I’ve never been much of a country music fan, but I’ve always been a Dolly fan. Great songwriter, philanthropist, and seemed like a genuinely nice person. RIP, Dolly, you were one of the greats.
jihadjihad · 2026-08-25 18:23:45 UTC
Her vocals were exceptional, too. One of my favorite videos I've randomly come across on YouTube is "Jolene" slowed down to 33 RPM [0]. The comments are hilarious as well, but the clarity of her vocals and the vibrato that carries through to a slower tempo is really something special to hear.
She's one of those crossover performers, such as Kenny Rogers and Taylor Swift who escape Country music as a genre and get mass appeal. Whenever I comment about a Dolly Parton song playing in a public place I hear things like "She's a national treasure!"
jimmySixDOF · 2026-08-25 19:20:52 UTC
Her cover of Stairway to Heaven is definitely crossover at its best
tomcam · 2026-08-25 21:28:17 UTC
Oh. You weren't kidding! It's good. They avoid all the traps, like not trying to outdo Jimmy Page's guitar solo.
pseudosavant · 2026-08-25 23:16:50 UTC
Definitely my favorite version of that song!
stasomatic · 2026-08-26 14:40:53 UTC
It's nice but the original hits more raw to me. Perhaps because I heard it first ages ago. There was a kerfuffle about the song's provenance a few year ago.
I am a fan of covers, like Johny Cash's NIN "Hurt" or Marylin Manson's Depeche "Personal Jesus". If anyone has faves regardless of the genre, please share.
jihadjihad · 2026-08-27 01:49:16 UTC
The Band’s cover of Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” is superb, particularly the addition of the accordion.
A band called Lake Street Dive has a phenomenal cover of Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl”.
Scary Pockets is a group with rotating artists (formed by Patreon’s founder/CEO), their covers of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” are two I return to frequently.
kevin_thibedeau · 2026-08-25 19:32:04 UTC
Rogers crossed over into country.
mikestew · 2026-08-25 20:08:27 UTC
My ex-wife was a big Kenny "The Country Version" Rogers fan. I chuckle to myself every time I watch The Big Lebowski and hear Rogers singing his psychedelic "Just Checked In" and wonder what the ex would think of his origins.
shevy-java · 2026-08-25 20:51:44 UTC
Agreed. The climbing voice in Jolene was my favourite of her vocal range. She was a pretty good singer too; not as good as e. g. Ariana Grande in her own prime (before chasing bulimia) but quite good nonetheless.
The guitar is also immaculate slowed down and that was her too. I always thought it was some hotshot Nashville session musician. One of the best guitar licks of all time.
Joeboy · 2026-08-25 21:52:40 UTC
She was certainly a fine guitarist, but Wikipedia says you were right first time, it was a session player called Chip Young.
jihadjihad · 2026-08-26 00:54:41 UTC
Dolly wrote the lick herself, and when she was in the studio with the session players, they wanted her to show them how to play it [0].
She ended up having Chip Young lay it down on the record since her long fingernails made it difficult to nail consistently. This is also why if you watch videos of her playing guitar she plays in open tunings [1].
I still carry the rather 20th century idea that a performer of almost any kind also ought to have some sort of other talent in addition to their main one. The versatility of that sort of thing is one of the things that should separate a pro from the rest. I generally count "professional level musician" on more than one instrument as fulfilling that contract... perhaps one of the easier of the options, but it still carries that versatility advantage. Another example that I'm quite fond of is famous comedian Steve Martin performing Dueling Banjos with Kermit the Frog. The combo of two professional entertainers playing off of each other combined with the music skills creates the opportunity for a creative routine.
fragmede · 2026-08-27 10:57:16 UTC
Brian Cox's other talent, in addition to being a Rock Legend, is being an accomplished physicist.
For a second I misread that as "The chipmunks at 16X speed" and was seriously confused.
bluesounddirect · 2026-08-26 00:04:49 UTC
I know what you mean, 16rpm makes more sense .
markdown · 2026-08-25 22:02:16 UTC
Made famous by the show The Blacklist
slim · 2026-08-26 00:02:39 UTC
first time I hear that song and to my ear, the song was recorded at that speed, then sped up in production.
ranger_danger · 2026-08-26 21:51:28 UTC
Her first record deal almost didn't happen because she was told she couldn't sing... apparently the producer didn't like her voice for whatever reason.
tombert · 2026-08-25 19:37:55 UTC
Same.
