Dolly Parton: Queen of Everything
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loomideodorant.com. That's code bunny XO at L U M E D E O D O R A N T.com. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Hey guys, I need to ask you a question. I want to know why in the hell are you not on Patreon? I don't think you guys even realize how much content we have on Patreon. Let me break it down for you. We have the bunny XO show. We have meet the defaults. We have propaganda. We have more shows that we're adding. And

And not to mention, we have the visuals of the podcast. Head over to www.patreon.com backslash dumb blonde podcast and sign up. You guys are going to be pleasantly surprised. So with this podcast, you know, Dolly had, she's a workhorse like I am. And before she had done the podcast, she had already done three other things. The podcast was the last of her things of the day. And we got allotted 45 minutes with her. And, um,

her and I just started talking and like she had some of the most incredible answers and like, you know, when Dolly speaks, you don't cut her off. So I didn't get to finish the entire interview, but Dolly had so much fun that they're bringing me back for a part two. It was incredible. And I can't, I'm just so grateful and so thankful.

Is this thing on? Hello babies, welcome back to another episode of Dumb Blonde. Today is so special to me because I started this podcast six years ago and when I named this podcast, I named it after a specific song, um,

that was tongue in cheek but also was an oxymoron to my life but also a woman who I have admired and

just patterned my entire life after the iconic, the queen of not just country, but the queen of everything, Miss Dolly Parton is here today. Well, hello. Now we should put an S on the dumb blonde. I'm telling you. We've got two of us here today. Will you be my co-host? I'll be your co-host. I would love for you to be my... If you'd love that, I would love it. I would love for you to be my co-host. We've got a bunny and a squirrel. I love it. I love it so much. Both are fast, though. Very slippery suckers, right? Yeah, very. Very, very.

This has been something that I have pretty much manifested since I started this podcast. Everybody has always asked me, who is your dream guest? And there's two of you. Dolly Parton and Joyce Myers are the two people that I have said that I have wanted since the beginning. And sitting here with you today is such an honor. And I just want to say thank you for making time for me today. Well, I'm happy to do it. We love you.

you oh I love you too and my husband loves you too well we love your husband very much but anytime I see you I see him and vice versa so yeah we we love you both you make a great couple thank you but you're great on your own and you're no dumb blonde I can tell you that thank you and neither one of us are though right isn't that just I don't know about me but I know you're okay

Well, I mean the testimony to your life is pretty much shows how brilliant of a woman you are and I kind of want to dive into that with you. Starting with I want to paint a picture for my viewers at home for some people who might not even know your backstory. I'd like to start, you know, with your childhood and where you grew up and stuff like that if you could tell me a little bit about that. Well, I grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee.

Way up in the hills, actually, I was actually born in a little cabin on the Little Pigeon River. My dad was a sharecropper for a while, and then eventually we moved over to the little place we call Locust Ridge, where you hear me talk a lot about my Tennessee mountain home. But there's 12 of us in all. Mama had 12 kids and six boys and six girls. We were pretty even. And we were just country people just trying to scratch a living out of...

Out of dirt up there in the hills. But I was blessed to have a good mom and dad, and they managed pretty good to work with nothing to try to, you know, to raise a house full of kids. And none of us wound up in jail. None of us had to get married. Yeah.

So all in all, I think they did a pretty good job. But we were just, a lot of folks in our area were poor. That's just the way it was in that area. But it's been one of the greatest things, really, that I've carried with me, all my memories of my childhood. And it's made me appreciate

and people more than if I had been brought up a different way, I think. Yes, ma'am. I always feel like harder childhoods make for great adulthoods. It sets you up for just a lifetime of knowing that you have to work for what you want and going after your dreams. And I feel like you dream a little bit bigger, too. I think you do. I think you are.

also kind of can relate to things more. You also, because if you're like us, you stay so close together as a family in order to try to make it. And I think that in itself gives you a strength that you wouldn't have had you not had

to know what it's like to work together, to make things work and to keep a family together. - Yes, ma'am, absolutely. A lot of your songs are deeply personal and some of them reference your father's tough love and you've also spoken about your mom's faith, how she was extremely religious.

Do you feel that the tough love approach and her religious views is kind of what made you so independent or like, dare I say, rebellious?

- Well, I don't think I'm rebellious as much as I'm just strong. I get my work ethic from my dad and I get my spirituality and just my faith, I mean my faith but also just my creativity from my mom's side of the family 'cause they were all musical. Now dad's people worked hard and dad was not a tough dad. He was strong though, he was kinda like that. We knew we better watch out. - He wasn't one to play with.

