Dolly has never been on my musical playlist. I don't recall anyone as listening to her AT ALL, in the 70's,80's,90's or like NEVER! My own children aren't fans.

I remember her as a twangy country singer who didn't get ANY play time on the rock radio stations. She did write songs for other people to sing. I liked her in the 9 to 5 movie. So I was kind of shocked to see this aggrandized Dolly Parton double album talked about so kindly and reaching #1 on various billboards.

She had real rock stars "duet" with her. I listened to a few of the so called "best" songs and I wanted to just freakin' die.
Her voice is terrible and it doesn't coalesce with her invitees.

It was a total awful mess in my opinion.

I guess this is the horrible ending of rock and rock music and it hurts so bad to listen to.

Are these old rock stars so hard up for cash it has come down to this?

I consider her to be a great person for several reasons, but I'm not a fan of her music. Some of it I can take or leave, but I wouldn't select it. I'm not even going to try and speculate how in the world she got included in rock and roll.

Nein !

I think she's still classified as country, but there's a lot of crossover these days. I'm not a country fan, but I respect her as being a good human and a likeable person.

For someone whose music you don't care for, she seems to be renting an awful lot of real estate in your head.

I don't much care for her music mostly because I don't much care for country music. I do remember some of her collaborations with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, and they seemed pretty well executed.

I did a quick search and came up with this video that is a history of their collaboration. I still think they do pretty nice work. The real stunner for me was that Emmylou Harris looks better in her 70s than she did in her 20s, and she set the bar pretty high in her 20s. Good heavens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8F0Z0MDLKw

I don't much care for Taylor Swift's music either, but both she and Dolly seem like very nice people with their heads screwed on straight, and their music obviously speaks to some people out there.

I grew up in Houston when Willie, Waylon, Emmy Lou, Jerry Jeff, Leon Russell, Jessie Colter and David Allan Coe were all trying to make it big. I was underage (legal was 18) but had my friend's big brother's ID. They all played all the joints on Telephone road, OST and Gilleys. Many times for no cover or just a dollar. A lot of times playing in dive bars that were half full on a Wednesday night. Between sets, most would come over and sit at our table if you bought them beers. Emmy Lou would talk to us for hours. She was so down to earth and was amazed she was making a living (barely) playing professionally. Jerry Jeff threw up in my trunk of my new T-Bird in Gilley's parking lot in 1978. Great times. Emmy Lou is a Queen.

Wow. That's incredible. Such a list of amazing talent.

I love Emmylou singing Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. So plaintive.

I've heard of Gilley's.

What great memories you have.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2023 03:49PM by Nightingale.

I bought the DVD of Neil Young's Heart of Gold/Prairie Wind concert. [I lived for several years in Winnipeg where Neil Young and Randy Bachman both grew up, so I was supporting the home team I guess] Emmylou Harris is one of his backup singers. I was thinking at the time that if you can get Emmylou Harris as your backup singer, you have nothing else musical left that you need to prove to the world. ;)

I read later that being a good backup singer is pretty difficult, and she really enjoys doing it. But even so, getting her must be quite the coup.

Gilley's was awesome until the movie "Urban Cowboy" ruined it. Beer prices doubled, cover charges and lines out the door. It was a great place until then. Back then you could get in a fight with a guy (mostly over a girl) and they'd just make you take it outside. You'd punch on each other and then buy each other a beer. I still have a few shot glasses and cocktail glasses from that place saw Reba there in 83. She looked like a kid.


https://twitter.com/TracesofTexas/status/1202071804472373248

I only like her cuz Doña Linda Ronstadt likes her, plus she's buxom, and I find bosoms udderly delightful. She, Linda and I think it was Emma Lou Harris, made some nice music together.  But I've never had any of their songs, nor her songs, on a playlist.

I liked the movie she made with Burt Reynolds in which she played a virgin whorehouse madam.

But no, I do not think of her as a Rock Star ... but I probably would do so if she asked nicely!

 

I love Linda Ronstadt and she got lots of radio air time in Utah along with the bands she sang with. In fact I had a sheet music/song book of Linda's songs. She had a unique beautiful voice. I liked Randy Meisner and Poco too.

