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‘Not just a big-bosomed singer of great songs’
Shirley Collins, singer-songwriter
I don’t really follow pop music or country and western very much, but Dolly Parton was always something special – separate from it all, in a way. She seemed absolutely indomitable. Coming from a large family in a mountain home and being brought up in poverty, she broke through to have this incredible career and you couldn’t help feeling fond of her. How she did it I don’t know, but nothing seemed to faze her.
I was always impressed by her perception of things. Like in Jolene, the carelessness of someone taking someone’s husband “just because [she] can” is really clever. Dolly could see stuff and then write about it in ways that nobody else could.
A few years ago, someone sent me a book called The Pack Horse Library, about women in the Appalachians in the 1930s who rode pack horses or mules in this wilderness country and took library books to all the isolated cabins with huge families, who wouldn’t normally get near a library. In modern times, Dolly has done exactly the same thing, but on such a massive scale, posting books to children around the world. She wasn’t just a big-bosomed singer of great songs – and she wrote so, so many great songs – but a fabulous human being. I think we’re all really rather privileged to have been able to see her.
I wouldn’t talk like this about any other pop singer, but as a singer and a person she was in a class of her own. It’s a sad, sad day, but people will always think of her and smile.
‘She embodied the ideal of live and let live’
kd lang, singer-songwriter
She was a plain-clothed prophet. She transcended all misconceptions of what a Christian is, what an American is, what an artist is or what an ally is. She came from a southern, Christian, country and western place and she never wavered in her support of the LGBTQ+ community or the Black community – all those that have suffered at the hands of those with a far-right mentality.
I believe in the divine timing of things and I think that, in her departure, there’s a gift, too, because I can’t think of anyone who had a more cohesive effect on people than Dolly Parton. Her exaggerated physical presence – her hair and her boobs and her hips and her clothes – was a caricature, one we sometimes laughed at. But the joke was on us, because she embraced who she was and never judged anyone else. She truly embodied that way of being – just live and let live.
Of all her songs, I really like Coat of Many Colors. I’m not a Christian, but there’s something so down-home about that. I truly believe that it is a story from Dolly’s life. She used the tools she was given and one of them was being from a large country family that was raised Christian. She took the very essence of the teachings and illuminated them to the highest degree. May she have a swift rebirth.
‘She sent me a big, home-cooked meal’
Joan Osborne, singer-songwriter
I had the honour of singing her song Do I Ever Cross Your Mind? for a Dolly compilation called Just Because I’m a Woman in the early 00s. During the recording session, she sent over a big, home-cooked meal, that she had made herself, to give to the musicians and me so we wouldn’t get hungry while we worked. When the album was done, she sent me a very gracious handwritten letter, saying that my version of her song had made her cry. I wish I could lay my hands on that letter right now. It’s buried somewhere in my archives. But I do remember it very well and someday I’ll unearth it and frame it for my studio.
I always admired the way that Dolly hid in plain sight. She was an immensely talented songwriter and beautiful singer, a serious artist and a brilliant businesswoman, but she wrapped herself in the disguise of a comic blond bombshell. Her presentation was probably a result, at least in part, of her desire to fulfil the fantasies of a little girl who grew up in poverty, but it was also a very smart career strategy.
‘She was honest, brash, daring and way ahead of her time’
Peggy Seeger, singer-songwriter
Dolly was a one-off – and I mean off the wall. Honest, brash, daring and way ahead of her time, yet very present in her own time. She wasn’t a 9 to 5 woman; she was full-on round the clock. I followed her career throughout and adored everything she did. She’s left us way too soon, yet left us so much.
Annie Lennox, singer-songwriter
On 5 November 2022, Eurythmics had the unforgettable experience of performing Jolene with the legendary Dolly Parton, joining alongside an exceptional mix of musical acolytes, representing a cross-section of musicians who were all being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When we arrived for the dress rehearsal, there she was, standing centre stage, a surprisingly tiny figure in vertiginous high-heeled boots and full rocker regalia, dressed head to toe in a figure-hugging outfit of black skintight PVC, adorned with suspended pendants of silver chains. As tiny as she was, her presence was big enough to fill 10 football stadiums.
