Dolly Parton: From Country Music to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Buttercup, pull up a chair.
I have a confession to make.
When Dolly Parton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I was floored.
My first thought was, Wait a minute. Dolly is country.
Not just country.
Country to a T.
One hundred percent country.
No spillover.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Because if you grew up with Dolly Parton the way I did, you didn’t put her in a little box labeled “country singer.” Dolly Parton was country music.
She was the songs on the radio.
She was the voice on television.
She was the woman I watched on award shows growing up.
She was the artist my parents loved.
She was the singer whose music became part of our family soundtrack.
So when the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame came along, I had to stop and think.
But then I thought about Dolly.
And I realized something.
How could Dolly Parton NOT be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
Because she’s all that and the kitchen sink.
Dolly Was Country First
Let’s get this straight.
In my mind, Dolly belonged in country music.
One hundred percent.
That’s where I found her.
That’s where I knew her.
That’s where her music lived in my world.
The movies and everything else came second.
Dolly was country before she was anything else to me.
And she came by that honestly.
She grew up in Tennessee, surrounded by Appalachian music and a family that didn’t have much money but had plenty of love and musical talent. She began performing as a child and eventually made her way to Nashville, where she built the career that would make her one of the most recognizable entertainers in the world.
Her country roots never disappeared.
They became the foundation everything else was built upon.
Then You Look at Dolly and Think…
Wait a minute.
Look at her hair.
That’s rock and roll.
Look at those rhinestones.
That’s rock and roll.
Look at the clothes.
The confidence.
The personality.
The stage presence.
The whole Dolly Parton package.
That’s rock and roll.
And then you throw in the music.
OMG.
She’s definitely rock and roll.
Maybe she didn’t start there.
Maybe country music will always be home.
But Dolly has never been a woman who stayed inside somebody else’s definition of what she was allowed to be.
She crossed musical boundaries.
She crossed into movies.
She crossed into television.
She crossed into pop culture.
And eventually, she crossed right into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
And once I thought about it that way, I understood.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Moment
Dolly Parton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
And I am grateful that I got to see it.
Because something happened for me during that moment that went beyond the ceremony itself.
It opened my mind.
And it opened Charlie’s mind.
Suddenly, Charlie became more willing to listen to Dolly’s music.
And that gave me an opportunity I absolutely wasn’t going to waste.
I could introduce him to Porter Wagoner.
If you’re going to understand Dolly’s country music story, you have to understand Porter.
Dolly’s partnership with Porter Wagoner was an important part of her rise in country music. They performed together, recorded together, and became one of the most recognizable country music partnerships of their era.
But for me, introducing Charlie to Porter wasn’t just about music history.
It was about passing something down.
Charlie has a jacket he received for graduation that reminds me so much of Porter Wagoner.
Every time I see that jacket, I think of Porter.
And there I am, looking at my son and thinking about Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, country music, and all the years of music that came before him.
Those are the little stories that matter to me.
My Parents and “Islands in the Stream”
And then there is another Dolly memory that always makes me smile.
My parents actually got to see Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers perform “Islands in the Stream.”
Now, I’m happy for them.
Really.
I am.
But let’s be honest.
That should have been me.
😂
Because who wouldn’t want to see Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers together?
And if I’m being completely honest, my mind doesn’t stop at Islands in the Stream.
Because if it had been me, I probably would have been sitting there thinking about The Gambler.
Because who doesn’t want a cowboy?
Kenny Rogers was a true cowboy in that show.
And I’m still sitting here wondering why Dolly Parton wasn’t in that movie with him.
OMG.
Can you imagine?
Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers together in The Gambler?
I mean, come on.
Maybe somebody should have asked me.
😂
But that’s what happens when I start talking about Dolly.
One memory leads to another.
One song leads to another.
One movie leads to another.
And suddenly we’re someplace completely different.
But that’s the beauty of memories.
They aren’t organized.
They don’t come with chapters and page numbers.
They just show up.
Growing Up With Dolly
I remember seeing Dolly on all the award shows and television programs when I was growing up.
She was just there.
And when you’re a child, you don’t necessarily realize you’re watching somebody who is going to become a legend.
You just know you like her.
You know her songs.
You recognize her voice.
You know what she looks like.
You know when she’s on television.
And you know your parents love her too.
That’s one of the things I treasure.
My parents loved Dolly as much as I did.
And they got to experience something I didn’t.
They got to see Dolly and Kenny Rogers perform together.
I’m still going to say it:
That should have been me.
But life goes on.
And now I have the memory of knowing that they got to see something special.
That’s part of their story.
And now it’s part of mine.
Dolly and the Generations
That’s another reason the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame moment mattered to me.
It wasn’t just about Dolly receiving another honor.