I don't really like country music, but Dolly always seemed somewhat down-to-earth and pretty decent.
CGMthrowaway · 2026-08-25 19:44:56 UTC
Thankfully we have Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, the White Stripes, etc for you
johnnyanmac · 2026-08-25 20:47:35 UTC
I wouldn't ever say I was a fan per se. But she was always the go-to example of "this is what billionaires should be doing with their money". So I respected the hell out of her.
Of course, she also proves the very point of there being no ethical billionaire, being "only" worth some 450 million instead. Likely because she gave so much of her wealth back to her communities instead. RIP Dolly, indeed.
4d4m · 2026-08-26 00:50:55 UTC
Completely agree johnnuanmac. Seems like a role model for being a good person while maintaining extreme goals and working toward the impossible.
4d4m · 2026-08-25 22:26:17 UTC
She was a loving wife to her husband and a great entrepreneur in addition to being a prolific artist. It's hard to find someone so well rounded at so many things before even adding that most of the jobs she created were/are considered positive contributions to society, evenly spread between entertainment, hospitality, foodservice, and adjacent industries. I think I heard she was directly responsible for about 20k total jobs which is INSANE.
What a positive legacy to leave - good example for others.
interludead · 2026-08-26 06:03:15 UTC
Building businesses that supported entire local economies is a different kind of legacy
jibal · 2026-08-28 08:08:37 UTC
Plus sending 318 million books to children.
EugeneOZ · 2026-08-26 02:24:41 UTC
Also not a fan of country/folk, but today I learned about her special albums trilogy: The Grass Is Blue, Little Sparrow, and Halos & Horns. Quite different music!
Some songs I added to my playlist :)
interludead · 2026-08-26 06:01:49 UTC
She transcended the genre entirely
lenerdenator · 2026-08-25 18:15:18 UTC
I knew she had been sick recently but always assumed she'd bounce back.
We're worse off.
paulpauper · 2026-08-25 18:41:56 UTC
some people are really sick but it's not evident because they keep it concealed
lanstin · 2026-08-25 19:26:34 UTC
Also when you are 80 something can go from a bit of a cold to deadly dangerous real quick.
I am from the wrong continent to be inculcated in country music from an early age, but I read books distributed from her program every week to the niece. So that's probably her more durable contribution to society, I think.
autoexec · 2026-08-25 18:30:25 UTC
Something tells me that the songs and films will outlast the books program, but hopefully it's making a difference in the lives of kids. There's no telling how far reaching that can end up being.
cheeze · 2026-08-25 18:43:06 UTC
On the flipside, how many individual lives have been changed by the books provided to families for free? Impossible to quantify but I'd argue extremely important.
gkoberger · 2026-08-25 18:58:48 UTC
Well, as long as the songs and films continue to make her estate money, I imagine she planned to continue sending out books.
em3rgent0rdr · 2026-08-25 19:47:51 UTC
> "wrong continent to be inculcated in country music"
A humorous response to whenever someone says "country music" is: "Which country?"
Kye · 2026-08-25 18:17:12 UTC
Dolly Parton seemed nice on that episode of The Orville.
stego-tech · 2026-08-25 18:20:08 UTC
Dolly was one of the unequivocal good ones. Damn girl, RIP.
DiBop · 2026-08-25 18:25:22 UTC
One of THE best humans to have ever graced this planet. I've never heard a single negative thing about her. I wish I believed in heaven.
jjtheblunt · 2026-08-25 18:40:04 UTC
in some sense, the collection of innumerable entirely positive memories effect one aspect of heaven for her, i believe.
jolt42 · 2026-08-25 18:47:56 UTC
In regard to heaven, you don't need to believe for her - she believed.
d4mi3n · 2026-08-25 18:20:27 UTC
End of an era. She was a very active philanthropist and will be dearly missed for all the good she brought to the world.
DiBop · 2026-08-25 18:23:54 UTC
Wow. I knew she was close but still. She has always held her in a special place in my heart as I am sure so many else do. I hope there is a national day of mourning. And parades. She would've like parades
odyssey7 · 2026-08-25 18:25:07 UTC
Sad news - she was a treasure.