No, he wasn't going to beat us to death or anything like that. But we weren't afraid of Mama. You know, we'd get by with anything with her. But she would say, you know, you couldn't push her over the edge. She'd say, okay, now, that's enough. But my dad, we—but I think that that was a good combination with Mama's faith and with Dad's—

that it made us really all pretty well-balanced kids, I think. I love that. I love that a lot. The respect that you have for your parents still after all these years is admirable also. Yeah, well, I loved my family. I still do. I stay as close as I can to them. Certainly if I don't see them as often as I'd love to, but they're always in my heart, and I always carry home with me wherever I go, and I write so many songs in order to...

Well, it comes natural to me, but I often do it just to keep all that straight and keep that still present. 'Cause it's so easy and I'm sure you know, living out in this big world, you can just go any way.

whether it be right or wrong. Yes, ma'am. You can go left and right and wrong. Yes. But it's like if you keep that thing that you remember as a child, that faith, I keep that very – I'm a big person on faith and keeping that strength because that's my creative energy and my spiritual energy is the thing that keeps me motivated, keeps me strong, keeps me from falling through the cracks. Yes.

Keeps you grounded. In this crazy world, yeah. I always say that. I'm like, whenever you're on your knees, you're in the best position to pray. It is literally like that has been the only thing that has gotten me through any hard times in my life is being able to call on Jesus and be like, all right, big homie, I know we got this. I know you got this for me. Speaking about family and you being so close with your brothers and sisters, um,

Everybody knows you as Dolly the Icon, but how did they know you before all of this? Like, if they could describe you, how would they describe the Dolly that they grew up with? Well, I was just another one of those little ragged-ass kids, you know, up there in the Smokies, you know, in the mountains. But we all loved the music. I took it more serious, I think, because my Uncle Bill, one of my mom's brothers, he took a great interest in me because he saw me

paying more attention to it than maybe some of the others did, 'cause I was always trying to learn all the chords on a guitar, any kind of an instrument laying around.

And so they knew me as somebody that's going to offer to do their chores if they'll come help me sing on a song or if they'll add some background or help me work up a background part that I thought of. I remember once I had when Pig Latin, when I was in school, somebody came up with Pig Latin. I never learned how to speak that. Well, I did because I was fascinated with anything different.

Can you tell me a song? I only learned to do it. Yeah, I'm going to sing you a song in Piglet. But anyway, so I came up with a song called Friendliest Enemy, and I wanted the backgrounds to be like she was my best friend to go with that in the background. So it was like, Ishe, azwe, ame, espe, enfre, ishe, azwe, ame, espe, enfre, ooh.

And that meant she was my best friend. But the song was, she's the friendliest enemy I believe ever did see. And she'd better get my baby off her mind. E'shay, Osway, I'm a S-bay and pray. So anyway. That's a hit, darling. I had to get my sisters because they had to learn it. Yeah.

You know, they had to learn all that. And I had to offer to do their chores for a week or two, you know, for them to take the time to do it and just make them do it. So, you know, that kind of stuff. So they knew me as somebody that was always singing, always writing, always, you know, fidgety. I couldn't stay still. You know, I was just kind of.

Always full of energy in life. But we all loved each other. We all had our own personalities. We all loved each other for the way we were, and that's how we still are. Some of us are a good mix. Well, we're all a good mix, but a lot of them are more like mama's people, or some are more like dad's. But I was a really good mix between the two, and I love that. Mm-hmm.

That is perfect. And I really think you need to release that song in Pigland. Start a new trend again. The kids will love it. We actually did it up as one of the shows at Dollywood when I was telling my life story. So we worked it in a couple of years ago at the Dolly show. And my nieces got such kick having to learn to sing it up there on the show. But everybody was singing it.

because everybody tried to learn that little part. I love it. I was so jealous of the people who could do Pig Latin because I just couldn't do it. I just could not catch on to it or how to do it. So I'm just fascinated that you can... Well, I was a pig, so I learned Pig Latin. Stop it right now. Oh, I was. I was Farmer's Daughter.

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So you, circling back to your family, you helped raise, being from 12 children, you guys all took turns raising a baby, right? And the family, the oldest ones did. That is what I had read. And you had one specifically, your brother Larry, that you helped raise. Yes.

Can we touch base on that whole situation a little bit? Well, I think, let me clear up a little bit. Okay. We all had, I have a sister and two brothers older than me. Yes. And there's eight kids younger. But we, Mama had so many kids, there was only 18 months, two years difference in all of our ages. Mom and Daddy married when Mama was 15. She had her first baby at 16. And so they were just born one right after another. Right.

