Long live Dollyism! Why Dolly Parton is an example to us all

(Image credit: Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

Back in October, Dolly Parton addressed concerns about her poor health with a video: “I ain’t dead yet!” That sound you heard, says The Contrarian, was “300 million people collectively breathing a sigh of relief”. At a time “when it often feels like we’re on the brink of a second civil war, Parton’s physical well-being feels like nothing less than a matter of vital national security. Equally beloved by drag queens and MAGA diehards, she might be the only person in the country who would be greeted with a standing ovation if she graced the stage at either party’s convention.”

The relief in Memphis, where Tennessee state planners were preparing to mark Parton’s 80th birthday on 19 January by declaring it “Dolly Parton Day” in perpetuity, was palpable. And when the milestone day dawned, Parton didn’t disappoint, reports Billboard. “The iconic singer-songwriter shared a new version of her 1977 song, Light of a Clear Blue Morning, and some laughs” – declaring she hoped to live another 80 years. But “Oh Lord, I’ve outlived so many plastic surgeons…”

That Dolly is back, after a horrible 2025, is a streak of light in wintery America thanks to her unofficial status as “the great unifier”. Her singular ability to bridge divides was the subject of an acclaimed 2019 podcast, Dolly Parton’s America, but her own life was shaken to the roots last March when her “devoted husband” of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died, says The Guardian. A businessman, who had owned an asphalt-paving business in Nashville, he assiduously avoided the spotlight. “A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me,” Parton observed in 1984. She later revealed he was the inspiration for her 1973 classic, Jolene – a song about a flirty bank teller, who had “got this terrible crush on my husband… It was kind of like a running joke between us.”

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Dean has in fact always been fully entwined in the Parton rags-to-riches legend. The couple met outside the Wishy Washy laundromat on the day she moved to Nashville at 18. Born dirt poor, one of 12 children on a small Tennessee tobacco farm in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in 1946, Dolly sang and made up songs “as soon as she could talk”, notes the Financial Times, getting radio gigs as a child thanks to an uncle who was also a performer.

At 13, she secured a slot at a country music mecca, the Grand Ole Opry, and was introduced on stage by Johnny Cash. “Decades of hit songs and movies followed.” Parton has always had a talent for staying relevant, matching it with a shrewd business brain. Almost from the get-go, she took control of her publishing rights – a first in the patriarchal society of Nashville. Parton’s “pretty lil’ Miss Dolly” schtick encouraged many people to underestimate her. The Parton empire, worth more than $500million, includes a theme park, Dollywood, which is estimated to make a direct economic impact of $1.8billion a year in Tennessee.

Dolly Parton 'ain’t nobody’s fool'

A new book, Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton, reports on some darker moments in the singer’s life, says the Los Angeles Times. A nervous breakdown in 1982, fuelled by health issues and a career slump, resulted in bouts of alcoholism and depression. But Parton’s commitment to “God’s plan” has always pushed her out of crisis “to greater heights – and greater giving”. In 2020, she contributed $1million towards the development of a Covid vaccine. But the cornerstone of her philanthropy is her Imagination Library, which in 2024 reached the milestone of having mailed 264 million free books to children.

Parton’s “larger-than-life persona makes her a great entertainer. Her intelligence and authenticity make her an icon”, says Salon. Famously, she has never declared a political allegiance, carefully picking her way through the culture wars with winning self-deprecation. Yet she has always used her music to call out injustice and tell stories about the downtrodden. “Parton’s core message has never wavered,” says The Contrarian. “She believes in allowing people to be who they are, and treating them with respect. Long live Dolly – and Dollyism.”

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Jane writes profiles for MoneyWeek and is city editor of The Week. A former British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) editor of the year, she cut her teeth in journalism editing The Daily Telegraph’s Letters page and writing gossip for the London Evening Standard – while contributing to a kaleidoscopic range of business magazines including Personnel Today, Edge, Microscope, Computing, PC Business World, and Business & Finance.