Dolly Parton has had an iconic career in country music spanning nearly five decades. She continues to perform and record new music, drawing huge crowds globally. Her marriage of over 50 years to Carl Dean and her dedication to her career have kept her vibrant. Her new album "Pure and Simple" celebrates her anniversary and focuses on the simplicity of love through straightforward songs. At 70, Parton shows no signs of slowing down and feels she needs to continue responsibly managing her successful legacy through more music.

1. XXX • xxx
D
olly Partons career spans almost five decades. Generation upon
generation have grown up loving her music. Her sound has a timeless
quality; her voice, style and iconic status keep fans in awe of her. An
international treasure, she performed at the prestigious Glastonbury
festival here in the UK in June 2014 and drew a huge crowd of over 180,000
people to the stage for her debut there. Iconic songs like 9 to 5 and Jolene cast a
shining light upon country music and her fans span not just country lovers, but
music lovers in general. Following her performance at Glastonbury in 2014 her
album BLUE SMOKE went to number two in the UK album chart, a resounding
success for an artist that’s spent almost fifty years in the music business.
I spoke to Dolly ahead of the release of her new album titled PURE AND
SIMPLE. The album celebrates the simplicity of her early recordings, alongside
the personal celebration of her fifty year wedding anniversary with Carl
Dean, her beloved husband since May 1966.
"We weren’t really counting and then all of a sudden, we said ‘can
you believe we’re gonna be married fifty years this coming year’.
We were pretty proud of that and being in this business, that we
made it that long... So we decided we’d just renew our vows and
do a simple sweet thing. We have our own chapel in our house
and we just made it fun. We just got in our little RV after work and
ran down to Ringgold Georgia where we got married fifty years
before and spent the night. Then just came back home and started
the next fifty!"
A marriage isn’t an easy thing to keep alive for normal folk like you
and I, let alone one of the most successful music artists so I ask
Dolly, what makes a successful marriage?
"I make a joke and say the fact that I’ve been gone for about
forty-seven years of that! The fact that we’re not in each others
faces all the time – we’re not in the same business – it helps a
lot. We don’t argue and fight over that. I’m interested in
what he does when I’m gone, he’s interested in hearing
what I’ve been doing and we have a lot in common.
We’re very compatable and he’s got a great sense of
humour and so do I. We have a lot of fun and we just
have a great respect for one another – we’re just
good buddies on top of everything else!"
Dolly Parton
Laura Bethell interviews Queen of Country,
Dolly Parton following the recent release of
new latest album PURE AND SIMPLE
The Queen of Country
28 Maverick
copyrighthand
m
edia
ltd.

2. Maverick 29
DOLLY PARTON • THE QUEEN OF COUNTRY
When discussing her ongoing hectic schedule, Dolly says "we
work a couple of weeks and we’re off a couple of weeks, so
we’re working June to December. It’s the biggest tour I’ve been
on in a long time in the United States and into Canada, so we’re
having fun!"
Dolly has no intentions of slowing down, and is very
determined to make her years so far in the industry count for
something much bigger. "I have spent all my life time trying to
build a career and where I am now, I’ve been very, very lucky. The
dreams come true and every dream kinda creates a new dream
and ways to branch out and expand on that particular thing. I
make a joke but it’s the truth that I’ve dreamed myself into a
corner and now I have to be responsible for it - I have to be there
and be on top of everything. I mean, I have wonderful help, I have
great people in all the departments in all the companies that I
have, but I still have to be the one to say yay or nay... I think it
creates the energy - it keeps me young, it keeps me from dwelling
on being old and I ain’t got time for old."
With fans that span generations, from grandparents to
grandchildren all attending one of her shows at any time, her
iconic status is unpresedented. Her songs are written like stories,
as any good country song should be, and for her new album, they
are all expressing the various dimensions of love.
"You know a lot of my stories are borne out of my own
emotions - I’ve written things I’ve gone through or things that I
see people that I love and know go through, and I feel for them.
So I’m able to put into words what they cannot, but I think my
songs are pretty basic. They’re just about life and love... in an
ordinary way. I’m not one of them really deep writers that you
can’t figure out what I’m saying. It’s not abstract, my stuff’s pretty
straight ahead and I think its easily understood. A lot of them
that have been the biggest hits like Jolene, I Will Always Love
You, they’re very sing-able also. So I think people do relate to
that. That I’m a country girl, that I have that real you know rags
to riches Cinderella kind of story I think people relate to that too
so it just goes to show dreams can come true and I think people
respond to that."
Unafraid of telling people she’s a simple girl, Dolly Parton is one
of the most successful female country artists of all time. She’s used
this persona and her eventual success to inspire all women, no
matter their background or story.
"Yeah I’ve kinda always encouraged people to be their best self.
I say every night on stage you should always be proud of your
family, never be ashamed of your background, your religion, who
you are, how you are or how you were brought up. You should just
embrace who you are cus that’s how you are and that’s who you
are... I like to think I’ve been a good example for women not only,
but for people. Just hard working people with a dream but
certainly I’m always impressed and proud when women especially
say that I’ve been a great inspiration."
The recording itself for PURE AND SIMPLE took Dolly back to a
simple style of recording, with little studio time in comparison to
her other records. I asked, why was it important to her to take that
step at this stage in her career?
"Well actually I didn’t have time! I wasn’t planning to do an
album when I put this PURE AND SIMPLE album together. I was just
gonna be doing a tour but then I thought I need a record... Most
people do a CD and then they name it something and that’s the
name of the tour, but we had just named our tour. I didn’t even
have an album and I thought well I don’t have a lot of time, I don’t
wanna spend a lot of time. So what am I gonna write this about?
So, I thought about my fiftieth anniversary and how a love album
would be good - just make it clear and simple, not so complicated. I
wrote all these songs and then produced them myself."
There are some stand out tracks on this album including I’m 16,
which is a very vibrant track.
"You see a lot of people in old age homes and old couples - but
you know, you never really know that you’re old. You know the
numbers are there but inside you feel great. I wrote this particular
song. I have one of my sister’s that I’m very close to she had a
couple of really failed relationships a couple of marriages that fell
apart. She was just so heart broken and thought it was just not in
the cards for her to ever find true love. Well sure enough not so
very long ago she met someone that had been through the same
thing she had. They fell head over heels in love and they just act
like teenagers - you would think that they were sixteen years old.
So that’s where I got the idea and I thought, well how cute is that.
They’re an older couple but they’re the cutest thing and I just
thought ‘oh my god they think they’re sixteen’."
As I left Dolly to continue with her promo day, her work ethic
stayed with me. At the age of 70, she’s showing no signs of
slowing and feels that given the amount of time she’s dedicated to
building her legacy, she’s not ready to walk away just yet. I have
no doubt, we’re yet to see many more fabulous albums and tours
from the Queen of Country. Laura Bethell •
copyrighthand
m
edia
ltd.