Dumb Blonde - Dolly Parton: Queen of Everything

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

This week, the one and only Dolly Parton graces Dumb Blonde with her presence, and it's truly a dream come true. The living legend first talks with Bunnie about her humble Appalachian roots, her childhood in the Smoky Mountains, and the profound influence of her close-knit family. She then discusses the pivotal role her Uncle Bill played in nurturing her early musical aspirations and helping her land a breakthrough performance at the iconic Grand Ole Opry. Dolly also opens up about the challenges she faced navigating the Nashville music scene as a young artist, her enduring partnership with husband Carl Dean, and the entrepreneurial empire she's built, including her successful makeup line, Dolly Beauty, Dolly Wines, and her beloved Imagination Library program.Dolly Parton: Website | Dolly Beauty | Dolly Wines Watch Full Episodes & More:www.dumbblondeunrated.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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discount with promo code RUFF. You just cover the shipping. Bring your dog's food back to life. Get your free Jumpstart trial bag. Go to roughgreens.com. Use promo code RUFF. So good your dog will ask for it by name. Ruff Greens. Hey guys, I need to ask you a question. I want to know why in the hell are you not on Patreon? I don't think you guys even realize how much content we have on Patreon. Let me break it down for you. We have the Bunny XO show. We have Meet the D-Fords. We have propaganda. We have more shows that we're adding. And not to mention, we have the visuals of the podcast. Head over to www.patreon.com backslash dumb blonde podcast and sign up. You guys are going to be pleasantly surprised. So with this podcast, you know, Dolly had,

she's a workhorse like I am. And before she had done the podcast, she had already done three other things. The podcast was the last of her things of the day. And we got allotted 45 minutes with her and her and I just started talking and like she had some of the most incredible answers and like you know when Dolly speaks you don't cut her off so I didn't get to finish the entire interview but Dolly had so much fun that they're bringing me back for a part two it was incredible and I can't i'm just so grateful and so thankful bunny xo bunny xo You're the coolest kid. Is this thing on? Hello, babies.

Welcome back to another episode of Dumb Blonde. Today is so special to me because I started this podcast six years ago. And when I named this podcast, I named it after a specific song that was tongue-in-cheek, but also was an oxymoron to my life, but also a woman who I have admired and literally just patterned my entire life after. The iconic, the queen of not just country, but the queen of everything, Miss Dolly Parton is here today. Well, hello. Now, we should put an S on the dumb blonde. I'm telling you. We but the queen of everything, Ms. Dolly Parton is here today. Well, hello. Now, we should put an S on the dumb blonde. I'm telling you. We've got two of us here today. Will you be my co-host?

I'll be your co-host. I would love for you to be my co-host. If you'd love that, I would love it. I would love for you to be my co-host. We've got a bunny and a squirrel. I love it. I love it so much. Both are fast, though.

Very slippery suckers, right? Yeah, very. Very, very. This has been something that I have pretty much manifested since I started this podcast. Everybody has always asked me, who is your dream guest? And there's two of you. Dolly Parton and Joyce Myers are the two people that I have said that I have wanted since the beginning. And sitting here with you today is such an honor.

And I just want to say thank you for making time for me today. Well, I'm happy to do it. We love you. I love you, too. And my husband loves you, too. Well, we love your husband very much. But every time I see you, I see him and vice versa. So, yeah, we love you both. You make a great couple.

Thank you. But you're great on your own. And you're no dumb blonde. I can tell you that. Thank you. And neither one of us are, though, right? I don't know about me, but I know you're okay. Thank you. And neither one of us are though, right?

Well, I don't know about me, but I know you're okay. Well, I mean, the testimony to your life pretty much shows how brilliant of a woman you are. And I kind of want to dive into that with you. Starting with, I want to paint a picture for my viewers at home. For some people who might not even know your backstory, I'd like to start with your childhood and where you grew up and stuff like that, if you could tell me a little bit about that. Well, I grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, way up in the hills. Actually, I was actually born in a little cabin on the Little Pigeon River.

My dad was a sharecropper for a while, and then eventually we moved over to the little place we call Locust Ridge, where you hear me talk a lot about my Tennessee mountain home. But there's 12 of us in all. Mama had 12 kids and six boys and six girls. We were pretty even. And we were just country people just trying to scratch a living out of dirt up there in the hills. But I was blessed to have a good mom and dad. And they managed pretty good to work with nothing to try to you know to raise a house full of kids and none of us wound up in jail none of us had to get married so all in all I think they did a pretty good job but we were just a lot of folks in our area were poor that's just the way it was in that area but it's been one of the greatest things really that I've carried with me all my

