Dumb Blonde - TBT: Dolly Parton

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

Throwback ThursdayThis week on Dumb Blonde, Bunnie sits down with the incomparable Dolly Parton in what can only be described as a dream episode. Dolly reflects on her Appalachian upbringing, her childhood in the Smoky Mountains, and the lasting impact of her close-knit family. She shares how her Uncle Bill helped spark her early musical ambitions and guided her toward her breakthrough moment at the Grand Ole Opry. Dolly also opens up about navigating the Nashville music scene as a young artist, her lifelong partnership with husband Carl Dean, and the powerhouse empire she’s built — from Dolly Beauty and Dolly Wines to her cherished Imagination Library.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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Let me break it down for you. We have the Bunny X-O show. We have Meet the DeFords. We have popaganda. We have more shows that we're adding. And not to mention, we have the visuals of the podcast. head over to www. www. patreon.com

backslash Dumblon 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 X-O. She was a Vegas girl. Bunny X-O. And Bunny X-O. Kelly roles like Bunny X-O. You miss Buddy.

Boney S-O. Talk to me about Bucky. The coolest kids. 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, Ms. Dolly Parton is here today. Well, hello. Now, we should put an ass 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 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 in the 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? Well, I don't know about me, but I know you're okay. Well, I mean, the testimony to your life is pretty much shows how brilliant of a woman you are. And I kind of want to dive into that with you. So 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, you know, 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. 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 called Locust Ridge, where you hear me talk a lot about. 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 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 like sets you up for just a lifetime of hard 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 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.

Yes, ma'am. 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. 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? Well, I don't think I'm rebellious as much I'm just strong and I get my work ethic from my dad and I get my my spirituality and you know just 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 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 a

afraid of Mama. We'd get by with anything with her. But she would, 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, but I think that that was a good combination with Mama'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 still do i stay as close as i can to them certainly if i don't see them as often as i 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. 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, you know, on faith and keeping that strength. Because that's my creative energy 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.

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? 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 or 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 to help me work up a background part that I thought of if 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 because I was fascinated with anything different. Can you tell me a second? I only learned, I only learned to do it. Yeah, I want to sing your song in Piglet. 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, Ishae, Oswe, I may, Espe and Frey, Ishae, Oswee, I may, Espe and Frey, Ooh. 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. Shea, Osway, I may espay and pray. So anyway, 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, you know,

for them to take the time to do it and just make them do it. So, you know, that kind of stuff. So they knew me as somebody that was always singing, always writing, No, you know, fidgety. I couldn't stay still. You know, I was just kind of always full of energy in life. But we all loved each other. We all had her 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, well, 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 Piglin. Start a new trend again. The kids will love it. We actually did it up as one of the shows at Dollywood when I was telling my life story. So we worked it in a couple of years ago at the Dolly Show. My niece's got such kick 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 Piggy 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. I was a pig, so I learned pig. Stop it right now. Oh, I was. I was 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?

In the family, the oldest ones did. That is what I had read. And you had one, specifically your brother Larry, that you helped raise. I used to think all bras were just fancy torture devices. wires, poking, strap, slipping, constantly adjusting. Then I found skims. Their fits, everybody, bras and underwear are so soft. They feel like a second skin.

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But we, Mama had so many kids. There was only 18 months, two years of difference in all of our age. And mom and daddy married when mama was 15. She had her first baby at 16. And so they were just born one right after another. So any older child had to help with whoever was coming along. But the one that was going to be my baby was a little Larry. He didn't live that long, actually.

And, you know, he was just, he died at birth. But I'd followed Mama around when she was pregnant the whole time. 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 right 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 going to rock him and how I was going to sing in my songs and you know and all that but 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 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 they 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 took me a while to kind of overcome that I mean you know weeks you know, months kind of, you know, to why I really 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 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, if mama could handle it, certainly I could, you know, that kind of But I just was ready to go on, and my Uncle Bill was pushing me on, and he saw my desire and my dreams. And so he would take me around, you know, to different local things to sing and on local radio and TV.

But all of those things 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 happened. And 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 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?

age like that? Well, I was always writing songs. I was always able to rhyme. And Mama was always fascinated. And there was always so much commotion in a house for that many kids. Oh, I can imagine. And none of us really got any real special attention unless we were in trouble or, you know, or something. You're going to get called out with something. But I learned early on, Mama was always fascinated. And, you know, 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 eight seven eight nine years old about people getting killed in the war and things that I'd never seen are done but I was able to rhyme and write and mama would 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 come to her house mom would often say right to get your guitar and then she'd say, whoever said, 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 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 it. 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 hardened. I had to really learn it until it, you know, hardens those calluses for you to play. So I took the time to do a lot of the things and 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 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 to be 10 years old and writing songs like that, like 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 you can always, you know, I was a, 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. Hope I might live again. Yeah, you will. Yeah.

