Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton (b. January 19th, 1946)
a.k.a. Dolly Rebecca Parton, Dolly Rebecca Parton

EARS ON THE SPARROW

Dolly Parton Goes Home to a Blue Mountain
Dolly Parton has had enough careers for half a dozen entertainers. Getting her start in a hit country duo with Porter Wagoner, Parton segued a solo country career marked by such self-penned signature songs as "Jolene" and "Coat of Many Colors" into pop success with such hits as "Here You Come Again" and the Kenny Rogers duet "Islands in the Stream," and hit Hollywood with lead roles in 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias. Then of course, there's a business empire that includes the Dollywood theme park and a film production company. In 1999, Parton took on a new role, that of roots revivalist, with her first all-acoustic album, The Grass Is Blue. Backed by a team of bluegrass all-stars, Parton earned a pair of Grammy nominations. Parton's latest release, Little Sparrow is more expansive stylistically while maintaining its predecessor's eloquently simple approach. While in Los Angeles working on the casting of her next movie, Parton spoke with Barnes & Noble.com's Kerry Dexter about the disc.

Barnes & Noble.com: Rather than being another straight bluegrass album, Little Sparrow covers a lot of ground stylistically.

Dolly Parton: I was very proud of the success of The Grass Is Blue and how the bluegrass community accepted it, but I didn't want to get pigeonholed into thinking that if I just did bluegrass, I wouldn't have the liberty to do a few other things. So I just took the liberty to grab a song here and there that I liked.

Barnes & Noble.com: Like "Shine"?

Dolly Parton: That's by a rock group called Collective Soul. My husband and I listen to a variety of music, and if I'm not playing stuff around the house he is. That was one he put on, and one day just listening to that, I thought, 'Wow! That could be broke down a little bit to where it's not so heavy, and done a little different way, and that would be good!'

Barnes & Noble.com: There's a Cole Porter song on there too.

Dolly Parton: "I Get a Kick Out of You." I always thought what a pretty song it is. I thought it would lend itself real well to fiddles, and maybe done up-tempo a bit. A good song is a good song.

Barnes & Noble.com: Were you looking for a particular sound on the album?

Dolly Parton: Well, I knew I wanted it to be acoustic, and I had kind of an idea of an Irish sound, (with) big open chords. So I purposely picked songs like "In the Sweet By and By," and "Down From Dover," which lent themselves to that. And I redid "My Blue Tears," which is a song of mine that I always had such faith in, that's always been such a favorite. I've done it over and over in different ways and at different times. Then when I got ready to look for things and to write things that would fit with this Irish thought that we had, that one just popped out into my mind again.

Barnes & Noble.com: "Down From Dover," which is about an abandoned unwed mother, is a song you've recorded before too.

Dolly Parton: I never felt it got its fair shot, back when I first did it. It was too controversial then, a woman out of wedlock, nobody would play it. Today, good Lord, you can get away with anything! So I said, I'm gonna do it again.

Barnes & Noble.com: What's your songwriting process like?

Dolly Parton: A lot of different ways, really. I write when I'm cooking, when I'm taking a bath -- just about anywhere. I love to take a couple of weeks off to write, that's the best, but I can write anywhere. I write a lot when I travel, I have my bus which is a great place for me to work. And I write when I'm on the plane, too, because it passes time.

Barnes & Noble.com: Whose music are you listening to these days?

Dolly Parton: To be honest with you, I don't listen that much to music, because I'm so busy creating it. But a lot of what I listen to is stuff I've had for years -- George Jones, old Frank Sinatra records, Otis Redding -- or Collective Soul. Of the new people, one that I love is Alison Krauss. I'm crazy over her and whenever I get a chance to sing with her, I do.

Barnes & Noble.com: What kind of music influenced you when you were starting out?

Dolly Parton: Well, when I was a kid we listened to the radio, and of course you grow up on people like Hank Williams. He's one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and it's amazing how he's stood the test of time in that respect. I loved people like Lefty Frizzell, Rose Maddox and the Maddox Brothers. I loved bluegrass music too. When I was ten years old I started singing on a show on the radio [on WVIK in Knoxville, Tennessee] and a lot of bluegrass artists would come through there, (and) I'd work as a regular with them. And then in my own shows when I was a kid starting out I used to sing a lot of bluegrass, too. So this is not music that is new to me. My music now, it's really not bluegrass. People ask me what I'd call it and I kind of coined a little term for it, blue mountain music. I believe it really captures the best of all the things I've lived and written and sung. You know how every person thinks their child is the prettiest, their home team is the best, and every singer/songwriter thinks that the album they've just finished is the best they've ever done. I feel that way too.

Kerry Dexter

Awards & Nominations