She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs

This book is as much about all of us women over seventy and the author’s life as it is about Dolly Parton. The author has cast Parton as an everywoman whose life and career was shaped by the anti-feminist forces at work in the sixties. Dolly’s stint as second banana to the country star Porter Wagoner is seen as equivalent to the millions of women at that time who played dumb in order to have any job at all. Parton quickly proved, however, that she was no dumb blonde, striking out on her own and having to buy her freedom from Wagoner’s punitive lawsuit. Parton endured being constantly underrated as she compiled hit after hit and kept writing and building an incredible songbook. She structured an image of being a poor country girl who could sing while meanwhile amassing a great fortune. She has used her fortune to fund literacy programs, Covid vaccine research, and economic development in her home country. The parallels are interesting, but in the end, there is no one like Dolly Parton, an American icon and treasure.