Any older child had to help with whoever was coming along. But the one that was going to be my baby was little Larry. He didn't live that long, actually. And, you know, he died at birth. But I'd follow Mama around when she was pregnant the whole time. She said, that was going to be mine. I'd sing to it, and I'd kiss on the belly. And, you know, couldn't wait for my baby to come, but he didn't make it. And it just crushed me because that was when I—

You know, I didn't understand about death and all of that. So that was a real hit for me at that age that I had lost my baby. I thought it was some...

I had a guilt thing about it somehow that I'd done something wrong. But I think any child that goes through a thing like that. But we all grieved over him, not just me, but I more than the others because he was supposed to be mine. I was picturing how I was going to rock him and how I was going to sing him my songs and all that. But we loved all the kids, and we all helped with all the kids. Yeah.

You've spoken about the influence of your family. So would you say that Larry's spirit and the memory of him has continued to impact you both personally and professionally? Because after that, he passed away when you were nine, correct? And then at 10 is when you like started performing and kind of like, I don't know, I feel like maybe it was...

kind of like a push? Was that your way of dealing with the pain? - No, no, I don't think that had anything to do with it. I was so musically oriented anyway and I had my dreams. It did take me a while. I was so depressed as a little kid over that. Took me a while to kind of overcome that. I mean, you know, weeks.

you know, months kind of. - Of course. - Which is why I really wasn't all that interested in stuff, but I don't think that had anything to do with the rest of my life. It just taught me about grief, you know, how we all have to learn those things at some age. And so that was, you know, that was a real hard hit.

But no, after I got over the grief of that and I moved on, I knew he was in heaven. And if Mama could handle it, certainly I could, that kind of thing. But I just was ready to go on. And my Uncle Bill was pushing me on. And he saw my desire and my dreams. And so he would take me around to different local things to sing and on local radio and TV.

But all of those things help to make up a human being, all those memories of the bad and the good. You know, I think that just all, you don't even know what parts they really play, the little things that happen. It just either, if nothing else, it makes your heart tender or you know how you have to protect certain things. And it teaches you got to know about those things. Yes, ma'am. I couldn't agree more.

So, you know, at 10 years old, you're starting to work with Uncle Bill and you guys are going around, you know, you're performing and stuff like that. At 10 years old, a lot of kids are still figuring out who they are. How did you find your confidence to stand out and perform at such a young age like that? Well, I was always writing songs. I was always able to rhyme and Mama was always there.

And there was always so much commotion in a house with that many kids. Oh, I can imagine. And none of us really got any real special attention unless we were in trouble or something. You were going to get called out or something. But I learned early on, Mama was always fascinated. And when I'd sing these songs that I'd written, I would hear people talk. I'd hear stories. So I was writing songs at 8.

seven, eight, nine years old about people getting killed in the war and things that I'd never seen her done. But I was able to rhyme and write. And Mama would, she would always, I noticed early on that I'd get more attention because of that. And, of course, everybody wants to be paid attention to. Everybody wants to be special. So when somebody would come to our house, Mama would often say, Ronnie, get your guitar.

And then she'd say, whoever was there, I want you to hear this thing this little thing wrote. I want you to hear this song this little thing wrote. And so I'd be really just singing my song. And I was getting all that extra attention, which is making some of the other kids jealous because they weren't doing it. But they didn't work as hard as I did. But learning them chords, I had little calluses on my little fingers, you know, cut deep. They were hard. They hardened. I had to.

I had to really learn it until it hardens those calluses for you to play. So I took the time to do a lot of the things that some of the younger ones weren't willing to do. So I just saw that that was, and I got the confidence from Mama bragging on me, and I knew that I could do something that some of them couldn't, you know, playing the guitar and all that.

But I just, and then my Uncle Bill, he took great pride in me. And any time somebody would tell me, oh, you're going to be good, you're this, I just kind of took that. And my personality was very, you know, susceptible to that kind of stuff.