memories of my childhood and it's made me of the greatest things, really, that I've carried with me, all my memories of my childhood. And it's made me appreciate life and people more than if I had been brought up a different way, I think. Yes, ma'am. I always feel like harder childhoods make for great adulthoods. It sets you up for just a lifetime of knowing that you have to work for what you want and going after your dreams. And I feel like you dream a little bit bigger too. I think you do. I think you also kind of can relate, you know, to, to things more. And you also, because if you, like us, you stay so close together as a family in order to try to make it. And I think that in itself

gives you a strength that you wouldn't have had you not had, you know, to know what it's like to work together, you know, to make things work and to keep a family together. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. A lot of your songs are deeply personal and some of them reference your father's tough love. And you've also spoken about your mom's faith, how she was, you know, extremely religious. spoken about your mom's faith, how she was, you know, extremely religious. Do you feel that the tough love approach and her religious views is kind of what made you so independent or like, dare I say, rebellious? I don't think I'm rebellious as much as I'm just strong. And I get my work ethic from my dad and I get my my spirituality and uh you know just my my faith i mean my faith but also just my creativity from my mom's side of the family because they were all

musical now dad's people worked hard and uh dad was not a tough dad he was strong though he was kind of like that we knew we knew we better watch out he wasn't one to play with. No, he wasn't going to beat us to death or anything like that. But we weren't afraid of Mama. You know, we'd get by with anything with her. But she would say, you know, you couldn't push her over the edge. She'd say, okay, now that's enough. Right. But my dad, we, but I think that that was a good combination with mom's faith and with dad's strength that it made us really all pretty well-balanced kids, I think. I love that. I love that a lot. The respect that you have for your parents still after all these years is admirable also.

Yeah, well, I loved my family. I still do. I stay as close as I can to them. I still do. I stay as close as I can to them. Certainly if I don't see them as often as I'd love to. But they're always in my heart and I always carry home with me wherever I go. And I write so many songs in order. Well, it comes natural to me, but I often do it just to keep all that straight and keep that still present. Because it's so easy. And I'm sure, you know, living out in this big world, you can just go any way, whether it be right or wrong. Yes, ma'am.

You can go left and right and wrong. Yes. But it's like if you keep that thing that you remember as a child, that faith, I keep that very—I'm a big person on faith and keeping that strength because that's my creative energy and my and my spiritual energy is the thing that keeps me motivated keeps me strong keeps me from falling through the cracks in this crazy world yeah I always say that I'm like whenever you're on your knees you're in the best position to pray yeah it is literally like that has been the only thing that has gotten me through and any hard times in my life is being able to call on Jesus and be like, all right, big homie, I know we got this. I know you got

this for me. Speaking about family and you being so close with your brothers and sisters, everybody knows you as Dolly the icon, but how did they know you before all of this? Like, if they could describe you, how would they describe the Dolly that they grew up with? before all of this? Like, if they could describe you, how would they describe the Dolly that they grew up with? Well, I was just another one of those little ragged-ass kids, you know, up there in the Smokies, you know, in the mountains.

But we all loved the music. I took it more serious, I think, because my Uncle Bill, one of my mom's brothers, he took a great interest in me because he saw me paying more attention to it than maybe some of the others did because I was always trying to learn all the chords on a guitar any kind of an instrument laying around and so they knew me as somebody that's going to you know offer to do their chores if they'll come help me sing on a song or if they'll add some background or help me work up a background part that I thought of. I remember once I had, when Pig Latin, when I was in school, somebody came up

with Pig Latin. I never learned how to speak that. Well, I did. And because I was fascinated with anything different. Can you tell me a sentence? I only learned, I only learned to do it. Yeah, I'm going to sing you a song in Pig Latin. But anyway, so I came up with a song called Friendliest Enemy. And I wanted the backgrounds to be like she was my best friend to go with that in the background. So it was like, And that meant she was my best friend. But if the song was, She's the friendliest enemy I believe ever did see. And she'd better get my baby off her mind.

Is she? I was way, I may, as bay and pray. So anyway. That's a hit, darling. I had to get my sisters because they had to learn it. You know, they had to learn all that. And I had to offer to do their chores for a week or two for them to take the time to do it and just make them do it.

So that kind of stuff. So they knew me as somebody that was always singing, always writing, always fidgety. I couldn't stay still. I was just kind of always full of energy in life. But we all loved each other. We all had our own personalities. We all loved each other for the way we were. And that's how we still are. We all, some of us are a good mix. You know, we're all a good mix, but a lot of them are more like mama, mama's people,

or some are more like dads, but I was a really good mix between the two. And I love that. That is perfect. And I really think you need to release that song in Pig Latin. Start a new trend again. The kids will love it. We actually did it up in as one of the shows in at Dollywood when I was telling my life story so we worked it in a couple of years ago at the Dolly show and my nieces got such kick having having to learn to sing it up there on the show but everybody was singing it because everybody tried to learn that little part. I love it. I was so jealous of the people who could do Pig Latin because I just couldn't do it. I just could not catch on to it or how to do it.

