Existing comment:
From http://www.pbs.org/capitolfourth/concert.html , "Dolly Parton: Throughout a career that has spanned four decades, Dolly Parton has contributed countless treasures to the world of music entertainment; songs such as Jolene, Coat of Many Colors and I Will Always Love You; acting performances such as her Oscar-nominated film debut in 9 to 5, as well as roles in motion pictures like The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Steel Magnolias; her 1994 autobiography, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business; and her Smoky Mountain heritage-preserving entertainment park located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, just miles from where she grew up. Dolly Parton's remarkable life began very humbly. Born on a farm in Sevier County, Tennessee, Dolly is the fourth of twelve children. By the age of ten, she was already performing professionally in nearby Knoxville, on both television and radio. She moved to Nashville the day after she graduated from high school, and by age 21, she was on her way to stardom when Porter Wagoner hired her to join the cast of his popular syndicated television show, right around the time she had her first big hit single - Dumb Blonde. Dolly never looked back. In the 1970's, as her musical horizons expanded to encompass the deeply rooted sounds of traditional country (My Tennessee Mountain Home) and the contemporary ones of progressive country (Light of a Clear Blue Morning), Parton's audience expanded as well. With 1977's breakthrough hit Here You Come Again, she successfully erased the line between country and pop music. Over the last twenty years, through often exhausting and widely varied film, television, concert and recording work, the woman once dubbed the "hillbilly Mae West" has remained an internationally renowned superstar grounded by a deep-seated and humbly rooted sense of tradition and place. " |