Dolly on the other hand was nowhere to be found in the rock section of music.
Maybe it was her huge bosom that got her LPs censored in Utah.
She just has never been a thing here.

As I search for recent music releases she keeps popping up. So I listened to some of the songs and they were not very good. Her voice is not good. She should follow Linda's example and give it a rest. (if that is snarky I apologize).

And I was referring to rock star in the vintage definition of rock star not the definition of "winner or good humanitarian" in today's verbal genre.

LOL. Touché.

When I was young and foolish (still a TBM) I was making fun of Dolly and one of my co-workers, who was from Tennessee, was appalled that I would even do such a thing. To him, Dolly was the greater good. She is a saint, in the true sense of the word. Making fun of her would be like making fun of Judy Garland.

I quickly apologized but I didn't get it for many years. Then I learned more and more about her and to me I get it now. She is an amazing talent and a wonderful human. She has done so much good for her hometown and the State of Tennessee. I now admire her greatly.

If you haven't seen Dolly Parton's "Heartstrings" series yet, I would recommend the series to everyone.

To me, she is better than a rockstar. She is the greater good.

She sends tons of free books out to kids as well. Teachers love her for that.

summer Wrote:
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> She sends tons of free books out to kids as well.
> Teachers love her for that.

I'm aware of this, and on the face of it, it does sound good. However, color me skeptical as many of these non-profits turn out to have other angles to them. A bit like the Just Giving machines the church has are a total scam. I hope I'm wrong.

I haven't heard anything negative about it. A huge part of promoting literacy is getting appropriate books into the hands of needy kids.

Jeff Bezos thinks enough of her charities that he gave her 100 million. You think he didn't do his homework? You think Dolly hasn't made enough money on her own that she's going to run a charity scam? She's worth over 650 million dollars. She's the real deal. Sorry that you're that cynical.

His right-wing paranoia distorts his views on all sorts of things. He doesn't trust liberals or people who do liberal things. The only person you can trust is a right-wing miser.

Similarly, he insists that today's China is communist. I ask you, as a thinking man, whether these two charts look like the product of communist governance.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-01-19/Analysts-on-China-s-2020-GDP-Great-but-weak-consumption-poses-a-risk-X9FPY1dwT6/img/b4ef1c2c22c840e397d07bdf2f947a3b/b4ef1c2c22c840e397d07bdf2f947a3b.jpeg

https://cdn.howmuch.net/articles/chinas-economic-growth-perspective-6389-162c.jpg

His money came with no strings attached. Dolly directs the money to causes that SHE thinks are worthy. No politics involved.

Agreed. There is zero reason to doubt what happened unless you start from a prejudiced position.

Lot's Wife Wrote:
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> His right-wing paranoia distorts his views on all
> sorts of things.
> He doesn't trust liberals or
> people who do liberal things. The only person you
> can trust is a right-wing miser.

Liberalism does not mean what you think it does. It means minimalism in government and laisser faire economics. This is not something you believe in and it is not something the PRC practices. Stop misusing words.

To answer OP's question, depends on how you use the term "rock star". If it is a description of any major celebrity, not even necessarily in the music industry, then she is a rock star.

If it is someone who is famous for doing rock music, then she most definitely is not. But she has that first definition nailed, and that's sufficient.

^^^ this ^^^

I was thinking exactly the same.

And just out of curiosity, I looked on dictionary.com:

1) a rock-'n'-roll star or celebrity.
2) a star or celebrity in any field or profession, or anyone who is highly admired.

Frankly, #2 subsumes #1, and in modern times, #1 seems more etymological now.

I think of Dolly as a Rock Star at Life, not music. She's a country music star, movie star and kick ass chick. Never heard anyone say a bad thing about her. My daughter goes to Middle Tennessee State University, outside of Nashville, on a volleyball scholarship. MTSU has an awesome professional aviation school and has her commercial pilots license and her Certified Flight Instructor licenses. She teaches new students to fly while she gains enough hours for Delta to send her to their jet school program. MTSU also has a world class music and music business program. From songwriting to sound engineering to performing and music business management. It's 1st class. Dolly has performed there and makes spontaneous stops in to talk to the kids. Garth came to talk to her volleyball team. Other country stars that benefited from classes, advice or mentorship from MTSU drop in talk to the kids. Dolly is so encouraging. She has fans from 5 generations. The old guys love her and the young kids love her. She's won in the game of life.

