Dolly Parton, the inimitable country singer/songwriter who rose from humble beginnings to become a chart-topper and cultural icon, has died at 80, her family says. The news was confirmed by her nephew, Bryan Seaver, in an Instagram post.
“My name is Bryan Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis, and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” he said in a video.
In the video, Seaver speaks to her generosity, and enormous influence on generations of musicians, concluding with “Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly – Aunt, Granny, Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton, and may God bless you all. She will always love you.” No cause of death was given, though just last week Parton disclosed that she had been struggling with various health issues in recent months.
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Unmistakable in her endless parade of huge blonde wigs and loud outfits – an image she brilliantly cultivated herself, not at the behest of others – Dolly Parton was an illustrious figure in country music, and was one of the first artists in that genre to find equal fame and superstardom outside of it.
At the heart of it all was her songwriting. Led by that twangy, charming voice, her biggest hits were transcendent, and larger than life. The pleas of the Western-flavored Jolene, the epic ballad I Will Always Love You – made immortal by Whitney Houston – and the chicken-scratch rhythm of the chart-topping 9 to 5; all shattered norms and genre boundaries.
Born in 1946 in the Smoky Mountains region of Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children, Parton grew up in a small cabin with her many siblings. In her youth, she absorbed the gospel music and Appalachian folk songs she was surrounded by, and began performing as a singer when still in her pre-teen years.
Moving to Nashville in her late teens, Parton quickly became an in-demand songwriter, penning hits for prominent country artists like Hank Williams Jr. She was determined, however, to have a country career in her own right, and by 1967, she became a country chart presence both on her own and in tandem with her frequent duet partner, Porter Wagoner.
It wasn’t until 1973, though, that Parton really hit it big. The winning ticket was Jolene. Snaky and grooving, the song was inspired by a woman who flirted with her husband, and was written and sung from a place of insecurity – it sounded like no other country song that had come before it. The sublime fretwork that drove it didn’t hurt.
“The thing I remember most was all the musicians when I came up with the little guitar lick, the Jolene lick, saying: ‘Damn, that’s so good. That’s the coolest little lick,’” Parton told The Guardian in an interview last year.
“I was playing guitar pretty serious back then, before I had all the long nails. I remember all the guys learning to play it and everybody thinking how cool a rhythm it was.
“It was a little out of the norm for the things we’d been doing up to that time,” she continued. “I remember everybody in the studio just loving that song.”
The string of country hits would continue for the rest of the decade, but it was those aforementioned long nails that would produce the hit that made her a bona-fide, across-the-board superstar.
The theme song for the 1980 movie of the same name – which Parton starred in alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin – 9 to 5 topped the country and pop charts, and was a proud statement in favor of equality and fair treatment for women in the workplace.
The whole thing came from idle time during filming, when a rhythm came to Parton’s head, and – lacking a guitar – she clicked the rhythm out with those long nails.
Indeed, Parton’s brilliant musical instincts often went sorely under-appreciated. She was a skilled guitarist who could take a bluegrass-inspired solo, and whose ‘thumb and flick’ rhythm work was always on point.
Though she never again had a hit like 9 to 5, Parton’s stature only grew in the following 45 years – her independence and timeless songs remaining a touchstone for three, then four, generations. Just watch her hold Glastonbury in the palm of her hand a decade ago.
The tributes that have come pouring in in the wake of her death have come from every corner of the musical world: Jack White said simply, “Instant sainthood”, alt-rockers Garbage called her, “A sparkling rhinestone for all eternity”, and jazz/metal virtuoso Alex Skolnick cited her as “a true ambassador for the guitar”.
It was perhaps her country contemporary and friend Reba McEntire who said it best, rounding out her own tribute with the words, “There will never ever be another you.”