Do you feel like you're an old soul because you were able to relate to those songs of like people losing people in the war and stuff like that? Like to be 10 years old and writing songs like that, like you would have to resonate with them in some way. Well, I'm just very perceptive and I had the gift of rhyme, as I mentioned, and I had the gift of song. And so I would just hear things and you can always, you know, I could kind of take a story from one other thing and I could,

a few things around. So I didn't feel like I was necessarily an old soul or that I had lived before or anything. I mean, I might have. I hope I did. I hope I might live again. Yeah, you will. But I just think I was just able to do that because I was very perceptive and receptive and I just had a...

a very creative mind you know i i had a great imagination so it wasn't hard for me to make up a bunch of junk well being around 12 kids i'm sure to even just get any sort of piece you had to have a great imagination yeah i'd sneak up because there was a lot of kids going on i sneak out behind the woodshed or

around the outhouse sit back there do whatever you know write my songs find a shady spot or a warm spot but yeah i was always into that guitar and always writing my song most deodorants i've tried do not get rid of my right piddle juice that smells so bad most deodorants that i've used besides lumi do not make me smell fresh for as long as lumi deodorants does so if

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- I love everything that you do is productive. I want my daughter to watch this, our daughter to watch this because she's 16 right now and she's still trying to find her place in this world. And I think it's awesome that, you know,

Yeah.

Well, Knoxville was about 30 miles from where we actually lived. And I had an aunt that lived in Knoxville. That was where the show was from. And so I would, in the summer, after I got to where I actually got the job, when I got old enough to be allowed to stay away from home, but God, I was so homesick, she worked at one of those...

department stores and my uncle was a carpenter so I was there in that house a lot and I would go up to the top of the hill from where they lived and I'd catch a bus down to the radio station take my little guitar and I would go to

walk across the viaduct i guess it's what they call it like this big bridge have my little guitar and then i would i would go do the kaz walker show uh play my little guitar do my songs and bill wasn't always with me then yeah bill was doing a lot of other things but when i was working on the bill was living a full life walker show yeah well he was doing he did some other things but i could go there and then the the guys that

the Brewster brothers especially, that worked with the Cas Walker Show. They'd back me up and work with me, playing the songs or sing some with me. And then sometimes I'd wait while I was waiting

for the bus, I'd just open it, I'd just get my guitar out to be singing and some people would walk by and they'd think that I was standing on the corner and they'd drop money in my guitar case, which I love because then I'd go on home and buy those little Jiffy Burgers up at the top of the hill from where my aunt lived. They were like little crystal White Castle things.

Oh, that was the greatest thing, if I made enough, somebody threw enough money in. And then I got on to that to where I just kind of play it. Just pretend. I even wrote a song with my brother Floyd called Nickels and Dimes. And it was about that time when I was walking across. But working with the Caswalk Show was amazing. Bill had taken me there early on.

before I got the job, he's the one that got me, as you mentioned, got me on the Caswalk Show. And he'd take me to the fair, the county fair, where I could join in contests and different things like that. And then eventually, he would take me back and forth to Nashville. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And so he just had, he saw that I was so serious about it and he saw that I had potential. And I just, and Bill was a great guitar player. Bill wrote great songs. We wrote great songs together. In fact, in 19, I guess it was 67, we won the song of the year, BMI song of the year and put it off until tomorrow. Bill Phillips on Deck of Records, he was a pretty big artist at the time.

And so I got, when I had, we had sent the demo to him from when we'd just written it, then they wanted me to sing on the demo. So that was kind of like my first kind of break of being heard like on the real radio.

DJs were calling, "Who's the girl singing with Bill Phillips on the Bill Phillips song?" So anyway, that was kind of a moment too. - That's awesome that Uncle Bill's been so pivotal in your career. That's amazing. At 10 years old, being on the Cass Walker show, who were some of your musical influences? Was there anybody that you wanted to be like or did you have an idea of like, "Hey, I'm gonna pave my own way." - Well, all of my people were very musical

And so I think some of my greatest influences were within my own family. I had an aunt.

Dorothy Jo, one of my mom's sisters, well, she played the banjo, she played the guitar, and she wrote great songs. And she was an evangelist. She also was a Pentecostal preacher. I love that. Yeah, and I used to, oh, I was just totally influenced, you know, by her. But as far as some of the others, there were the Kitty, you know, there was Kitty Wells on the Grand Ole Opry and Roy Acuff, and there was some...

early on after I got to out to where we really had a little bit more exposure to to big radio and all there was a woman named Rose Maddox she was it was the Maddox brothers and Rose she worked with her brothers and as the first time I'd ever seen people dress in the rhinestones they wore kind of Western I like the how the Grand Ole Opry does but they were the first ones I'd ever seen do that

And they also put a show together. They did little bits, little comedy and little things, and I thought that was amazing. So you find that now that I'm older, I look back, and I find that I have just picked up bits and pieces from so many people through the years, and I've learned so much that I didn't realize I'm like a sponge, you know, without even knowing that I'm doing it. And then later on, I'll do something, and I'll think, oh,

that reminds me so much of when I saw so-and-so. Or, you know, you just learn. You just learn through watching. I always say we're like a masterpiece of all the art we pick up from each person. You know, it's just like little gems of their souls that we take with us and that, you know, we look back on and we're like, okay, this influenced this and this influenced that. So I love that you always give credit where credit's due because I'm the same way. Like if anybody asks me what's your look, I'm like Dolly. I'm Dolly all day long, you know. Well, I wish.