WOW! Yet another reason why Dolly is a rockstar! And your daughter is too! Congratulations! We need more pilots, that's for sure!

Yeah, pretty proud Dad. She casually announced to us at Christmas dinner, that she has to cut her Christmas break short and leave on Jan.8th. She got a call from the Dean/Director of aviation that she was selected to be the First Officer(Co-pilot) for MTSU's corporate King Air 350. She'll be flying the University President, the Athletic Director, various coaches on recruiting trips and the golf and tennis traveling teams to their matches. It's a huge honor and a great resume' builder. I wanna be her.

That's really awesome! That was my first ambition in life, to be a pilot, but my vision dictated otherwise. I'm so glad that young people, especially young women, have expanded opportunities these days.

My dad was a Navy pilot, and I grew up planning to be one too. But, like you, my eyes knocked me out. I had 20/20 vision, but during the physicals they discovered that I had astigmatism. :(

Nowadays I hear that vision is not a problem anymore, and that they'll train pilots who've had laser surgery, etc.


My late brother's step-daughter is a commercial pilot though, which is pretty cool.

My father was a licensed private pilot, and volunteered for the Army Air Corps in WWII. But he was also a mechanical engineer who was running a metals factory, so the government had other plans for him. I use to watch him do takeoffs and landings, but my mom would never let my fly with him. :/ Hence, my lifelong appreciation for aviation.

I have my Dad's airman pin, silver with wings a propeller, very cool. Also have his airman 3 green stripes uni patch. Trying to figure out a cool way to make a little glass display box to give to my kid. I'm not an Etsy or Pintrest kind of guy.

Check out craft stores or places like Amazon for a small shadow box. You can slap in some liner paper and pin them in place. There are small (3"x3") and large sizes. Most can be wall mounted. That would be a nice gift from you!

Sorry about the long link IP, but here is an example:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08JV6ZKN2/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&aaxitk=b5774a02ed3aa15bf89c04842231f228&hsa_cr_id=9542757290801&qid=1704070077&sr=1-1-9e67e56a-6f64-441f-a281-df67fc737124&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_lsi4d_asin_0_img&pd_rd_w=LH19Q&content-id=amzn1.sym.417820b0-80f2-4084-adb3-fb612550f30b%3Aamzn1.sym.417820b0-80f2-4084-adb3-fb612550f30b&pf_rd_p=417820b0-80f2-4084-adb3-fb612550f30b&pf_rd_r=FTK902A7GW9SKR2YNDKH&pd_rd_wg=t8NiQ&pd_rd_r=b8f07dcc-8890-45af-b626-95e9856983e2&th=1

Thank You!!!!!
Happy New Year!

That would be such a cool gift. You could put a couple of pics of him in there too. It would be something she would always treasure.

Great idea. Unfortunately, he died at 50. Never got to meet my wife or his grand daughter. He would've adored her. I'll try to find a way to include his pic in a nice way with his Navy stuff. Thanks.

Yep, my wife is a Delta Flight Attendant, now writing curriculum and training new F/As. Our daughter grew up flying for free. By 12, she'd been on 6 continents. Right now, she's returning from Stockholm from visiting one her international volleyball teammates. At 13 she said that she wanted to see the world as an adult. I told her that she either needs to marry rich, become rich or get into aviation. She stated that she didn't want to be an FA, she'd want to be a pilot. So we mapped out a plan. She's a gifted athlete, she could've gone anywhere on scholarship. Air Force offered her one, but she didn't want the 10 year commitment (4 years in school, 6 in the military). Embrey Riddle (awesome flight college) offered her scholarships in both locations, Daytona and Prescott, AZ, but she wanted to play for a D1 school and conference. I'm in my early 60's, my eyesight is now 20/20. It was 20/10 until I was 35 and then was 20/15 until I hit 52. My Dad has excellent eyesight and was a Navy Airman during the Korean war . He was an Electronics Airman, think rear seat Goose in top gun. Radar was relatively new then and the rear seat guy operated the guidance and jammer systems. My kid had awesome eyesight until puberty and acne. I guess the acne meds harm eyesight. But yes, these days airlines accept pilots with corrected vision, whether it's contacts (my kid) or Lasik surgery. She's in the Delta Propel program, where they pay for her flight hours and training. They have to sign an agreement to fly for one of their regional carriers for 2 years and then the main carrier for another two. Good time to be in a future airline position.

