NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – January 19th marks the 80th birthday of a Tennessee legend.
Dolly Parton’s music made her a star, and her contributions can still be heard on the airwaves.
When you reach a certain level of stardom, just a single name is needed. And she is one of the biggest… Dolly.
“The first time I was introduced to Dolly Parton, I was nine or ten-years-old,” Shannon Sanders, the Executive Director of Creative at BMI, said.
Cris Lacy, the President of Warner Records Nashville added, “My mother had a 45 record. ‘9 to 5′ was on side A and I believe, ‘Sing for the Common Man’ was on side B. And my mom would play that constantly.”
Both Lacy and Sanders are titans in the music scene in Nashville. Lacy has a stable of entertainers that includes Kenny Chesney and Dan + Shay.
Sanders is a 3-time Grammy winner and two-time Emmy winner in his own right. He says Dolly has it all, “Everything about Dolly. Outside of being stunningly beautiful, she has one of the most unique singing voices ever recorded and outside of that, she is one of the most prolific songwriters that we’ve known.”
Last Spring, Dolly shared a glimpse of how she approaches songwriting.
“Well, I believe every songwriter wants to believe that they can write for the whole world and I write about people and situations,” Dolly told WSMV in Nashville.
“She’s everyone,” Lacy said. “She’s everyone in their struggles. She’s everyone in their triumphs. She leans into the human being. I don’t remember a song that she sings that’s vindictive or tear apart another human being.”
Take the song ‘I Will Always Love You,’ written by Dolly and remade by Whitney Houston into one of the greatest R&B songs of all time. Her songwriting shatters genres.
Pat Houston, the sister-in-law of Whitney Houston, said, “Dolly Parton knew exactly what she was doing. It’s a great song. Whitney felt the song. We are so grateful to Dolly still, with the connection she still has with the Houston’s.”
Sanders believes it wasn’t a single hit that made Parton so special.
“You take a song like ‘Jolene.’ It’s always been a classic. But then, to have it reimagined by Beyonce recently on her album in which she won a Grammy for not too long ago. It just shows the sustainability of Dolly’s music and the long trail of her legacy.”
And that legacy can be heard in artists on the radio every single day.
“One of the first ones I would hear her in is Leann Womack. The way that Leann sings. Now I hear her playfulness and her spirit and somewhat of her vocal in Lainey Wilson. And Emily Ann Roberts is certainly one of the most evocative of that true Dolly demeanor,” Lacy said.
In an industry that can often times be controversial, complex and cutthroat and simultaneously rewarding, Dolly Parton has become a master at being herself.
“There’s no weak spot. Pick anything about Dolly Parton and it’s a great template. Whether it’s her charity work or her inclusivity. Or her writing, her singing or her performing. Her jokes, her candor, her speaking. There’s nothing. There’s not a weak spot in Dolly Parton,” said Lacy.
“All of that hospitality. All that charm. All of that East Tennessee charm. And just for her to be able to sprinkle that East Tennessee charm on the world has been a blessing to all of us,” Sanders concluded.
Sanders also says that many don’t realize the impact Dolly has had on black music. And when you look at her music as a whole… even to this day, the impact is immeasurable.