So I'm just fascinated that you can. Well, I was a pig, so I learned Pig Latin. Stop it right now. Oh, I was. I was a farmer's daughter. I love that. So you, circling back to your family, you helped raise, being from 12 children, you guys all took turns raising a baby, right? And the family, the oldest ones did. That is what

I had read. And you had one specifically, your brother, Larry, that you helped raise. Can we touch base on that whole situation a little bit? Well, I think, let me clear up a little bit. We all had, I have a sister and two brothers older than me. And there's eight kids younger. But we, mama had so many kids, she, there was only 18 months, two years difference in our, in all of our ages. Mom and daddy married when mama was 15. She got, had her first baby at 16 and so um so they were just born one right after another so any older child had to help with whoever was coming along right but the little uh the one that was going to be my baby was little larry yeah he

didn't live that long actually and uh you know he was just he died at birth but he was i'd followed mama around when she was pregnant the whole time. She said, that was going to be mine. I'd sing to it and I'd kiss on the belly and, you know, couldn't wait for my baby to come, but he didn't make it. And it just crushed me because I, that was when I, you know, I didn't understand about death and, you know, all of that. So that was a real hit for me at that age that I had lost my baby I thought it's some you know I had a guilt thing about it somehow that I'd done something wrong but I think any child that goes through a thing like that but we all grieved over him not just me but I more than the others because he was

supposed to be mine I was picturing how I was gonna rock him and how I was gonna sing him my songs, and all that. But we loved all the kids, and we all helped with all the kids. You've spoken about the influence of your family. So would you say that Larry's spirit and the memory of him has continued to impact you, both personally and professionally? Because after that, he passed away when you were nine, correct? Yeah. And then at 10 is when you, like, started performing and kind of like, I don't know,

I feel like maybe it was kind of like a push. Was that your way of dealing with the pain? No, no, I don't think that had anything to do with it. I was so musically oriented anyway, and I had my dreams. It did take me a while. I was so depressed as a little kid over that it took me a while to kind of overcome that I mean you know weeks you know months kind of why really I wasn't all that interested in stuff but I don't think that had

anything to do with the rest of my life it just taught taught me about grief, you know, how we all have to learn those things at some age. And so that was, you know, that was a real hard hit. But no, that after I got over the grief of that and I moved on, I knew he was in heaven. And, you know, we would, if mama could handle it,

certainly I could, you know, that kind of thing. But I just was ready to go on. And my Uncle Bill, you know, was pushing me on. And he saw my desire my dreams and so we would he would take me around you know to different local things to sing and on local radio and TV but all of those things I helped to make up a human being all those memories of the bad and the good you know I think that just all, you don't even know what parts they really play.

The little things that happen. It just either, if nothing else, it makes your heart tender. Or you know how you have to protect certain things. And it teaches you. You've got to know about those things. Yes, ma'am. I couldn't agree more. So, you know, at 10 years old, you're starting to work with Uncle Bill and you

guys are going around, you know, you're performing and stuff like that. At 10 years old, a lot of kids are still figuring out who they are. How did you find your confidence to stand out and perform at such a young age like that? Well, I was always writing songs. I was always able to rhyme, and Mama was always fascinated. There was always so much commotion in a house with that many kids. Oh, I can imagine. None of us really got any real special attention unless we were in trouble or something. You were going to get called out or something. But I learned early on, Mama was always fascinated.

When I'd sing these songs that I'd written, I would hear people talk. I'd hear stories. So I was writing songs at 7, 8, 9 years old about people getting killed in the war and things that I'd never seen or done. But I was able to rhyme and write. And Mama, she would always, I noticed early on that I'd get more attention because of that. And, of course, everybody wants to be paid attention to. Everybody wants to be special.

So when somebody would come to our house, Mama would often say, Ronnie, get your guitar. And then she'd say, whoever was there, I want you to hear this thing this little thing wrote. I want you to hear this song this little thing wrote. And so I'd be really just singing my song and i was getting all that extra attention which is making some of the other kids jealous because they weren't doing but they didn't work as hard as i did but learning them chords i had little calluses on my little fingers you know cut deep they were hard they hardened i had i had to really learn it till it you know hardens those calluses for you to play. So I

took the time to do a lot of the things that some of the younger ones weren't willing to do. So I just saw that that was, and I got the confidence from Mama bragging on me, and I knew that I could do something that some of them couldn't, you know, playing the guitar and all that. But I just, and then my Uncle Bill, he took great pride in me. And any time somebody would tell me, oh, you're going to be good, you're this, I just kind of took that. And my personality was very, you know, susceptible to that kind of stuff. Do you feel like you're an old soul because you were able to relate to those songs

of, like, people losing people in the war and stuff like that like that like to be 10 years old and writing songs like that like you you would have to resonate with them in some way well I'm just very perceptive and I had the gift of rhyme as I mentioned and I had the gift of song and so I would just hear things and and you can always you know I was I could kind of take a story from one other thing, and I could change a few things around. So I didn't feel like I was necessarily an old soul or that I had lived before or anything. I mean, I might have. I hope I did.