It became a bridge between generations.
I grew up watching Dolly.
My parents loved Dolly.
I loved Dolly.
And now Charlie knows Dolly.
Not only does he know her songs, but he became curious about the music behind them.
And that opened the door to Porter Wagoner.
That’s how music gets passed down.
Sometimes you don’t sit your child down and say, “Today we’re going to study the history of country music.”
Sometimes you watch an award show.
Sometimes a song catches their attention.
Sometimes somebody gets inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
And suddenly you’re talking about music your child never would have thought to listen to before.
That’s how the stories continue.
Country Music Will Always Be Dolly’s Home
Even after seeing Dolly recognized by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I still believe she belongs in country music.
One hundred percent.
That’s home.
That’s where her roots are.
That’s where I first found her.
That’s the Dolly I grew up with.
But I also understand now why the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame wanted her.
Because Dolly didn’t simply make country music.
She helped shape popular culture.
She wrote songs that other artists recorded.
She created music that crossed genres.
She became an actress.
She became a television personality.
She became one of the most recognizable people in entertainment.
And she did all of it while remaining Dolly.
She never had to stop being country to reach people who weren’t country fans.
That’s a pretty amazing accomplishment.
And Then There’s 9 to 5
Of course, there’s 9 to 5.
How could we talk about Dolly crossing over into other parts of entertainment without mentioning 9 to 5?
I have already said it, and I’ll say it again:
That is my all-time favorite girl movie.
Because I think every woman has lived 9 to 5 at least once.
Maybe you haven’t worked in that exact office.
Maybe you haven’t had Dolly, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin beside you.
But you’ve had the boss.
You’ve had the frustration.
You’ve had the days when you thought somebody needed to finally listen.
And Dolly gave us a movie that made us laugh about it.
Then she gave us that song.
That’s Dolly.
She could walk into a movie and leave us with a song we would still be singing decades later.
The Woman Who Wouldn’t Stay in One Box
Maybe that’s the real lesson in Dolly’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame story.
We want categories.
Country.
Rock.
Pop.
Actress.
Singer.
Songwriter.
Businesswoman.
Celebrity.
But Dolly has never fit neatly into one category.
She’s Dolly.
That’s the category.
And maybe that’s why I was so surprised at first.
I was trying to put Dolly into the box where I had always known her.
Country music.
But Dolly had already built a career too big for that box.
She could be country and still be rock and roll.
She could be a country songwriter and a Hollywood actress.
She could be the woman singing “Coat of Many Colors” and the woman standing on a stage covered in rhinestones.
She could be the voice on my parents’ records and the woman Charlie discovered decades later.
She could belong to one generation and somehow belong to all of them.
A Hall of Fame Moment Became a Family Memory
And that’s what I love most about this story.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction isn’t just something I watched.
It became part of my family story.
It opened Charlie’s mind.
It gave me a chance to introduce him to Porter Wagoner.
It reminded me of growing up watching Dolly on television.
It reminded me that my parents loved her.
It reminded me that they actually got to see Dolly and Kenny Rogers perform “Islands in the Stream.”
And yes, it reminded me that I still think that should have been me.
But I’m okay.
Really.
Life goes on.
And now I have something even better.
I have the memory.
So, Is Dolly Country or Rock & Roll?
My answer now is simple.
Yes.
She’s country.
She’s rock and roll.
She’s a songwriter.
She’s an actress.
She’s a storyteller.
She’s a performer.
She’s a woman who knows exactly who she is.
And she’s somebody whose music has traveled far beyond the place where it started.
But if you make me choose?
I’m still going to say country.
Country to a T.
Because that’s Dolly’s foundation.
That’s where she came from.
And that’s where so many of us first met her.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame didn’t take that away.
It simply reminded us that Dolly Parton’s reach was always bigger than one genre.
Pull Up a Chair
When I think about Dolly now, I don’t just think about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
I think about growing up watching her on television.
I think about my parents loving her.
I think about them seeing Dolly and Kenny Rogers perform “Islands in the Stream.”
I think about wishing I had been there.
I think about The Gambler and wondering why Dolly wasn’t in that movie.
I think about 9 to 5.
I think about Charlie discovering Dolly.
I think about Porter Wagoner.
I think about that graduation jacket that reminds me of Porter.
And I think about how one woman’s career can somehow connect generations of a family.
That’s bigger than a Hall of Fame.
That’s legacy.
Dolly Parton may have started in country music, but she was never going to stay inside one little box.
She’s got the music.
She’s got the movies.
She’s got the hair.
She’s got the rhinestones.
She’s got the stories.
She’s got the history.
She’s got the generations.
She’s got all that and the kitchen sink.
And now, yes, she’s got the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame too.
And I have to admit…
They were right.