She was warm and personable, with a tremendously dry sense of humour. We all felt extremely favoured to be part of that song performance. It was a special moment with no pedestals in sight … except for the one we placed her upon that night.
Rest in power, Dolly Parton … the REAL deal.
Billy Bragg, singer-songwriter
We’ve lost someone who was an embodiment of a type of American exceptionalism that has been eclipsed by the Trump carnival of people who say: “Empathy is toxic.” She was the opposite of that. Her faith was based on the idea that, as she once said: “I just want everybody to be treated good.” That quote came from someone asking her about anti-trans legislation in her home state of Tennessee. She didn’t hedge it. She went on to say: “We are all God’s children and how we are is who we are.” She didn’t stop at trans people, or American people, or white people. She extended that to everybody.
When people are saying empathy is toxic, you need someone like Dolly Parton to come along like the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and put them back in their box. Everyone talks about a divided America, but her superpower was to bring people together. She completely transcended her role and became a universal figure, a bit like the queen, and similarly the reaction to her passing has been exceptional.
Obviously, as a songwriter, she was incredible. Everyone knows about the great songs that have been all over the radio in the last 24 hours, but for me her artistry also lies in the more obscure songs such as Do I Ever Cross Your Mind? – the chord changes are to die for – or Down from Dover, a heartbreaking song where a young woman is pregnant and waiting for her boyfriend to come back. He doesn’t come and the baby dies. It’s a heart-rending song that doesn’t just put the position of unwed young women at the centre; it also plumbs into that great Appalachian tradition of tragedy songs, which she heard when she was growing up and will have seen first-hand.
She was tougher than any man. Her second album was called Just Because I’m a Woman. She was saying: don’t be messing with me, because I see through your pernicious attitudes towards me as a woman and I’m gonna turn that back on you. And she was incredibly powerful at doing that. She had kindness and empathy, but she wasn’t like a little flower. She had the strength to broadcast her empathy to the world. She was the epitome of that rhinestone, vaudeville, bouffant, over-the-top America that I’ve always been attracted to, but also the best of humanity. She really was the best of us.
‘She silenced the crowd at Glastonbury’
Jonny Woo, drag performer
Everyone loved Dolly. How could you not? She was the archetype of joy and beauty and generosity – and the music was amazing. The first time she came into my psyche was watching her in 9 to 5 and she’s the best person I’ve seen at Glastonbury in 20 years of going. When she was talking, just in her normal voice, the crowd were absolutely silent. Her voice was immaculate. Her storytelling was just joyous. I think there were more people watching her than the Rolling Stones.
So, of course, my drag troupe and I all dressed up as her. That image is so joyous. It’s not derogatory to call her a camp icon. Like Céline Dion or Cher, she was very aware of the pleasure of her visual appeal. They’re celebratory and stylish, using their femininity and sexuality to lift your mood.
She said: “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.” But on stage she was like a diamond: her music shone, her voice shone and her image shone. It’s just hard not to smile when you think of her.
Because she came from such an extraordinarily poor background, she could connect with the working-class experience around the world. She was interested in people: “Tell me where you come from. What’s your life about?” I don’t know how much country music embraces queer culture – possibly not much – but she was hugely supportive of us.
She was the kind of person who got on with it: did the job, got her money and helped people out, rather than making a big song and dance about it. She was strong without being aggressive and would rebut people without being unkind, which is a great skill. You just knew she had the back, not just of queer people, but of all people who face shit in their lives. She was looking out for you and singing for you. She’ll be hugely missed, but thinking of her immediately fills us with joy, rather than sadness.
‘She could wrap anyone in warmth and love’
KT Tunstall, singer-songwriter
Dolly was beyond the greatest. She was a world-leveller, in her immeasurable talent and in her ability to wrap anyone and everyone together in warmth and love. She’ll for ever be one of the best examples of how to spend a life on Earth.
