inside. A brother who was sleeping on the couch said he felt a faint breeze pass by him. Dolly's parents had zero explanation for what happened. faint breeze passed by him. Dolly's parents had zero explanation for what happened. A.B. Lee thought a so-called death angel came to the house, but some of them, some of the siblings, believed it was Baby Larry's spirit visiting them. Another strange occurrence happened at Dolly and

Carl's home in Nashville early into her fame. Normally Judy and some of Dolly's siblings stay with them, but the house was empty this night. Dolly and Carl locked all the doors, windows, went to bed. Then that night Dolly was awakened by noises in the kitchen, like water running and cabinets opening. She woke up Carl and then the two of them heard footsteps, walking upstairs and turning the water on in the bathroom. They thought Dolly's friend Judy would come back in the night. Dolly got up in the early morning hours to use the bathroom, screamed when she watched the faucet turn on by itself, releasing steaming hot water. She knew something was going on because it was a tough faucet to turn on and normally took a while for the water to heat up. She and Carl then checked the house, realized

Judy wasn't home. Dolly went downstairs, saw that the window above the sink was open just a little. She remembered closing it before bed. Carl insisted there was a logical explanation, but Dolly not so sure. Strangest experience occurred with her best friend Judy. The two women were living in Los Angeles, decided to go on a trip one day to Napa Valley and stay there for five days. Judy and Dolly explored the missions around Santa Barbara, the California coast, saw tall mountains overlooking beautiful valleys during these five days, or at least they thought they did all that shit.

But then suddenly they came out of what felt like some weird trance and realized they hadn't gone anywhere. They were still in the parking lot at the Bell Air Hotel. It was as if she and Judy shared a multi-day hallucination. Dolly wrote, I don't understand it. It was five days later and it appeared we hadn't moved. Our luggage was still intact. The same gas was still in the tank and our food was still warm. That fuck went on there. Some weird glitch in the Matrix. Slip in the multiverse. food was still warm. The fuck went on there? Some weird glitch in the Matrix? Slip in the multiverse? I don't know.

But knowing that Dolly is also a believer in the paranormal, willing to share her strange experiences she doesn't claim to understand, makes me love her even more! Dolly Parton. WWDD has been sucked. And Dolly has wrapped up 2024. Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions team for the help in making time suck all year long. Thanks once again to Queen of Bad Magic, Lindsay Cummins, for being the best partner I could ever hope to have.

A great co-host on Scared to Death, the best parent, the sexiest wife, my best friend. It's been so much fun to spend so much more time with her this year, not working. Thanks to Logan Keith for creating the episode artwork, polishing the sound up a bit of today's episode and for help figuring out how to do his job remotely this year. Thanks to Olivia Lee for sticking around another year

for her initial research on this one. Also huge thanks to the all CNIs, moderating the cult of the curious private Facebook page all year long again, and the Mod Squad squad making sure discord keeps running smooth as well again And now let's head on over to this week's time sucker updates for a quick look back at the year behind and the year ahead So another year in the books for time suck So another year in the books for Time Suck. Currently working on the ninth year of episodes now and this past year was a very very different one. You know we got rid of a lot of changes. We got rid of video. You know I didn't do the secret suck on Patreon anymore. I only did a handful of

stand-up shows and canceled a tour. The last of our in-house employees either went on to another job or left Coeur d'Alene to work remotely. And I'm sure to a lot of people, it looked like the bad magic ship was sinking. But actually, I think this year saved the ship because it was definitely headed towards sinking in 2023. I was so tired. Holy shit was I so tired this last, or not this past year, but the year before. Really pushed myself hard, maybe a little too hard for several years, to build a name in the podcast space. And I don't regret it. I'm glad I did. I'm so thankful it worked out, but I truly worked almost every single day for about seven years in a row

and real long hours most days. Legitimately put in more than 70 hours a week, most weeks for several years to keep time set going and not miss a week all while also cranking out weekly bonus content that I felt good about while also running a small business with numerous employees while keeping Scared to Death going every week. Also creating monthly bonus content for that show and touring all over the country and at one point doing two other podcasts every week for a couple years. Marketing the tour every week, showing up for my kids as they got into high school prepared for college while finding time to also show for my wife as a husband trying to stay connected to the rest of my family as well maybe see a friend every fucking six months

and doing all that man did it finally wear my ass out in 2023 to the point i had days where i seriously considered shutting everything down walking away from not just stand up but from bad magic podcasting just all of it just done Just done. Social media accounts shut down, podcast shut down, stand up done. Just so exhausted that I was not enjoying any of it anymore. Not consistently. I wanted to take some time off to recharge and then I don't know, I was thinking about maybe opening up a coffee shop. Something low key. But I don't actually want to open up a coffee shop. I love doing this. Love doing this. And I really got to rekindle my love with podcasting and just, I don't know, just the creative space this year. You know, when it doesn't consume all