CalChris · 2026-08-25 18:25:58 UTC
I saw Dolly at Hardly Strictly in 2005. She was great.
cjboco · 2026-08-25 18:25:58 UTC
What an amazing woman and person in general.
I wish other celebrities did as much as her. Her Imagination Library (https://imaginationlibrary.com) is just one example of her giving back to the community.
steveBK123 · 2026-08-25 18:27:26 UTC
She made money doing what she loved, and gave a huge amount of it away to help others. Can't ask for better than that, she will be missed.
Aboutplants · 2026-08-25 18:28:03 UTC
“Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has gifted over 318 million free books to children worldwide since its inception”
Amazing contributions to many aspects of life
haney · 2026-08-25 18:46:03 UTC
As a kid growing up in Tennessee I was the beneficiary of several of her reading programs. They really helped to foster a sense of curiosity and wonder that live with me to this day. Dolly was a real one, she'll definitely be missed.
someothherguyy · 2026-08-26 00:06:30 UTC
How much do you remember these books your family was gifted before you were five years old? I thought it was more of a program to increase literacy. Personally, I remember books from when I was pre-kindergarten, but I don't typically think of them as "fostering a sense of curiosity and wonder", though, ultimately, I guess they did.
I just think it is an interesting topic in the framing of content policing and what not, it would be interesting to know what you took from the program.
haney · 2026-08-26 01:23:34 UTC
She also had a program that gave a free book to elementary school kids every year (as a part of the local book fair). The first technical book I ever owned was a very basic intro to html that I received as a part of that program.
kstrauser · 2026-08-26 02:28:43 UTC
Reading this made me choke up. That’s beautiful.
duck · 2026-08-25 18:51:35 UTC
Yeah, it is such an amazing program that was just executed in the right way. She didn't see it hit the billion books like she wanted to in her lifetime, but I'm sure they will get there. I would love to know other examples of philanthropy like that are similar in impact?
My toddler gets a book a month in the mail from Dolly's Imagination Library and we keep reading some almost every day. She's made an impact in so many families <3
behat · 2026-08-25 19:19:23 UTC
Daughter loves getting these in the mail, and this paragraph is absolutely right!
>> That year, Parton explained that as well as improving child literacy, “it’s the fact they get recognised. They get this little book with their little name on it in the mail, and they feel special. They start taking pride in themselves, and they know that somebody out there is thinking of [them].”
michaelsbradley · 2026-08-25 19:55:14 UTC
My son loves them too!
nkoren · 2026-08-25 20:19:33 UTC
I'm in a borough of London, and did a bit of a double-take when they told me that Dolly Parton would be sending my daughter a book every month. But indeed she did, and it had exactly that effect, and now she's an absolutely avid reader.
Thank you, Dolly. That meant a lot to us, and millions upon millions of other people too.
KaiserPro · 2026-08-26 08:19:17 UTC
Very much this.
My kid's nursery gave out books from Dolly. It was a little ceremony, my kid loved it. We still have them.
But I was really surprised, I thought it was joke, why would Dolly care about my Kid's reading? but she really did. She really did care about a bunch of kids in inner city london.
Obviously I am not blessed with millions, but Dolly does lead by example. I need to do better.
larodi · 2026-08-26 08:38:09 UTC
Perhaps then, rather than flying flags at half-mast, it'd be better to send that-many books to children around the world. Sadly it seems people calling the shots, the strong of the day, are more interested in delivering threats and ultimatums, rather than what shiny Dolly did.
What an apparent demonstration that not everyone is gifted the same amount of generosity.
dd8601fn · 2026-08-26 13:12:31 UTC
You can donate to her charity.
Probably better than whichever flavor of ideological bullshit our politicians would send, anyway.
Breza · 2026-08-29 00:52:12 UTC
When my daughter turned five and received her final book in the mail, it came with a letter that still makes me tear up.
notyourwork · 2026-08-25 20:06:41 UTC
I agree but I came across Dolly Parton syrup in the grocery store once. Had to say for all the good, that felt a bit odd, strange and out of place with Dolly’s character.
syntheticnature · 2026-08-25 20:31:04 UTC
Huh, looks she has an entire food line. Wonder if this is planned to be an income stream for some of her charities, similar to Newman's Own.
someothherguyy · 2026-08-25 23:52:36 UTC
Interesting program, seems mostly positive, some dissent
I think any dissent has to be from the kind of person who just has to find something wrong with everything. I cannot imagine a legitimate criticism of her program to give free books to every kid.