I hope I might live again. Yeah, you will. Yeah. But I just think I was just able to do that because I was very perceptive and receptive. And I just had a very creative mind. You know, I had a great imagination. So it wasn't hard for me to make up a bunch of junk. Well, being around 12 kids, I'm sure to even just get any sort of peace, you had to have a great imagination.

Yeah, I'd sneak up because there was a lot of kids going on. I'd sneak out behind the woodshed or around the outhouse, sit back there, do whatever, you know, write my songs, find a shady spot or a warm spot. But yeah, I was always into that guitar and always writing my song. I love everything that you do is productive. I want my daughter to watch this, our daughter to watch this, because she's 16 right now and she's still trying to find her place in this world. And I think it's awesome that, you know, you were so productive at such a young age. Can we talk about Uncle Bill?

Because Uncle Bill really believed in you and he took you to all these shows and then he landed you in the Cass Walker Farm and Home Hour, and you became a regular on that show. Can you take me on that journey? Well, Knoxville was about 30 miles from where we actually lived. And I had an aunt that lived in Knoxville. That was where the show was from. And so I would, in the summer, after I got to where I actually got the job, when I got old enough to be allowed to stay away from home, but God, I was so homesick. She worked at one of those department stores, and my uncle was a carpenter.

So I was there in that house a lot, and I would go up to the top of the hill from where they lived, and I'd catch a bus down to the radio station, take my little guitar, and I would go to walk across the viaduct, I guess is what they call it, like this big bridge, have my little guitar, and then I would go do the Cas Walker show, play my little guitar, do my songs. And Bill wasn't always with me then. Bill was doing a lot of other things, but when I was working on the... Bill was living a full life. Walker Show. Yeah, well, he was doing, he did some other things, but I could go there.

And then the guys, the Brewster brothers especially, that worked with the Cash Walker Show, they'd back me up and work with me, playing the songs or singing some with me. And then sometimes I'd wait while I was waiting for the bus. I'd just get my guitar out to be singing, and some people would walk by, and they'd think that I was standing on the corner, and they'd drop money in my guitar case, which I love, because then I'd go on home and buy those little Jiffy Burgers up at the top of the hill from where my aunt lived. They were like little crystal White Castle things.

Oh, that was the greatest thing. If I made enough, somebody threw enough money in, and then I got on to that to where I just kind of play it. Just pretend. I even wrote a song with my brother Floyd called Nickels and Dimes, and it was about that time when I was walking across. But working with the caswalk show was amazing bill had taken me there um early on before i got the job he's the one that got me as you as you mentioned got me on the caswalk show and he'd take me to the to the fair the county fair where i could you know join in contests and different things like that and then eventually he would take me back and forth

to nashville yeah and so he just had he saw that i was so serious about it and he saw that i had potential and i just and bill was a great guitar player bill wrote great songs we wrote great songs together in fact in 19 and i guess it was 67 we won the song Song of the Year, BMI Song of the Year, and put it off until tomorrow. Bill Phillips on Decca Records, he was a pretty big artist at the time. And so I got to, when I had, we had sent the demo to him from when we'd just written it. Then they wanted me to sing on the demo. So that was kind of like my first kind of break of being heard,

like on the real radio. Everybody was, DJs were calling, who's the girl singing with Bill Phillips on the Bill Phillips song? So anyway, that was kind of a moment too. That's awesome that Uncle Bill's been so pivotal in your career. That's amazing. At 10 years old, being on the Cass Walker Show, who were some of your musical influences?

Was there anybody that you wanted to be like, or did you have an idea of like, hey, I'm going to pave my own way? Well, all of my people were very musical. And so I think some of my greatest influences were within my own family. I had an aunt, Dorothy Jo, one of my mom's sisters. Well, she played the banjo, she played the guitar, and she wrote great songs, and she was an evangelist. She also was a Pentecostal preacher. I love that. Yeah, and I used to, oh, I was just totally influenced, you know, by her,

but as far as some of the others, there were the Kitty, you know, there was Kitty Wells on the Grand Ole Opry and Roy Acuff, and there was some early on after I got out to where we really had a little bit more exposure to big radio and all. There was a woman named Rose Maddox. It was the Maddox brothers and Rose. She worked with her brothers. And that was the first time I'd ever seen people dress in the rhinestones.

