Why Dolly Parton Is A Feminist Icon

Dolly may be knocking on 76 but she’s busier than ever – recording, acting and even funding Covid-19 research.

- Marina O’loughlin

I've been a fan of Dolly’s forever. (‘Is it okay if I call you Dolly?’ ‘What else would you call me – Reba?’) I loved her long before her Glastonbury appearance in 2014 rebadged her as ‘cool’ – as if she cares about cool – and in the weeks leading up to this meeting I’ve had sleepless nights sound­ tracked by earworms of ‘Dumb Blonde’, her first US chart hit (‘Just because I’m blonde/ Don’t think I’m dumb/’Cause this dumb blonde ain’t nobody’s fool’). And I sobbed again at the crystalline beauty of ‘I Will Always Love You’ – written for the leery, sharp­suited country legend Porter Wagoner when she left his show, her much­dissected double act with him the platform that launched her on the road to superstardom.

And now here she is, arranged on a studded leather armchair at her Tennessee headquarters – ‘We’ve all been holed up here.’ She is immaculate, dressed in – remarkably for her – understated black, makeup dramatic as ever,scarlet talons punctuating her everypoint, the inevitable blond wigadding centimetres to her tiny five­ foot frame. I’ve borrowed a cowboy shirt from my husband to get in the mood and look like a Minnesota trucker. Born in 1946, she doesn’t look her age – she doesn’t look like anything other than Dolly Parton.

So how has being holed up been for her? ‘It’s always difficult to be locked down for any reason. I’m a free bird – I have to be able to do whatever I feel, whenever I feel like doing it. So I wrote a lot of songs and got a lot of business done, safely and smartly.’ She laughs that frequent, tinkly laugh.