But I just think I was just able to do that because I had a, 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, to write my songs, find a shady spot or a warm spot. But, yeah, I was always into that guitar. and 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. make 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 own.

uncle was a carpenter so I was there in that in that house a lot and I would go up to the top of the hill from where they live and I'd catch a bus down to the radio station take my little guitar and I would go to walk across the viadoc I guess it's what they call it like this big bridge have my little guitar and then I would I would go do the caswalk a show play my little guitar do my songs and bill wasn't always with me then yeah 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 that the Brewster brothers especially that worked with the Caswellker show they'd back me up and you know work with me playing the songs or seeing some with me and then sometimes I'd wait while I was waiting for the bus

I'd just open 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 dark days, which I love because then I go 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. And I even wrote a song with my brother Floyd called Nichols 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 early on before I got the job. He's the one that got me 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 of the year bMI song of the year and put it off until tomorrow uh bill phillips on deck of records he was a pretty big artist at the time and so i got 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 on the real radio of everybody was DJs were calling Who's the girl singing with the 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 Y'all already know Sundays at my house are all about football Whether it's the touchdowns

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millions trust by visiting zy p p p a h.com and use the code pink or text bunny to 511511 remember zipa is happy z spelled backwards text fees may apply well all of my people were very musical and so i think some of my greatest influences were within my own family my i had an aunt dorothy joe when my mom's sisters well she played the banjo she played the guitar and she wrote great song and she was an evangelist. She also was a Pentecost to preacher. I love that. 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 whales on the grand old opera and Roy Acuff. And there was some early on after I got to out to where we really had a little bit more exposure to big radio and all. There was a woman

named Rose Maddox. She was the, 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 roundstones. They wore kind of western, kind of like how the Grand Ole Opera does, but they were the first ones I'd ever seen do that. And so, and they also put a show together, a little, they did little bits, a 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 or 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 influence this and this influenced that. So I love that you always give credit where credits do because I'm the same way. Like if I see, if anybody asked me what's your look, I'm like dolly. I'm dolly all day long, you know. Well, I wish you looked like you. Oh, stop it. 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. We're like it in that way. Absolutely, yes. So circling back, let's talk about the grand old opera, because you made your first

appearance at the Grand Old 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 could imagine. Yeah, 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 try to hold on to that. I thought, well, I can't turn around in the middle of stage or 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 all of it. Yeah.

And I, like I said, of course, I mean, I was this country kid. You know, you're always nervous when you first time you ever eating a restaurant around people. You're not used to knowing how to do that, what spoons and full. And even to this day, I still don't know exactly when I go to these big five 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 and do have to do. But I still would like to know those things, but I just never want it. And now I don't care, you know, that I, you know, sometimes you think, ooh.

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, I'll watch them. And when they picked that up, I'll pick that up, and I'll do this. I could never, I could not point out a salad fork to you if somebody paid me. I don't know how to do that either. Well, 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 the royal family or something, you think, I'm very uncomfortable. Yeah. But so I mean, I better watch

so I don't make a fool of myself. No. Or them. So circling back to the Opry, um, 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 at another time when we were sitting in the audience, and I had the biggest crush on him. Oh, my goodness, yeah.

Because he had so much magnetism, and I was young. I was just beginning to feel those hormones and 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 was coming off drugs. Oh, no.

He had, he 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 moved. He was a Pisces, right? Yeah. But I loved him, and as 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 growing 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. She was a loud mouth like me. So we got along just

And Johnny, I remember when somebody said something about, Johnny, don't you get tired to hearing June talk all the time? And he said, no, I do some of my best thinking when June's talking. So I think I was kind of like a true man. I think he does some of his best thinking when I'm talking. I think that's how all husbands are. They just tune us out. You know, they're just so used to us.

I'm sure we do. When you performed 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 opera shift your perspective on what was possible for you as an artist because at that time i was just so nervous and 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 at the grand old opera with all those big name artists and uh so i i think that i 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 casual walker show the

first time I was on there and I thought oh boy you know I'm gonna I'm gonna be a star and now years later I realized they weren't applauding so much because I was good it was just because I was little you know 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 they, you know, 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 there. Yeah. No, I'm joking. They asked them. 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. 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 and 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 Killing 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 girl's songs

And then I didn't have a car, didn't have a phone Didn't have anything And so all these musicians Because I was a right pretty girl at that time You know, just young girl and you know And so I had all these musicians That were on the sessions Always willing to drive me home

Always willing to stop showing Bown me a burger Yeah. Some of them thinking they might get more, but, uh, and some of them might have, but that was not because I, yeah. Lucky fellas. I know, but I was serious. It's like, uh, they were always so good to me. Everybody seemed to know that I, my heart was in a good place and that I was just a country girl. I was funny. You know, I was always, um, tracking jokes or, you know, just being, well, like I am now, really. Yeah. But everybody got a kick out on 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 you know how to maneuver I love that so 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 got 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 yeah i love that so much but i used to go uh in the early early days i would walk down to the hotels and i would walk through the hallways and i would uh see all the trays out on the out in front of the doors and any food that uh you know like all those little

mustard and ketchup packets and bottles, I'd take those all back and anything that look 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 as I live, but right above the hill. It was called Cowsers. It became very famous. It was a meat and three, and the Couser 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 to. Aw, that is so sweet.

