Digging deep with Dolly

Becoming Dolly Parton this Halloween

On Saturday night I became Dolly Parton for Halloween. I had months of obsessing over the costume after a Dollywood trip. In 2019 I was proud of my Freddie Mercury attempt, but this time but I wanted something completely different.

I partially wanted to become Dolly as she looks nothing like me, so I knew everyone would get a kick out of it, particularly if I put in effort, which I did. But also over the years I’ve developed an affinity for her, beyond the music, beyond the style.

After I visited Dollywood, I wrote in my Newcastle Herald travel piece that the woman has the power to build bridges, make people laugh, and (I'm going out on a limb here) potentially create peace on earth. There’s something about the way she refuses to take herself too seriously, the way she offers love and compassion to all kinds of people, even her humble love of butterflies, I don’t know, I just feel like if everyone tried to be a little bit more like her the world might be a better place. Is this cheesy? I mean yes, but we’re talking about Dolly here, so I guess that’s part of the deal.

Democrats and Republicans both love her. I remember my Gran talking about how much she loved how Dolly never forgot where she came from. She didn’t abandon the poor people of Appalachia, hell she built a theme park and employed them. She got rich and, as my Gran also pointed out, she gives God all the credit. Yes she’s a god-fearin’, police lovin’, troops supportin’ old fashioned country lady, but feminists love her too! She supported research to make Covid vaccines, she had no problem saying black lives matter, and the gay community adores her and she loves them. Very pro gay marriage as well.

"Why can't they be as miserable as us heterosexuals in their marriages?” she’s quoted, lol.

She should freaking run for president.

I love her because of how she grew up in the woods of Appalachia, dirt poor with lots of siblings eating fried squirrels and chasing butterflies, but she knew she wanted to be a singer songwriter and she let nothing deter her. She nearly starved in Nashville getting her start, and she had no generous relatives or financial backing of any kind. How many musicians today can say the same thing? Sorry to get all Boomer and “back in my day”, ha.

Yes she created a look and a fashion which I appreciate, but unless it’s Halloween, don’t dwell on this too much. Her songs are very important to her. Her songs, when you read the lyrics are so clever and sometimes deeply, beautifully disturbing. A documentary I watched on her highlighted the song “The Bridge” and the most recent one I’m into is “Joshua” as it reminds of my very own boyfriend, Joshua. (Also Dolly’s husband Carl Dean is famous for not being famous, keeping a low profile, which is interesting given Dolly’s larger than life persona. I wonder what their life at home is like. She speaks about it bit in a Barbara Walters Interview.)

Everyone loves the song “Jolene,” but Dolly wrote “I will always love you” before Whitney Houston made it famous, and she wrote "9-5” in exchange for acting in the movie with the same title (which she was fabulous in), and in many ways the song made the movie. The woman reckons she’s written 3,000 songs in her life! How prolific! I want to write that many poems before I die.

Steel Magnolias is an insightful southern movie of its time and Dolly’s character as Truvy the hairdresser is so crucial to making it great. She’s known for playing characters similar to herself, but she’s amazing at it. She’s famous for lots of zingers like “no such thing as natural beauty” and “I have a strict policy that nobody cries alone in my presence.” I love how she has so many clever one liners that make us laugh but also make us think a little.

Although she’s a serious career woman who has relentlessly pursued her dreams, she also self deprecates and gets herself into mischief. In the book What Would Dolly Do by Lauren Marino the author recaps a story of Dolly and a girlfriend outdoing each other in two separate cars as they drive through different stoplights at night, flashing each other, mooning each other and then Dolly gets out, stark naked and wanders around the car causing everyone to die of laughter! How fun; it reminds me of something I would do. I want to follow my dreams but not at the expense of having fun. (I’m not quite at Dolly’s level of fame though, so maybe I need to better examine other aspects of her success.)

Dolly gives generously to all kinds of charitable causes. Her own charity, Dolly Parton Imagination Library is dedicated to kids learning to read, and as a writer this resonates. I mean, this woman keeps her flaws buried deep!

There’s so much more I could write about why I love Dolly, and I hope I did her justice this Halloween. My outfit needed more sparkles, and I probably could have used a guitar as a prop, but regardless, I loved pretending to be Dolly, trying to talk like Dolly, and summoning her joyful approach to life. I hope I remember keep her spirit with me long after the makeup washes away.