They wore kind of Western, kind of like how the Grand Ole Opry does. But they were the first ones I'd ever seen people dress in the rhinestones. They wore kind of Western, kind of like how the Grand Ole Opry does, but they were the first ones I'd ever seen do that. And they also put a show together. They did little bits, little comedy and little things, and I thought that was amazing. So you find that now that I'm older, I look back and I find that I have just picked up bits and pieces from so many people through the years. And I've learned so much that I didn't realize I'm like a sponge, you know, I just without even knowing that I'm doing it. And then later on, I'll do something. I'll think, oh, that reminds me so much of when I saw so-and-so.

Or, you know, you just learn. You just learn through watching I always say we're like a masterpiece of all the art we pick up from each person you know it's just like little little gems of their souls that we take with us and that you know we look back on and we're like okay this influenced this and this influenced that so I love that you always give credit where credit's due because I'm the same way like I see, if anybody asks me what's your look, I'm like, Dolly, I'm Dolly all day long, you know? Well, I wish I looked like you. You didn't need me for that. Oh, you listen, we could trade outfits right now and I'd be happy. I love this outfit right here. Well, yeah, we love God, I guess. Absolutely. Yes. So circling back, let's talk

about the Grand Ole Opry because you made your first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry when you were 13 years old. How was that for you walking out on that stage at 13 being introduced by Johnny Cash? It was scary. Yeah, I can imagine. I remember my heart was beating like a drum, but I always said my desire to do a thing has always been greater than my fear of it. So I just tried to hold on to that. I thought, well, I can't turn around in the middle of stage and run back. I thought, I've got to finish it.

It's kind of how I felt today. No matter what. I was so scared. Oh, no. In a good way, though. I feel like if you're not scared of what you're doing, you're not growing. Well, I agree with that. But anyway, that was scary.

That was big. That was, you know, working with just being around all those big others. But I was also in awe of it. And like I said, of course, I mean, I was just a country kid. You're always nervous when you're the first time you've ever eaten in a restaurant around people. You're not used to knowing how to do that, what spoons and forks. And even to this day, I still don't know exactly. When I go to do that what spoons and forks and even to this day i still don't know exactly yeah when i go to these big fine meals and all that but i figure well i wouldn't be

here if i wasn't a star so to hell with them i'm going to eat what i eat do how you do but i still would like to know those things but i just never did and now i don't care you know that i you know sometimes you think oh gets to a point where you've earned not being able to care. You just kind of watch other people. That's how you learn. It's like, oh, I'll watch them. And when they pick that up, I'll pick that up. And I'll do this and I'll do that.

I could not point out a salad fork to you if somebody paid me. I don't know how to do that either. That's what I'm saying. I just kind of watch if it's a big old, big thing. Like if I'm invited to eat with the royal family or something, you think, I'm very uncomfortable. Yeah. But I better watch so I don't make a fool of myself.

No. Or them. So circling back to the Opry, Johnny Cash introduced you, and he's known for his powerful presence and mentorship. What do you remember about your interaction with him that night and did he say anything to you that stuck with you throughout your career he said hello that stuck with me because at that time I thought see I had seen Johnny Cash uh at another time when we were sitting in the audience and I had the biggest

crush on him oh my god he had so much magnetism and I was young you know I was just beginning to feel those hormones yeah look at you know to where you feel those things I never felt very masculine energy well he did you know he had all that you know movement and all I found out later it's because he's coming off drugs oh no he had he was just had twitches of what I thought was magnetism. I love that. But there was some truth in that. I think, you know, the way he was kind of moving. He was a Pisces, right?

Yeah. But I loved him. And for years and years, I told him he was my first crush, and he was. Yeah. And then so in my Broadway musical, The Life Story, I cover that about Johnny touching me on the shoulder. It just changed my life. I thought I was grown then because I felt all those feelings.

But he was a real nice guy and very quiet. But I became best friends with June and Johnny after. So as the years went by, we would visit, and we liked each other a lot. She was a good woman. I really admired her. She was a loud mouth like me. So we got along just fine. And Johnny, I remember when somebody said something about,

Johnny, don't you get tired of hearing June talk all the time? And he said, no, I do some of my best thinking when June's talking. So I think that's some of his best thinking when I'm talking yeah I think that's how all husbands are they just tune us out you know they're just so used to us um when you perform that night did you already have a sense of like the legacy that you wanted to build in country music or did that experience at the Opry shift your perspective on what was possible for you as an artist because at that time I was just so nervous and I reflected on that years later as I still do but at that time it was just a big deal you know to

be there on at the Grand Ole Opry with all those big name artists. And so I think that I was just, it was just kind of addling at that time. I was just kind of addled about the whole thing. But I knew that that was, you know, just like when I got my encore on the Cass Walker Show the first time I was on there. And I thought, oh boy, you know, I'm going to be a star. And now years later I realize they weren't applauding so much because I was good. It was just because I was little.