Absolutely a good time to be a pilot. When I realized that being a pilot was off the table for me, I set my sights on being a FA. But when I graduated from college, the economy was tanking and the airlines were not hiring. So I went off and did other things.

Yeah, people don't realize that most airlines require a college degree for FA's. Not commuter airlines, but the majors. Typically, foe Delta, when ever hiring is open, they have 5,000 applicants for every open FA position. Then, they go through training, 8 weeks straight, no leave, no outside time, of training. About 20-30% don't make the cut.
I could do their job for about 3 flight legs before I punched some PAX in the face.

Which political direction (any ?) does D.P. lean?

just curious.

She leans backward, for counterbalance.

...standing straight and looking down, she's never seen her toes...

I've never seen her toes, either, and I bet neither one of us cares.

She has always been very neutral, though I suspect she leans left. She has not publicly said that though, as far as I know. I think she sees political divisions as being dividing, and not uniting. She seems open to everyone.

She'd make a great Secretary of State or UN Ambassador. She does a ton of charity work in stealth mode. Amazon's Jeff Bezos gave her 100 million dollars to distribute as she sees fit. Yeah, she's a Rock Star.

I was thinking the same thing, that she would make a wonderful ambassador. Though I'm not sure that's what she wants to do.

Shirley Temple did a bang up job :)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/shirley-temple-black-second-act-diplomat-180980038/#:~:text=Over%20the%20next%20two%20decades,fall%20of%20the%20Communist%20regime.

She was a helluva woman.

I think nothing of Dolly as a "rock star". She is a COUNTRY star (at least in spirit) even when she strays into other genres.

Dolly's heyday was mostly before my time. I'm not a big fan of her music, but I'd say she's talented and deserves her fame. She supports literacy programs. No idea how good they are in practice but they sound good from what little I've heard.

As a teacher, I can vouch for her efforts.

summer Wrote:
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> As a teacher, I can vouch for her efforts.

I hope you're right, but I'm just very skeptical because so many of these charitable programs often turn out to be more than meets the eye. From what little I have heard, it is a cause close to her heart and not just a tax write off.

I would call Dolly the female version of Willie Nelson without the weed. Both are great songwriters who wrote hits for themselves and others. Both are cultural icons. Both have singing voices that are an acquired taste. I suppose that says something about country music fans. If fans wanted the voice they'd listen to opera instead of the Opry.

Dolly Parton was a successful country star. I think what she is doing now is stupid. It’s like Dolly, please go, your time is done.

What exactly is she doing that you think is stupid? She was inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She could run for Governor and be elected in a landslide. What have you done to even have your time is done? Please go.

Her recent collaborations include Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Elton John, and Sheryl Crow. We should all be doing as well as her in our old age. She doesn't tour anymore, but does the occasional concert.

Her makeup artist mentioned to Dolly there was a Dolly Parton look alike contest at an LA venue featuring drag queens. Dolly said something such as I would love to enter that. My recollection is she said wouldn't it be a hoot if I entered that?

The guy did her makeup. He added a fake mole or two. She wore a huge wig and competed in the contest.

She lost the contest! She mentioned this story on late night TV. I don't remember if it was Letterman or Leno. Dolly thought it was hilarious that she lost the contest to a guy in dress.

I too have thought of her as a country star and very successful at that. Hits like Jolene, Coat of many colors, 9 to 5, I will always love you, Islands in the Stream. If she wants to branch out into rock, why not? Who cares? None of my business. Her rockstar album is number 3 on the billboard 200 as of 12/3/2023.

Humanitarian, GLBTQ+ friendly. I love her. You go girl!

+1

I love "story songs" and Jolene is an all time favorite. I am not big on country in general but I do like Dolly.

Happy New Year OG :) I hope all is well with you. I think of you often. Lovely to see you around.