victor9000 · 2026-08-26 05:27:01 UTC
Accomplishments like these are standards we should use for when to build someone a statue
sizzle · 2026-08-26 08:47:33 UTC
Has anyone successfully rallied their county to get this program enacted? Seems a lot of Cali zip codes are not available…
dylan604 · 2026-08-25 18:28:57 UTC
My mother was a die hard Dolly fan. We even visited Dollywood when I was a kid. One of her favorite movies was with Dolly and Sylvester Stallone called Rhinestone. She watched it repeatedly, and there are quotes from it that are taking up precious space in the ol' memory banks.
If you've never heard the 45 of Jolene played at 33, give it a listen.
cscharenberg · 2026-08-25 19:25:50 UTC
Rhinestone! I just watched for first time the other day. I had made my partner watch Rocky to see a different side of Stallone, and she is a huge Dolly Parton fan.
Rhinestone was hilarious and great to watch just because Stallone and Parton were having _so much fun_ together. No sense of sexual attraction, just having a damn great time having fun. Could not help but enjoy that, separate from it genuinely being a fun movie.
Does a great job interviewing Dolly and discussing with her (and those two are around her) who she is, her life events, her thoughts on life. I knew people loved Dolly Parton before I listened but didn't really know why and the podcast helped me understand a bit more of it. It features a LOT of one-on-one time with Dolly in a way that I don't often find docu-series do. It's fantastic!
jimt1234 · 2026-08-25 19:05:00 UTC
One minor fact about Dolly I've always found fascinating is that she was married to the same dude for almost 60 years, until he passed away recently. I mean, being as famous as she was as an entertainer - that just seems like an extreme anomaly.
kranke155 · 2026-08-25 19:10:13 UTC
Paul Newman I think. Same thing. He was also married to the same person for decades.
tclancy · 2026-08-25 19:11:33 UTC
Yeah and just like Dolly, someone we need more of.
wging · 2026-08-25 19:17:21 UTC
Her husband was Carl Dean.
kranke155 · 2026-08-25 20:04:34 UTC
I meant to say Paul Newman was similarly married for decades to the same person.
mc32 · 2026-08-25 20:09:31 UTC
De mortis nil nisi bonum, as they say.
globular-toast · 2026-08-26 06:18:12 UTC
George Benson is probably a better example. Like another commenter points out, though, it might just be bias due to the media reporting more on drama than celebrity wedding anniversaries. But, I must admit, I do often look up biographies of entertainers I like and it is quite unusual for them to have a "normal" romantic life.
selcuka · 2026-08-26 07:31:02 UTC
Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwig married in 1988, and they are both celebrities.
13hours · 2026-08-25 20:04:19 UTC
I guess the fact that I'm not mildy surprised that people can be married for 60 years says something about how different our cultures are? Even though we're on HN discussing so many other things we have in common.
Erem · 2026-08-25 20:08:05 UTC
Divorce is rampant among celebrities in the USA. Maybe not worldwide?
johnnyanmac · 2026-08-25 20:53:47 UTC
It's not unheard of. But I guess it's a mix of several small factors:
1. divorce rates have been rising for decades.
2. 60 years is a very long time, and that means Dolly would have had to marry around 18-20. Marrying that young these days for my generation very much is an anomaly, and people are putting off marriage more and more these days.
3. Celebrity culture in particular has a much more tumultuous relationship. In a number of cases, marriage may simply be another influential tool to manage fame and wealth rather than an act of love and caring.
asveikau · 2026-08-25 22:12:24 UTC
I think money, fame, celebrity status, etc. often creates pressures on the relationship.
Kind of like how it sometimes pushes people into drug addictions. That's a stereotype that we've all heard about since kids, but it wasn't until relatively recently that I thought about it seriously that it occurred to me that a touring celebrity musician's life can be stressful and the drugs can be (or start out as) a pressure valve release. I think that part of it clicked to me when I heard a musician being interviewed about it, I forget which. Maybe it was a Beatle talking about their early amphetamine days.
jimt1234 · 2026-08-25 22:34:35 UTC
I had a friend in the mid-90s that was in a mildly successful band. They did a few national tours as opener for bands like The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I met up with him once while he was out on tour. I was thinking he was living his best life, like he was gonna brag about the lifestyle. Just the opposite. He hated touring, said it was very stressful, and that he just wanted to eat a home-cooked meal and sleep in the same bed more than two nights in a row. And yes, he said industry folks were constantly pushing free drugs.
duderific · 2026-08-25 22:58:40 UTC
Re the drug addictions - another thing to note about touring musicians is that there's a lot of downtime. New cities every day, not much to do until your show in the evening. Pretty easy to slip into unhealthy habits.