I never knew what a meet-in-three was until I moved to Nashville. My husband was like, we're going to go to a meet-in-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 meet-in-three is, it's like wherever the choice of meat, whether it'd be meatloving, it's like three vegetable, three side dishes you're getting. Yes.

But, yeah, all of those terms, I know. I remember once 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 band. And we'd stopped at a truck stop, and he had, I guess he looked at the menu, and it 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 corn, corn, beef, bread from corn. Corned beef, yeah. Yeah, it was corn, 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. They 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. That's okay. Have you did? They both, 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 it, 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 Coraldeen. And 60 years later, I'm still with Coraldeen. 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, you know, he's quiet and I'm loud, and we just, we're funny.

Oh, he's hilarious. And I think one of the things that's made it last so long through the years is we love each other, we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun. Yeah. Anytime things get too much tension going on, either one of us can, like, find a joke about it. Yeah, you have to break the tension, and where it's not, we don't let it go. you know so far we never fought back and forth and i'm glad now that's amazing that we never did because once you start that that becomes a lifetime thing i've seen it was so many people and i thought i ain't ever starting that i don't i can't i couldn't bear to you know

think that he'd say something i couldn't take you know yeah it would hurt you know because i'm a very sensitive person toward other people and myself you know 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're we're only eight years in but i can't wait to be 60 years in with them like you and car 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 a homebody, and that worked well for us, you know, because he was in, well, he was in asphalt paving, but he just, 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, yeah, because I, the Capricorn is the mountain goat, and it's always climbing, one to look down on the other side and the country is more of a home body and he really was he never he loved to go places if we were going to drive cross country or go where if we had planned thing but boy he can't he never could wait to get home he wanted to be around home and I wanted I'm a gypsy by nature I just

loved go and love to see what else is out there but I think that he's just that's 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, we got married in 66, so that's when I won the first award for the BMI Song of the Year. And I rented him a tucks and, you know, begged him to go, and he did. And oh, he was so uncomfortable. The whole night. As soon as we got hit the door, he started pulling off stuff and, you know, and 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 an anniversary, and stuff like that, we usually stay home and make something special, do something special like that. But he does or go to McDonald's or go somewhere we want to go this comfortable. Or to go to, 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, you know, we'll go sit in a booth, like if it's an anniversary or just sometimes on a Saturday. We know where to go 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'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, I can talk what I want to, but he'll say, just leave me out the whole down. thing don't don't he'd 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 I that's like always my thing I'm like I'm just like dolly like I love that so we have the same cus that we're on the 17th through the 22nd so moving on from Sweet Carl.

Okay, gotcha. Oh, boy, we could tell. I know. There's so much I wanted to talk to you about. So you and I, your signature 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 know. We got the lipsticks, you know, we 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. We started out with our lipsticks and with our glosses. and so we're going to have a line of everything as we've got our eyeliner in the different colors and 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 like look at these with you. I'm afraid I'll walk everything over if I try to get. No, you're good. Oh look at these. I love these right here. I mean you 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 they 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 unturn. And it's got my little name there. But that's the color that would fit you. That's the Jolene red. You know, we thought, well, we had to have a Jolene color. And then we got our beautiful gold glosses and, you know, all the things that go. with them. And we have different colors, you know, of the, 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 that. So, anyhow, moving on from the lipstick because, I mean, and we always need a lipstick-stained wine glass. You are selling wine now, too. Lipstick stained wine. We need the lipstick-stained white glass. We do. We have our chardonnay. We We have the Accolades Wine Company and I went in business together, and this is one that's really, really nice. And eventually, you know, like with the makeup, we're starting out with certain ones, but then eventually we'll have all the things. But right now we have our chardonnay, and you can get that in easy stores like Kroger's and stores like that. Yes.

And in the wine and beer stores. So we were also smelling backstage. stage we were we opened up your that's the good one that's my that was my original yes and now this is the 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's 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. Oh, the Imagination Library. I'm just proud of that as anything I've ever done where we give books to children from the time they're born until they start school. And yeah, we've given over, I think, $250 million books out since we started. 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. 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 too. Oh, 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 that 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 gone, she's done pretty good by me, ain't she? I think Jolene might be your alter ego. She might be. Ms. Dahlie, thank you so much for giving me your time, 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 blonde. not by a long show. 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, Ms. Dolly. Thank you. Thank you. into another episode of Dunblond. I will see you guys next week. Bye.