Stop it. No, it wasn't because I wasn't. You know, you have to develop and grow. But you know how everybody wants to be good to a kid. And the fact that I was out there doing it, I think people were just extra nice. And I think a whole lot of that might have been so with the opera. It was just kind of cute when you see a young person doing something. So, but I did feel, and I thought back on it shortly after, thinking, wow, you know, I was on the Randall Opera and they liked me.

They asked you for three encores. This is what I want to do. Yeah. They asked you for three encores after your first performance I want to do. Yeah. They asked you for three encores after your first performance. No, I'm joking. They asked. No, actually they did applaud and I kept singing the same, you know, last verse a couple of times. She's like, this is all you get. Yeah, this is all I practiced. Yeah. So soon after that, you ended up moving to Nashville and you graduated from high school, correct? And then you ended up moving to Nashville and you moved to Nashville with, you know, minimal amounts of money. How did you make ends meet in those early days? And were there any creative or unexpected ways you found to survive while pursuing your dreams out there? Well, I was lucky because there are so many songwriters

in Nashville, in publishing companies, and a lot of the people that write songs are not good singers. So all the publishing companies, they hire, if there's female songs, that you can get a job singing those songs. So I got work through Tree Publishing Company. Buddy Killen was a dear friend and so he would get me on these sessions singing

some of the songs that these writers had written, singing the girls songs. And then I didn't have a car, I didn't have a phone, I didn't have anything. And so all these musicians, because I was a right pretty girl at that time, you know, just a young girl and you know, coming. And so I had all these musicians, because I was a right pretty girl at that time, you know, just a young girl. Still beautiful. And so I had all these musicians that were on the sessions always willing to drive me home, always willing to stop showing up and buy me a burger. Some of them thinking they might get more, and some of them might have, but that was not because I had. Lucky fellas.

I know, but I'm serious. It's like they were always so good to me. Everybody seemed to know that my heart was in a good place and that I was just a country girl. I was funny. You know, I was always cracking jokes or, you know, just being, well, like I am now, really. Yeah. But everybody got a kick out of me, so I was just one of the boys because I had six brothers and all my uncles and my grandma. I was not a bit shy around the men, and I knew how to maneuver with all that. So I made money, and then I also got on a small salary

with Tree Publishing Company in those early days, and then later I got with the Combine Music, with Fred Foster of Monument Records. They had a publishing company. So I was lucky that I always got a little bit of a salary as a writer of my own songs, in addition to being able to sing some of the demos. She's like, I figured it out, sister. I did what I had to do. I love that so much. But I used to go in the early, early days. I would walk down to the hotels, and I would walk through the hallways, and I would see all the trays out in front of the doors and any food that, you know, like all those little mustard and ketchup packets and bottles.

I'd take those all back, and anything that looked like, you know, that was pretty decent to still eat, I would get it. I would just kind of get a napkin off of the tray and put it all in my purse. Yeah, just whatever you had to do to survive. And there was a restaurant down around 12th Avenue at that time, and this was different places I lived but that rather above the hill it was called cowsers it became very famous it was a meeting three and the two the cows are brothers owned it and I would walk down

there and they liked me and so they would give me free food they would give me a good meal but I would clean off the tables and I would refill the salt and pepper shakes and I would, you know, do all the things that you do like that. So I would do that. I didn't get it for money, but I got good food and then they would pack me stuff to take home too. Oh, that is so sweet. I never knew what a meet and three was until I moved to Nashville. My husband was like, we're going to go to a meet and three. And I was like, what is that?

And I love them now. I husband was like, we're going to go to a meat and three. And I was like, what is that? And I love them now. I think the concept is so awesome. I think they need them all over everywhere, not just in the South, like on the West Coast and everywhere. I think they would just be a hit. But I guess if somebody out there don't know what a meat and three is, it's like wherever the choice of meat, whether it be meatloaf, and it's like three side dishes you're getting.

But yeah, all those terms i never i remember once my i was on the road with one of my brothers and we were just he played the bass and my first one of my first bands and uh we stopped at a truck stop and he had i guess he looked at the menu and it had had corned beef corned beef and cabbage when they brought it and he said well where's my corn because he didn't know it was I guess he looked at the menu and it had corned beef and cabbage. When they brought it, he said, well, where's my corn? Because he didn't know it was corned. Corned beef from corn. Corned beef, yeah.