of me, when I can also have a life, it is the fucking best. And it was so fun to have balance in 2024. I actually had a life outside of content creation again. Goofed around with my kids so much more, played with the dogs more, Penny and Diddy. Took a trip to Los Angeles with Monroe for a weekend to watch the Lakers game, go to the beach, just bond. That was so cool. Took another trip with Monroe and then Kyler as well to New Orleans. Just the three of us for like three days goofing around, building memories. Took my grandma Betty to New Orleans just because she wanted to quote, dance on the streets of New Orleans before she dies.

And she did fucking dance her little ass off on Frenchman Street. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Took some trips with some friends, took trips with Lindsay, mostly over to Missoula, Montana. It's just one of our favorite little spots. It's a few hours away, a town we love so much. You know, we smoked some weed, floated in the river on a couple sunny days on little inner tubes,

ate shrooms, laughed, went to concerts at the Kettle House Amphitheater, one of the best little venues in the country. I mean, I thought for so long that if I just took my foot off the gas and didn't work all the time, my whole career was gonna fall apart. Like my whole work identity was just like the guy who works a lot, and I was totally wrong. Don't have to do all kinds of shit and run myself ragged to still do this. Just need to tell interesting stories, share interesting information, be entertaining, and trust that enough of you will show up and listen. I started TimeSuck because I was curious about all kinds of shit I thought others might be curious about as well. And I thought I could if I could share information in a way that was you know unique because I've always been told I have a unique perspective on things that would work out and it

did. I'm so fortunate you know and then other opportunities came and I said yes to too many of them because I was used to too many nos for so many years before and but I'm glad I did I'm glad I said yes, yes, yes because I learned my limits and Now yeah now I'm having fun with all this again more than I did since the very beginning feels like it's come full circle in some ways You know, I'm handling a lot of the editing and doing different things as well I had to learn how to do a lot of that stuff again to be able to handle things in house and that just gives Me more confidence in the shows and I don't know, you know, I learned over the last Seven eight years that I don't actually like managing an office of people at all. There's nothing against the people

It's just not I don't like it. I don't want to do I don't want to do it, you know, I like being creative And I feel more creative now that I'm more rested, now that I have less administration to do. I'm way more focused each week on specifically content creation than I was for a few years there. Again, that's what I want to focus on this next year in 2025, just the content. Pick interesting stories, no topics. The short sucks have expanded what we're able to cover and I love that. So I'm just going to keep doing that. No big announcement to make. You know, I will probably change it I'm just gonna keep doing that. No big announcement to make.

I will probably change it up again in the next few years. Not sure exactly how in this moment. But right now I'm having a lot of fun writing short horror stories, nightmare fuel episodes, I'm scared to death. I wanna see where those can go. I wanna compile my favorites into a book. The response to stories has been better than I ever could have realistically hoped for.

And the experience reminded me that sometimes you have to let go of something. Even if it's something you love, to be able to do something else you love. Had I not stopped touring, I would have never had the energy or time to create Nightmare Fuel. And I'm so glad I did. Might bend my whole career in a brand new direction. It's so fun. It's been just fun to work my mind in a different way and as I get better at telling stories over there I feel like that does help me just become a better storyteller overall even for non-fiction stuff like I tell here. And really just telling stories is just that's what I love whether it's a stand-up bit or a deep dive on somebody like Dolly Parton and sharing their story or creating my own stories you know.

I just love stories. And that's all I wanna focus on career wise in 2025, telling stories, spending time just living, enjoying my personal life, staying recharged and telling stories for work. And also enjoying Bad Magic Summer Camp. I am pumped to see everybody's faces. And you know, this year I really wanna enjoy

things like Bad Magic Summer Camp in a way that I haven't in the past because I will be rested and I'll be rested and I'll be able to take some full weeks off. Literally haven't taken a true week off since I started Time Suck. Haven't missed a new Monday episode here, not ever, but that streak's gonna come to an end in 2025. Currently planning on taking two or three weeks off of content creation this next year, re-releasing some old favorite episodes in place of new content. I don't want to ever do so much again that I start to hate what I love again.

I want to be able to love being creative for a long, long time. Really, you know, go back to thinking this is a marathon, not a sprint. And the best way to do that is just to really pace myself, to pump the brakes here and there. Make a little less, but love what I'm making a little more. You know, I won't kick out the same amount of content that way, but the content I'll kick out, I think will be better. So I won't be touring this year again.

