Dolly Parton, RIP

I am not a country music fan, and I was not that familiar with Dolly Parton's work. But even I had heard enough about her intelligence and self-reliance to respect her.

In that vein, I highly recommend George Will's column about Parton's passing. It captures both her strong character and the once-healthier (albeit far from perfect) culture of America around the time she was born.

I especially enjoyed learning about her lone professional encounter with Elvis Presley (of whom I not a fan):

She was a savvy businesswoman even when getting started in Nashville's music industry, which was not a lagoon of advanced thinking about the emancipation of women. In 1974, she was 28 and starstruck when Elvis Presley expressed interest in meeting her and recording "I Will Always Love You," which she had written. But when Presley's management insisted on at least half the rights to the song, she refused, the meeting was off, and she never met -- never again wanted to meet -- Elvis. But Ackmann reports that Parton said keeping the copyright to that one song made her enough money -- perhaps $10 million -- she could have bought Graceland, Elvis's Memphis home.

Will also captures the good and the bad of Parton's cultural background in a couple of places, although I am not sure he'd agree with my evaluation of the latter.

Just ahead of the above excerpt, Will notes the commonality of self-reliance in America at the time of Parton's birth:

Her family knew the old story of a cheerful preacher saying to a hardscrabble farmer, "This is a right nice place you and [the] Lord have here," and the farmer replying, "You should have seen the som'bitch when the Lord had it hisself."

Good! Some prosperity gospel types should hear that one, but I digress.

As a fellow Southerner of Parton's, I see what Will means about allocation of status and respect and would add that it isn't just a sensitive topic for the uneducated. But as I see it, this concern often borders on defensiveness:

[Biographer Martha] Ackmann says that, as a child, Parton heard, early and often, this phrase: "Don't get above your raisin'." Meaning, don't get too big for your britches. Most of all, don't forget where you came from. [bold added]

That kind of advice is a two-edged sword at best, and reminds me things I got growing up.

Sure. See the good in your background and don't let the stereotypes of others cause you to forget your own worth or the good you saw around you when you were young. But don't just take that culture uncritically, like too many of the people who give such advice seem to want.

Based on her self-emancipation as a woman, while boldly putting herself out there, I would say Dolly Parton got that largely right.

-- CAV