Yeah, it was corned beef and cabbage. And he said, well, where's my corn? She said, well, did you want corn, sir? He said, well, it says corn. He took it literal. Yeah, there's jokes about those things with country boys coming to Nashville to tell their stories. So switching gears, we're going to talk about Carl for a second because you came to Nashville. Did you think coming to Nashville you were going to meet the love of your life as soon as you came here? I left two boyfriends back home that had wanted to marry me,

and I kept saying, no, I'm going to move to Nashville. You know, when I, you know, I mean, a different, well, I left two boyfriends. I love that there was two of them. And I thought, yeah, well, I, you know, I dated, not at the same time, but they were like in that. It's okay if you did. Well, I know that's true, too. They were like in that.

That's okay if you did. Well, I know that's true, too. But my point is that I thought, well, the last thing I want is a boyfriend. I got to, you know, because I'm leaving two boyfriends here. And I kept saying, no, I'm going to Nashville. And so I got here and I thought, well, that's the last thing I'm going to get caught up with some boy, you know, until I get my feet on the ground get things going and the very day I got to Nashville I met Coral Dean and 60 years later I'm still with Coral Dean but that's the one that took yeah we've been together 60 years we've been

married 58 going on that's six decades yeah well. Well, it took. But anyway, he's a good guy, and he's quiet and I'm loud, and we're funny. Oh, he's hilarious. And I think one of the things that's made it last so long through the years, we love each other, we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun. Anytime things get too much tension going on yeah we either one of us can like find them a joke about it yeah don't break the tension and where it's not we don't let it go you know so far we never fought back and forth well I'm glad now that's amazing we never did

because once you start that that becomes a lifetime thing. I've seen it with so many people. And I thought, I ain't ever starting that. I couldn't bear to think that he'd say something I couldn't take. It would hurt because I'm a very sensitive person toward other people and myself. You may hurt people's feelings not knowing it. But knowingly, you don't, you know, you may hurt people's feelings not knowing it, but knowingly you don't do it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Jay and I always say you have to be comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations and you have to be best friends like that. Best friends before lovers. Like you have to remember why you fell in love with each other. And we have,

we were, we're only eight years in, but I can't wait to be 60 years in with them like you and Carl in a world where love and marriage is often romanticized what do you think was the most important but sometimes overlooked aspect of you and Carl's relationship well he was homebody and that worked well for us you know because he was in uh well he was in asphalt paving. But his sign, I don't know if anybody out there that goes by astrology or pay attention to that. Well, he's Cantor and I'm Capricorn. And those are compatible signs. Because the Capricorn is the mountain goat and it's always climbing,

wanting to look down on the other side. And the Cantor is more of a homebody. And he really was. He loved to go places if we were going to drive cross-country or if we had planned a thing. But, boy, he never could wait to get home. He wanted to be around home, and I'm a gypsy by nature. I just love to go and love to see what else is out there.

But I think that he's just, that's worked well for us. He's not the least, he loves music, but he's not the least bit interested in being in it. And he told me that right up front. I begged him to go with me in 67. We got married in 66, so that's when I won the first award for the BMI song of the year yeah and I rented him a tux and you know begged him to go and he did and oh he was so uncomfortable the whole night I mean we as soon as he we got hit the door he started pulling off stuff and you know he thought he was just so he said look now I want you to do everything you want to do.

And I wish you the best. But don't ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain't going. And he never did. So we just kind of have that respect. And I respected that because I didn't know he was going to be that uneasy. But he doesn't even like to go out to, you know, to big dinners or anything like that. So even on anniversaries and stuff like that, we usually stay home and make something special,

do something special like that. Or go to McDonald's or go somewhere we want to go that's comfortable. Now, we will go to Mexican restaurants. He does. He will go in, sit in a booth and do that. He loves that. Does Carl love nachos? Yeah, he does.

He loves Mexican food period but we go um you know we'll go sit in a booth like if it's an anniversary or or just sometimes on a Saturday we just go we know where to go when the before the crowd comes he doesn't like big crowds but anyway he's just special to me and I just love him like he is you light up whenever you talk about him well I love to see that he is. You light up whenever you talk about him. Well, I love to see that. He's good. Everybody loves Carl. What's something that you would want the world to know about Carl that they don't know? He don't want me to tell the world nothing about Carl. I love that. I love that he's such a private person. Yeah, he is. I mean, he can, I can talk what I want to,

but he'll say, just leave me out the whole damn thing thing. He would say, don't say nothing I said, but I do all the time because he's funny. Yeah. Oh, I love that so much. And I also wanted to tell you, I always tell everybody whenever they give me, they're like, oh, you're like a young Dolly. And I'm like, Dolly's birthday is January 17th. Mine's January 22nd. So we're on the same cusp.