I probably will do a standup festival in Nashville in April, but that might be it. It's just too much. It's too much to take on on top of weekly content creation. The days of me doing this, I can say this for sure. The days of me doing this podcast and Scared to Death and touring a lot at the same time are over.

Glad I could pull that off for a while, but I never want to do that again. No, something podcast wise will have to go away. We'll have to end to create the space to properly tour again if I choose to tour again that way. Right now, I don't know what I'll do in that regard. I do know that Monroe will be in college in two years. Lindsey and I will be empty nesters. And the current plan is to focus until then on kicking out the best time sucks, scared to death, short suck, and nightmare feel episodes that we can.

So 2025, 2026, let's fucking go with podcasts. I hope you stick around for those years. And after 2026, fucking all bets are off. I'm gonna reevaluate everything. Maybe I'll keep this going. Maybe I won't. I don't know. Maybe I'll keep scared to death going.

Maybe I won't. Time will't know. Maybe I'll keep scared to death going. Maybe I won't. Time will tell. Maybe one show will fade and support will just fall away. It'll just have run its course and will end naturally. Maybe the other show will grow and get more support. That'll help me decide what to do next. Maybe both shows, Time Suck and Scared to Death, will fade and Showbiz will have let me know with no uncertainty that it's fucking done with me. That happens to people. Or maybe both shows will grow and I'll have a real tough decision, you know, to make if I if I want to walk away from one to focus on something new or something will just come out of the blue and I'm like, oh that's what I'm supposed to be doing now and I'll follow that. You know, whatever

I'm passionate about, whatever I think enough people will like to have a career is where I'm gonna go. But for 2025, the goal here with TimeStuck is just to keep as many of you as entertained as long as possible. You know, as far as like this year, 2025, 2026. Yeah. And then we'll see. But for the next few years, you know, I hope you keep enjoying this. I hope you keep sharing it with your friends and coworkers. I hope you stay curious. I hope you all keep learning together. I hope you keep coming back. The past eight plus years, man, exhaustion and all have been the greatest ride of my life.

So great. And this past year, I've enjoyed, I think more than any of the other years because I finally had the space to reflect on it and just really like take moments to just sit and be still and enjoy it. And holy fuck, those moments have been great. So thank you Thank you for listening. Thanks to those you who you see me out somewhere and you just say hello and you say hey

I enjoy what you do That's been it's been great. It's been a lot of fun a lot of fun Thanks for sharing your own stories and struggles with me emailing them to Bojangles at time suck podcast comm Boja NG l es if you catch that reference to an update recently. Thanks for supporting this show on Patreon if you've done so. Love you, Spacelessers. So fucking much would not be doing this without your support. More than anybody else. You've kept all this going. Especially, you know, there was a couple years there where it really would have sunk without you. Thanks for buying shirts, challenge coins, pennants and more. Thanks for coming to shows over the years, camps.

Thanks for the encouraging messages and thanks for the critical feedback. It helps me get better. Thanks for laughing and learning with me, for not running away when we disagree. Thanks to the overwhelming majority of you for not fucking reading politics into everything. Holy fuck. That's one of my least favorite parts of our culture the last couple of years. Just stop. But thanks also for not being afraid to call me out when I say something you don't like. So yeah, I just, I'm ending this year just feeling more

than anything else, just grateful. Grateful to still be doing this while also having time to explore fun new projects like Nightmare Field while also being rested, you know, taking care of my body, going to the gym more, eating a little better, spending more time with my wife, kids, family, friends, and more quality time when I'm not exhausted. It's just, yeah, it's been it's been really really good. And so thank you and have a great New Year meet Saks. I hope you'll be able to get some balance in your life as well or at the very least that me sharing that I've found some after many years of not having it, you know, gives you hope that it's in your future as well Let's get the fuck out of here

We all did So, thank you for listening to another bad major productions podcast scared to death time suck each week Short sucks a nightmare fuel in the time suck and scared to death podcast feeds some weeks Ask yourself. What would Dolly do this week and then just do that and then you know just like the very curious Dolly someone still curious and still fascinated with life and trying new things at the age of 78 just keep on sucking And now one more time, a little bit of Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. I'm begging of you, please don't take my hand.

And now, and now one more time. Let's make it a little bit better. I know it's already great. Let's spice up a little bit with some tongues. And just, and just really take it to the next level. Check out how much better this makes it. Please don't take him just because makes it. Here we go. Oh, God.

Yes! So much better now! Oh, let me translate. She's saying the message is clear. The Lord is telling you to keep on fucking sucking in 2025.