She looked like you. Oh, stop it. You didn't need me for that. Oh, listen, we could trade outfits right now and I'd be happy. I love this outfit right here. Well, yeah, we love God, I guess. We're liking that way. Absolutely, yes. So circling back, let's talk about the Grand Ole Opry because you made your first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry when you were 13 years old.

How was that for you, walking out on that stage at 13, being introduced by Johnny Cash? It was scary. Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, I remember my heart was beating like a drum, but I always said my desire to do a thing has always been greater than my fear of it. So I just tried to hold on to that. I thought, well, I can't turn around in the middle of the stage and run back. I thought, I've got to finish it.

It's kind of how I felt today. No matter what. I was so scared. Oh, no. In a good way, though. I feel like if you're not scared of what you're doing, you're not growing. Well, I agree with that. But anyway, that was scary. That was big. That was, you know, working with just being around all those big others. But I was also in awe of it. Yeah.

And I, like I said, of course, I mean, I was just a country kid. You know, you're always nervous when you first time you ever eat in a restaurant around people you're not used to knowing how to do that, what spoons and forks. And even to this day, I still don't know exactly. Yeah. When I go to these big fine meals and all that. But I figure, well, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't a star, so to hell with them. I'm going to eat what I eat.

eat and do housework. But I still would like to know those things, but I just never learned it. And now I don't care. Sometimes you think, oh. - It gets to a point where you've earned not being able to care. - You just kind of watch other people. That's how you learn. It's like, oh, I'll watch them.

they pick that up I'll pick that up and I'll do this I could never I could not point out a salad fork to you if somebody paid me I don't know how to do that either that's what I'm saying I just kind of watch if it's a big old big thing like if I'm invited to eat the royal family or something you think I'm very uncomfortable yeah but so I mean I better watch so I don't make a fool of myself no or them so circling back to the Opry um

Johnny Cash introduced you, and he's known for his powerful presence and mentorship. What do you remember about your interaction with him that night, and did he say anything to you that stuck with you throughout your career? He said hello. That stuck with me because at that time, I thought, see, I had seen Johnny Cash before.

at another time when we were sitting in the audience and I had the biggest crush on him. Oh my goodness, yeah. Because he had so much magnetism and I was young, you know, I was just beginning to feel those hormones and look at, you know, to where you feel those things. I never felt. Very masculine energy. Well, he did, you know, he had all that, you know, movement and all. I found out later it's because he was coming off drugs. Oh no. He just had twitches of what I thought was magnetism. Yeah.

I love that. But there was some truth in that. I think, you know, the way he was kind of moving. He was a Pisces, right? Yeah. But I loved him. And as for years and years, I told him he was my first crush. And he was. Yeah.

And then, so, in my Broadway musical, The Life Story, I cover that about Johnny touching me on the shoulder. It was like, I mean, it just changed my life. You know, because I thought I was grown then, you know, because I felt all those feelings. Yeah.

But he was a real nice guy and very quiet. But I became best friends with June and Johnny after. So as the years went by, you know, we would visit, and we liked each other a lot. She was a good woman. I really admired her. She was a loud mouth like me. So we got along just fine. And Johnny, I remember when somebody said something about, Johnny, don't you get tired of hearing June talk all the time? And he said, no.

No, I do some of my best thinking when June's talking. So...

I think he does some of his best thinking when I'm talking. I think that's how all husbands are. They just tune us out. You know, they're just so used to us. When you performed that night, did you already have a sense of like the legacy that you wanted to build in country music? Or did that experience at the Opry shift your perspective on what was possible for you as an artist? Because at that time, I was just so nervous and I reflected on that.

years later, as I still do. But at that time, it was just a big deal, you know, to be there at the Grand Ole Opry with all those big name artists. And so I think that I was just...