And that's like always my thing. I'm like, I'm just like Dolly. Like, I love that. So we have the same cusp that we're on the 17th or the 22nd. So we're on the same cusp and I, that's like always my thing. I'm like, I'm just like Dolly. Like I love that. So we have the same cusp that we're on the 17th through the 22nd. So moving on from Sweet Carl. Um, okay. Gotcha. Oh boy. We could talk. I know there's so much I wanted to talk to you about. So you and I, um, your signature look, look the big hair the bold makeup and all that stuff you now have your own makeup line that we have sitting in front of us right now and can you show me some of your products because I'm really excited about learning well there's a whole bunch of stuff there's so much stuff I mean like we got've got the lipsticks. You know, we've got great lipstick. And so we've got all the beautiful colors. And we have these wonderful glosses, too, with all the different colors.

But I have always wanted to have my own line of makeup. And I love lipstick. And you do, too. And I love gloss. And I love the shine. And I love all the beautiful things. And we don't have the full line that we will eventually have. But we started out with our lipsticks and with our glosses.

And so we're going to have a line of everything. We've got our eyeliners in the different colors. So we've got great stuff. So have you not had a chance to see any of them? I did. I did get to see it. They wanted me to look at these with you. I'm afraid I'll knock everything over if I try to get them.

No, you're good. Oh, look at these. I love these. I mean, Dolly, your name is on everything. There's nothing that you haven't covered. I just want to tell you your Dolly Parton brownies, though, are, I brag about them on my podcast all the time. I will eat those brownies any time of day. They're so good. Pop those up. I hope it pops. Our nails are too long. Sequoia actually showed

me how to do this. Yes, there we go. Yeah. And don't you love these, the rhinestones? So beautiful. I always make my joke of I never leave a rhinestone unturned. And it's got my little name there. But that's the color that would fit you. That's the Jolene red. Yes. You know, we thought, well, we had to have a Jolene color. And then we got our beautiful gold glosses and all the things that go with them. And we have different colors, you know, of the lipsticks. We have the gold dust in the gloss and a rose petal, which is real, real pink. And so we have different things that we have for for that so so moving on from the lipsticks because i mean and we always need a uh lipstick stained wine glass you are selling wine now too lipstick stained

we need the lipstick we do we have our chardonnay we have the accolades uh wine company and i went in business together and this is one that's really really nice and eventually you know we're just like with the makeup we're starting out with certain ones but then eventually we'll have all the the things but right now we we're we have our um Chardonnay and you can get that in in easy stores like Kroger's and stores like that yes and in the in the wine and beer stores so we were also smelling uh backstage we were we opened up that's the good one yeah that's my that was my original yes and now this is the uh they're doing this as a you know special thing this one's just a collect kind of almost

like a collector's item and i can't I can't wait for everybody to try this. This is the one we tried in the dressing room, and it smells so good. I love everything that you've done, everything that you've branded your name on. You have cookbooks. I mean, you have children's books. There are so many people that messaged me when they found out on my Patreon that we were going to be doing this podcast together, and they wanted me to thank you for the imagination books that you have

the program that is anything i've ever done where we give books to children from the time they're born until they start school yes and yeah we've given over i think 250 million yes books out since we started yes but that's all good but i'm very proud of all the things we got in the little billy the kid books it's based on stories that I've, children's songs that I've written. Well, the Christmas one is based on a song I wrote, but the others are children's things that they need to know about. Yes. I mean, if you've got a good book and you've got makeup and you've got perfume

and you've got wine, what else do you need? I need some of your Jolene's. Well, you do. Oh, the Jolene's. I need some of the Jolene's. Well, you too. I need some of the Jolene's. They're coming out soon. So I need them. They're called Jolene's jeans. I love it. Yeah. And you probably got a pretty butt, so they'll probably look good on you. Well, I got, I got hips and I got hips. So we need, we need to slap some hips in them. I think they'll look good on everybody. I got to get me some of those too. I love it so much. Jolene, boy, for a hussy that's trying to steal my man, she's done pretty good by me, ain't she?

I think Jolene might be your alter ego. She might be. Ms. Dolly, thank you so much for giving me your time. Oh, well, thank you. And I appreciate you. And thank you so much for just letting me be in your world for a little bit today. Well, thank you for being in mine. And we're not dumb blondes.

No. Not by a long shot. No, we are not. But anyway, I love the title of your show and you have a huge following and I was honored that you wanted me to be on the show. Thank you. I appreciate you so much. Now I want to be more like you. No, you are so sweet. I think I'm just going to continue to just walk in your footsteps and do whatever I can to be more Dolly like I always think what would Dolly do so my lord I'll do anything me too that's what got me here so thank you miss Dolly thank you thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of dumb blonde I will see you guys next week bye