Comments
0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doz1QJ7LwjA
I am a fan of covers, like Johny Cash's NIN "Hurt" or Marylin Manson's Depeche "Personal Jesus". If anyone has faves regardless of the genre, please share.
A band called Lake Street Dive has a phenomenal cover of Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl”.
Scary Pockets is a group with rotating artists (formed by Patreon’s founder/CEO), their covers of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” are two I return to frequently.
She ended up having Chip Young lay it down on the record since her long fingernails made it difficult to nail consistently. This is also why if you watch videos of her playing guitar she plays in open tunings [1].
0: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/31/dolly-parton-r...
1: https://www.guitarworld.com/features/how-does-dolly-parton-p...
https://chipmunkson16speed.bandcamp.com/album/vol-1
I don't really like country music, but Dolly always seemed somewhat down-to-earth and pretty decent.
Of course, she also proves the very point of there being no ethical billionaire, being "only" worth some 450 million instead. Likely because she gave so much of her wealth back to her communities instead. RIP Dolly, indeed.
What a positive legacy to leave - good example for others.
Some songs I added to my playlist :)
We're worse off.
R.I.P. Dolly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRPdwWzTTi8
A humorous response to whenever someone says "country music" is: "Which country?"
I wish other celebrities did as much as her. Her Imagination Library (https://imaginationlibrary.com) is just one example of her giving back to the community.
Amazing contributions to many aspects of life
I just think it is an interesting topic in the framing of content policing and what not, it would be interesting to know what you took from the program.
[1] https://imaginationlibrary.com/ [2] https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/03/01/589912466/dolly-p...
>> That year, Parton explained that as well as improving child literacy, “it’s the fact they get recognised. They get this little book with their little name on it in the mail, and they feel special. They start taking pride in themselves, and they know that somebody out there is thinking of [them].”
Thank you, Dolly. That meant a lot to us, and millions upon millions of other people too.
My kid's nursery gave out books from Dolly. It was a little ceremony, my kid loved it. We still have them.
But I was really surprised, I thought it was joke, why would Dolly care about my Kid's reading? but she really did. She really did care about a bunch of kids in inner city london.
Obviously I am not blessed with millions, but Dolly does lead by example. I need to do better.
What an apparent demonstration that not everyone is gifted the same amount of generosity.
Probably better than whichever flavor of ideological bullshit our politicians would send, anyway.
https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/mw22vh301
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02702711.2019.16...
https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/rrq.7010...
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Judith-Butler/publicati...
If you've never heard the 45 of Jolene played at 33, give it a listen.
Rhinestone was hilarious and great to watch just because Stallone and Parton were having _so much fun_ together. No sense of sexual attraction, just having a damn great time having fun. Could not help but enjoy that, separate from it genuinely being a fun movie.
Does a great job interviewing Dolly and discussing with her (and those two are around her) who she is, her life events, her thoughts on life. I knew people loved Dolly Parton before I listened but didn't really know why and the podcast helped me understand a bit more of it. It features a LOT of one-on-one time with Dolly in a way that I don't often find docu-series do. It's fantastic!
1. divorce rates have been rising for decades.
2. 60 years is a very long time, and that means Dolly would have had to marry around 18-20. Marrying that young these days for my generation very much is an anomaly, and people are putting off marriage more and more these days.
3. Celebrity culture in particular has a much more tumultuous relationship. In a number of cases, marriage may simply be another influential tool to manage fame and wealth rather than an act of love and caring.
Kind of like how it sometimes pushes people into drug addictions. That's a stereotype that we've all heard about since kids, but it wasn't until relatively recently that I thought about it seriously that it occurred to me that a touring celebrity musician's life can be stressful and the drugs can be (or start out as) a pressure valve release. I think that part of it clicked to me when I heard a musician being interviewed about it, I forget which. Maybe it was a Beatle talking about their early amphetamine days.