It was just kind of addling at that time. I was just kind of addled about the whole thing. But I knew that that was, you know, just like when I got my encore on the Cass Walker show, the first time I was on there. And I thought, oh, boy, you know, I'm going to be a star. And now I...

years later I realized they weren't applauding so much because I was good it was just because I was little no it wasn't because I wasn't you know you have to develop and grow but you know how everybody wants to be good to a kid and the fact that I was out there doing it I think they people were just extra nice and I think a whole lot of that might have been so with the opera it was just kind of cute when you see a young person doing something so but I did feel and I

I thought back on it shortly after, thinking, wow, you know, I was on the Randall Opry and they liked me. They asked you for three encores. This is what I want to do. Yeah. They asked you for three encores after your first performance there. Yeah, but I didn't give them to them. No, I'm joking. They asked them. No, actually, they did applaud and I kept singing the same, you know, last verse a couple of times. She's like, this is all you get. Yeah, this is all I practiced. Are you struggling to close deals?

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Credit Karma is your evolved financial assistant, making managing your finances simpler and more tailored to you. Join us at CreditKarma.com to start your personalized financial journey today and continue to grow with our innovations. Credit Karma, evolve your finances. So soon after that, you ended up moving to Nashville and you graduated from high school, correct? And then you ended up moving to Nashville and you moved to Nashville with, you know, minimal amounts of money. Right.

How did you make ends meet in those early days and were there any creative or unexpected ways you found to survive while pursuing your dreams out there? Well, I was lucky because there are so many songwriters in Nashville and publishing companies and a lot of the people that write songs are not good singers. So all the publishing companies, they hire, if there's female songs,

that you can get a job singing those songs. So I got work through Tree Publishing Company. Buddy Killen was a dear friend. And so he would get me on these sessions singing some of the songs that these writers had written, singing the girls' songs. And then I didn't have a car, I didn't have a phone, I didn't have anything.

And so all these musicians, because I was a right pretty girl at that time, you know, just a young girl. Still are beautiful. And so I had all these musicians that were on the sessions always willing to drive me home, always willing to stop and show me, buy me a burger. Some of them thinking they might get more, and some of them might have, but that was not because I had to.

Lucky fellas. I know, but I'm serious. It's like they were always so good to me. Everybody seemed to know that my heart was in a good place and that I was just a country girl. I was funny. You know, I was always cracking jokes or, you know, just being, well, like I am now, really. But everybody got a kick out of me, so I was just one of the boys because I had six brothers and all my uncles and my grandma. I was not a bit shy, really.

around the men and I knew how to maneuver with all that. So I made money and then I also got on a small salary with Tree Publishing Company in those early days and then later I got with the Combine Music Company

with Fred Foster of Monument Records. They had a publishing company, so I was lucky that I always got a little bit of a salary as a writer of my own songs in addition to being able to sing some of the demos.

She's like, I figured it out, sister. I did what I had to do. I love that so much. But I used to go in the early, early days, I would walk down to the hotels and I would walk through the hallways and I would see all the trays out in front of the doors and any food that, you know, like all those little mustard and ketchup packets and bottles. I'd take those all back and anything that looked like, you know, that was pretty,

pretty decent to still eat. I would get it, I would just kind of get a napkin off of the tray and put it all in my purse. - Just whatever you had to do to survive. - And there was a restaurant down around 12th Avenue at that time, and this was different places I lived, but right above the hill, it was called Cowsers. It became very famous. It was a meat and three, and the Cowsers brothers owned it.

And I would walk down there and they liked me. And so they would give me free food. They would give me a good meal. But I would clean off the tables and I would refill the salt and pepper shakes. And I would, you know, do all the things that you do like that.

So I would do that I didn't get it for money But I got good food And then they would pack me stuff to take home too Oh, that is so sweet I never knew what a meet and three was Until I moved to Nashville My husband was like, we're going to go to a meet and three And I was like, what is that? And I love them now

I think the concept is so awesome. I think they need them all over everywhere, not just in the South, like on the West Coast and everywhere. I think they would just be a hit. But I guess if somebody out there don't know what a meat and three is, it's like wherever the choice of meat, whether it be meatloaf, and it's like three side dishes you're getting. But yeah, all those terms, I never... I remember once I was on the road with one of my brother's

and we were just, he played the bass in one of my first bands. And we'd stop at a truck stop and he had, I guess he looked at the menu and it had corned beef

corned beef and cabbage when they brought it and he said well where's my corn because he didn't know it was corned corned beef from corn corned beef yeah it's corned beef and cabbage and he said well where's my corn she said well did you want corn sir he said well it says corn he took it literal yeah we always there's jokes about those things with country boys coming to Nashville to tell their

their stories. So switching gears, we're going to talk about Carl for a second because you came to Nashville. Did you think coming to Nashville you were going to meet the love of your life as soon as you came here? I left two boyfriends back home