‘She represented anyone down on their luck’
Kelly O’Brien, ‘the world’s No 1 Dolly Parton tribute’
I don’t think I’ve had time to properly process Dolly’s passing. Every time I hear a bit of a song, it gets me started. I grew up in Australia. My parents would play her records and I’d go to sleep listening to Love Is Like a Butterfly and Jolene. As you get older, you think: “Wow, this woman’s clever. She’s no dumb blonde. She knows exactly what she’s doing.” Talking to interviewers, she would make fun of herself before anybody else could. From her entrepreneurism and humanitarianism to her philanthropy, she was a very clued-up woman.
I started mucking around being Dolly 30 years ago. Being Dolly takes a lot of practice. I really studied her voice a lot, because I wanted to represent her in the best way possible. That meant going on a very strict diet, learning the accent, learning all the songs, her mannerisms. The costumes had to be right and the wigs had to be perfect. I based my work on her perfection.
She means a lot to so many people in a world that’s gone a little bit mad. She’s this constant, kind, big-hearted, wholesome girl. She represented not only women, but anybody down on their luck, singing about unwedded women back in the early 70s and a world on fire. She reached a whole new younger generation of admirers when she performed at Glastonbury in 2014, because she was Miley Cyrus’s godmother and so glamorous.
She didn’t really approach politics, but then I think with her Rockstar album in 2023 she probably got a bit fed up and so became even more outspoken about LGBTQ+ rights and things like that. She used to have gay days at Dollywood and I think she used to get death threats, but she stood her ground. She’d go: “No, this is who these people are. They’re born this way. God accepts them and you have to do the same.” She brought some badass ideas to the deep south.
I met her in 2011, backstage at the O2. I was dressed as her – unexpectedly, we had matching gold outfits! – and we were the same height. It was terrifying, because I was going to meet my idol, but she said she loved what I did and loved all the drag queens and Dolly impersonators everywhere. It was just magical, which she was.
‘She wrote what she knew with great eloquence and skill’
Paul Jepson, director of the musical 9 to 5
She was an extraordinary person and very talented. We wanted to honour her extraordinary spirit. Our show’s music supervisor, Mark Crossland, and choreographer got to know Dolly. She had a lot of involvement in the development of the musical. Obviously, it’s her songs [and was originally a Broadway production, based on the 1980 movie], but everyone commented on how incredibly generous she was. She recorded herself singing, and bits of speaking, and sent them down the line from the US. Afterwards, she would ask if we needed to make any changes or needed anything else. She was the consummate pro. People often make this stuff up, but she was genuinely lovely and everybody loved her.
One of the numbers in the show is Backwoods Barbie, which Karla Tracey – as Doralee – does exceptionally well. It’s actually a confession: she’s talking about where she comes from and she’s upset, because everyone has been horrible to her. Dolly got that: she was writing about something she knew very well with great eloquence and skill. A lot of people don’t know that the 9 to 5 song and movie was based on a real organisation, 9to5, that still exists and is still fighting discrimination and pushing for workers’ rights.
I’m very glad the show has been touring in places such as Worthing, Bridlington and Darlington, which aren’t known as primary dates for this level of attention. They’re places that haven’t always been shown a lot of love – a bit downtrodden, if you will – and we wanted to stand up for them. I’d like to think that Dolly would have approved. It seemed a very Dolly thing to do.
‘She dedicated much of her life to helping children’
The Wiggles, children’s music group
We are heartbroken to hear of the passing of Dolly Parton. Dolly brought so much joy, kindness and music into this world and we feel incredibly lucky to have spent time with her and to have called her our friend.
Her extraordinary legacy goes far beyond the songs we all know and love. Dolly dedicated so much of her life to helping children dream big, including through her Imagination Library, which has put millions of books into the hands of children around the world.
Getting to make music with Dolly was something we will treasure for ever. But even more special was experiencing the warmth, generosity and joy that made her so deeply loved by generations of families. Thank you for the music, the laughter, the stories and everything you did for children everywhere. We will always be friends. We love you, Dolly. Rest peacefully.
