For today's stroll you are going to have to go to the back of your closet and dig out your highest heels. ( yep, the ones we all know you kept) And do whatever it takes to give yourself some big hair because today we are going to go say

"Hello Dolly!"
(You fellows can come along too, high heels are optional)

"I'm not offended by dumb blonde jokes because I know that I'm not dumb. I also know I'm not blonde."

Dolly Parton
"I was the first woman to burn my bra -- it took the fire department four days to put it out."
Dolly Parton

I am hoping you all enjoy this tribute to Dolly Parton, I've always thought she had the voice of an angel. She's a combination of Southern charm and down-home fun.

Dolly Rebecca Parton, the fourth of twelve children, was born January 19th, 1946 in Sevierville, and raised in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, just next to the Smoky Mountains National Forest.
Music was an important part of her Appalachian family's life. Dolly's half-Cherokee mother sang and played guitar, while her grandfather was a fiddling preacher. Of her eleven siblings, four have also found their way into the music industry.


Dolly received a guitar from her grandfather when she was nine, and she also learned to play the banjo. Her start in show business came when she was just 12 years old, as she became a regular on WIVK Knoxville's The Cas Walker Farm and Home Hour, a television variety show. She made her first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 13, in 1959.

Her first single, "Puppy Love," was released on the independent Goldband label that same year. With the potential for stardom, Parton moved to country music's capital, Nashville, following her high-school graduation in 1964.


Despite the failure of her debut album with Mercury Records, It's Sure Gonna Hurt, and Mercury subsequently dropping her, Dolly Parton and a couple of country hits on the Monument label attracted the attention of country star Porter Wagoner. He invited her to appear as a regular on The Porter Wagoner Show, his television variety program, in 1967. Together, they forged a successful musical partnership over the next seven years.

Wagoner convinced RCA to sign his new partner to the label. The single "Dumb Blonde" was followed by her debut album for RCA, appropriately entitled Hello, I'm Dolly (1967). She scored her first solo No. 1 country smash with "Joshua" in 1971. That same year, she released what would become her signature song, "Coat of Many Colors," which made the top five. More country hits followed, including 1974 chart-toppers like "Jolene," which became a surprise top ten hit in the UK, and "I Will Always Love You", which was later covered by Whitney Houston for The Bodyguard soundtrack in 1992.


By 1975, Dolly had left her singing partner of the past seven years. Establishing herself as a solo artist proved no problem for the flamboyant performer, as she won the CMA's Female Vocalist of the Year Award in 1975 and the following year. She hosted her own syndicated music television show, Dolly, which premiered in 1976. She even scored her first big pop crossover hit with "Here You Come Again" in late 1977. The song topped the country chart for five weeks, and reached No. 3 on the pop charts.

The album of the same name went on to sell over a million copies, and earned Parton another CMA for Entertainer of the Year, plus her first Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.


Dolly Parton made her big-screen debut in the comedy 9 to 5 (1980), starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. She wrote and performed the film's title song, which became her first No. 1 pop single. The song also earned her an Oscar nomination, and two Grammys in 1981. In 1982, Parton appeared in another successful comedy; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, starred Burt Reynolds, one of the leading box-office draws of the day. Parton sang her hit "I Will Always Love You" in the film, and the reissued single made the pop chart the second time around.

The following year, she teamed up with the most popular male country crossover star of the '80s: Kenny Rogers. The duo recorded a song written by the Bee Gees, "Islands In The Stream," which topped the Billboard pop chart in the autumn of 1983. Dolly starred in and wrote the music for Rhinestone (1984), yet another comedy, this time co-starring Sylvester Stallone. Once Upon A Christmas, an album of duets with Kenny Rogers, was also released in 1984, and became another platinum seller.



Dolly opened a music theme park called "Dollywood" in her native Smoky Mountains, in 1986. The park has been a huge success for the singer/songwriter's multimillion dollar business, known as Dolly Parton Enterprises.
She gave what many consider her best acting performance to date in Steel Magnolias, also starring Sally Field and Julia Roberts. (One of my all time favorite movies) She also earned praise for her role in Straight Talk (1992), with James Woods.
With the advent of "new country" in the early '90s, the popularity of established performers like Dolly Parton began to decline. To help counter this trend, she recorded Honky Tonk Angels (1993) with two other old-school country girls, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. The album received critical praise, and became Parton's best-seller since Trio.

Her autobiography, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business was published in 1994. More country albums, including Treasures (1996) and Hungry Again (1998) rounded out the '90s. Parton reunited with Ronstadt and Harris for Trio II in 1999. The collaboration gained positive reviews and the country divas won the Grammy for Country Collaboration with Vocals for the single "After the Goldrush." In September 1999, Dolly was inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame.

She revisited her Appalachian "mountain music" roots with The Grass Is Blue, which won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 2001. She won a seventh Grammy in 2002, this time for Female Country Vocal Performance for "Shine." And shine she does.




Coat of Many C o l o r s

Written by Dolly Parton

Until we meet again..... Kick your boots up!!


If you'd like to return to the Main Page, Just click below.



Strolling Down Memory Lane Main Page
My Compliments to Candy on Dolly Parton Stroll