They had wanted to marry me, and I kept saying, no, I'm going to move to Nashville. You know, when I, you know, I mean, a different, well, I left two boyfriends. I love that there was two of them. And I thought, yeah, well, I, you know, I dated, not at the same time, but they were like in that. It's okay if you did. Well, I know that's true, too. But my point is that I thought, well, the last thing,

I want is a boyfriend. I got it, you know, because I'm leaving two boyfriends here. And I kept saying, no, I'm going to Nashville. And so I got here and I thought, well, that's the last thing I'm going to get caught up with some boy, you know, until I get my feet on the ground, get things going. And the very day...

I got to Nashville. I met Coral Dean. And 60 years later, I'm still with Coral Dean. But that's the one that took... Yeah, we've been together 60 years. We've been married 58, going on... That's six decades. Yeah. Well, it took. But anyway, he's a good guy, and he's quiet, and I'm loud. And we just...

We're funny? Oh, he's hilarious. And I think one of the things that's made it last so long through the years is we love each other, we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun. Anytime things get too much tension going on, either one of us can find a joke about it to break the tension. We don't let it go.

You know, so far. We never fought back and forth. And I'm glad now. That's amazing. That we never did. Because once you start that, that becomes a lifetime thing. I've seen it with so many people. And I thought, I ain't ever starting that. I couldn't bear to think that he'd say something I couldn't take. It would hurt because I'm a very sensitive person toward other people and myself. You may hurt people's feelings not knowing it.

But knowingly, you don't do it. Yeah, absolutely. Jay and I always say you have to be comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations and you have to be best friends like that. Best friends before lovers. Like you have to remember why you fell in love with each other. And we have we were only eight years in, but I can't wait to be 60 years in with them like you and Carl. Yeah.

In a world where love and marriage is often romanticized, what do you think was the most important but sometimes overlooked aspect of you and Carl's relationship?

Well, he was homebody, and that worked well for us, you know, because he was in asphalt paving. But he just, his sign, I don't know if anybody out there that goes by astrology or pay attention to that. I'm an astrology baby. Well, he's Cantor, and I'm Capricorn, and those are compatible signs. Soulmate.

The Capricorn is the mountain goat and it's always climbing, wanting to look down on the other side. And the Cantor is more of a homebody. And he really was. He loved to go places if we were going to drive cross country or go where, if we had planned things. But boy, he never could wait to get home. He wanted to be around home. And I wanted, I'm a gypsy by nature. I just love to go and love to see what else is out there.

But I think that he's just, that's worked well for us. He's not the least, he loves music, but he's not the least bit interested in being in it. And he told me that right up front. I begged him to go with me in 67. We'd got...

We got married in 66, so that's when I won the first award for the BMI Song of the Year. And I rented him a tux and begged him to go, and he did. Oh, he was so uncomfortable. The whole night. As soon as we hit the door, he started pulling off stuff. He said, look, now I want you to do everything you want.

to do, and I wish you the best, but don't ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain't going. And he never did. So we just kind of have that respect. And I respected that because I didn't know he was going to be that uneasy, but he doesn't even like to go out to, you know, to big dinners or anything like that. So even on anniversaries and stuff like that, we usually stay home and make something special.

do something special like that but he does or go to mcdonald's or go somewhere we want to go yeah comfortable or to go to now we will go to mexican restaurants he does he will go in sit in a booth and do that he loves that does carl love nachos yeah he does he loves mexican food period but we go um you know we'll go sit in a booth like if it's an anniversary or

Or just sometimes on a Saturday. We know where to go before the crowd comes. He doesn't like big crowds. But anyway, he's just special to me, and I just love him like he is. You light up whenever you talk about him. Well, yeah. I love to see that. He's good. Everybody loves Carl. What's something that you would want the world to know about Carl that they don't know? He don't want me to tell the world nothing about Carl.

I love that. I love that he's such a private person. Yeah, he is. I mean, he can, I can talk what I want to, but he'll say, just leave me out of the whole damn thing. Don't, don't,

He would say, don't say nothing I said. But I do all the time because he's funny. Yeah. Oh, I love that so much. And I also wanted to tell you, I always tell everybody whenever they give me, they're like, oh, you're like a young Dolly. And I'm like, Dolly's birthday is January 17th. Mine's January 22nd. So we're on the same cusp. And that's like always my thing. I'm like, I'm just like Dolly. Like, I love that. So we have the same cusp that we're on the 17th through the 22nd.

