I’m going to join the wave of people praising Dolly Parton.
I’m not generally a country music fan, but she had immense songwriting talent, a fantastic singing voice and excellent control of it, and very respectable skill at the guitar. “Jolene” is one of the most haunting songs ever due to that combination, and she wrote “I Will Always Love You” on the same day. She also had fantastic stage presence and a genuine smile and a way with words that made her super charming.
But really it was her generosity, her goodness of heart that I really want to praise. I think the real reason everybody loved Dolly is because Dolly loved everybody. She took care of people — her extended family, her community, the wider world. She had gay and trans family members and friends, and funded at least one fan’s top surgery. She supported human rights, said “of course black lives matter, do you think our white asses are the only thing that matters?”, spent her royalties from Whitney Houston investing in a Black community in Nashville, started that charity for literacy, donated millions in college scholarships, personally paid families so they could rebuild their homes in Pigeon Forge after a wildfire, and funded the Moderna COVID vaccine.
Super woke, right? But even the MAGA chuds seem to love her just as much as everyone else does. She always avoided any direct appearance of partisanship and very much talks like a serious Christian. She has said publicly that “political talk” can sink careers, especially in country music… but also I think this is just the sort of person she is. Not judgemental of anyone, even of their judgementalness. This white, blonde (with the wigs anyway), country, Christian millionaire defied the stereotypes and was consistently a genuinely good, kind person, an example for others to follow.
(Meanwhile, I can’t do it. If someone hates other people for who they are, for the circumstances of their birth or their beliefs or any other reason — and especially when there is scapegoating, insults and active measures to make their lives worse — I absolutely am going to be judgey about it. Dolly might be a saint or a bodhisattva, but I’m not.)