So moving on from Sweet Carl. Okay, gotcha. Oh boy, we could talk forever. I know. There's so much I wanted to talk to you about. So you and I, your signature look, the big hair, the bold makeup, and all that stuff, um,

You now have your own makeup line that we have sitting in front of us right now and can you show me some of your products because I'm really excited about learning There's so much stuff I know we got the lipsticks, you know, we got great lipstick and and so we've got all the beautiful colors and we have these wonderful glosses do with all the different colors, but I have always

wanted to have my own line of makeup. And I love lipstick and you do too and I love gloss and I love the shine and I love all the beautiful things and we don't have the full line that we will eventually have. We started out with our lipsticks and with our glosses and

And so we're going to have a line of everything. We've got our eyeliners in the different colors. So we've got great stuff. So have you not had a chance to see any of them? I did. I did get to see it. They wanted me to look at these with you. I'm afraid I'll knock everything over if I try to get them. No, you're good. Oh, look at these. I love these. I'll hand you some of these right here. I mean, Dolly, your name is on everything. There's nothing that you haven't covered. I just want to tell you, your Dolly Parton brownies, though, are amazing.

I brag about them on my podcast all the time. I will eat those brownies any time of day. They're so good. Pop those up. I hope it pops. Our nails are too long. Sequoia actually showed me how to do this. Yes, there we go. And don't you love these, the rhinestones? So beautiful. I always make my joke of I never leave a rhinestone unturned. And it's got my little name there. But that's the color that would fit you. That's the Jolene Red. Yes. You know, we thought, well, we had to have...

have a Jolene color. And then we got our beautiful gold glosses and all the things that go with them. And we have different colors, you know, of the lipsticks. We have the gold dust in the gloss and a rose petal, which is real, real pink. And so we have old...

different things that we have for that. So moving on from the lipsticks because I mean, and we always need a lipstick stained wine glass. You are selling wine now too? Lipstick stained.

We need the lipstick stained white glass. We have our Chardonnay. We have the Accolades Wine Company, and I went in business together. And this is one that's really, really nice. And eventually, you know, like with the makeup, we're starting out with certain ones, but then eventually we'll have all the things. But right now we have our Chardonnay, and you can get that in easy stores like Kroger's and stores like that.

Yes. And in the wine and beer stores. So we were also smelling backstage. We opened up your... That's the good one. Yeah, that was my original. Yes. And now this is the... They're doing this as a special...

thing. This one's just a collect, kind of almost like a collector's item. And I can't, I can't wait for everybody to try this. This is the one we tried in the dressing room and it smells so good. I love everything that you've done and everything that you've branded your name on. You have cookbooks. I mean, you have children's books. There's so many people that messaged me when they

found out on my Patreon that we were going to be doing this podcast together and they wanted me to thank you for the imagination books that you have. Oh, the Imagination Library. I'm as proud of that as anything I've ever done where we give books to children from the time they're born until they start school. Yes. And yeah, we've given over, I think, $200

50 million books out since we started. But that's all good. But I'm very proud of all the things we got in the little Billy the Kid books. It's based on stories that I've, children's songs that I've written. Well, the Christmas one is based on a song I wrote, but the others are children's things that they need to know about. I mean, if you've got a good book and you've got makeup and you've got perfume and you've got wine, what else do you need? I need some of your Jolene's.

Well, you too. Oh, the Jolene jeans. I need some of the Jolene's. They're coming out soon, so I need them. I know they are. They're called Jolene's jeans. I love it. Yeah. And you probably got a pretty butt, so they'll probably look good on you. Well, I got hips, so we need to slap some hips in them. I think they'll look good on everybody. I got to get me some of those too. I love it so much. Jolene, boy, for a hussy that's trying to steal my man, she's done pretty good by me, ain't she? I think Jolene might be your alter ego. Yeah.

She might be. Ms. Dolly, thank you so much for giving me your time. And I appreciate you. And thank you so much for just letting me be in your world for a little bit today. Well, thank you for being in mine. And we're not dumb blondes. No. Not by a long shot. No, we are not. But anyway, I love the title of your show. And you have a huge following. And I was honored that you wanted me to be on the show. Thank you. I appreciate you so much. Now I want to be more like you.

No, you are so sweet. I think I'm just going to continue to just walk in your footsteps and do whatever I can to be more Dolly-like. I always think, what would Dolly do? My Lord, I'll do anything. Me too. That's what got me here. Thank you, Miss Dolly. Thank you. Thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Dumb Blonde. I will see you guys next week. Bye.

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