MARY BRASWELL: Looking Back at Dolly Parton

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.

It was Jan. 19, 1946 when Dolly Parton was born in Sevier County, Tenn. Here is a look at just a few of the fun facts surrounding the life of one of country music’s best.

EARLY YEARS

— Dolly Rebecca was born fourth of 12 children to Robert and Avie (Owens) Parton in Locust Ridge, Tenn., in Sevier County. Her father paid the doctor that attended her birth with a bag of oatmeal.

— Robert Parton was a sharecropper, mostly in tobacco. He was one of 15 children.By the time mother Ava was 30 years old, she had already given birth to eight children. She was one of 10 children.

— Dolly began “writing” songs before she could read and write. Her mother would put the words on paper for her.

— By age seven, Dolly was playing the guitar and singing to anyone who would listen, even the barnyard animals.

— Dolly and her sisters sang at area churches, especially the Pentecostal Church, where her grandfather was the preacher.

— At the age of 10, her uncle Billy Earl Owens brought her to the attention of Cas Walker. Walker owned a chain of grocery stores and used a show on the radio to promote his businesses. Dolly sang on the radio show to a live audience in Knoxville and the crowd loved her.

— Another uncle, Henry Owens, was in the service in Lake Charles, La., and his neighbor was Gold Band Records. He arranged for Dolly to visit and she recorded “Puppy Love” and “Girl Left Alone.” She was by then 14 years old.

— Uncle Billy and Dolly once waited a full day at Tree Publishing for someone to see them. The wait paid off as Dolly got a recording session that evening with Mercury Records. She was 16 years old.

— In 1964, Dolly became the first person in her family to graduate from high school. The next day, she boarded a Greyhound bus bound for Nashville with her songs, old guitar and the rest of her belongings “in matching luggage, three paper bags from the same grocery store.”

QUIK QUIZ

Dolly Parton is the godmother of which female singing artist?

(a) Taylor Swift

(b) Miley Cyrus

(c) Katy Perry

(d) Kelly Clarkson

(Answer is at the end of the column)

FROM THAT TIME …

—Upon arrival in Nashville, Dolly rented a small apartment over a laundromat named the Wishy Washy. While standing outside waiting for her clothes to dry soon after, Carl Thomas Dean drove by and stopped to talk. A while later, the couple went on their first date. Carl took Dolly to his parents’ house for dinner and told his mother to fix her a plate. “She’s the one I’m going to marry.” Two years later, the two wanted to marry but her agent, Fred Foster, advised against it. They did get married in Ringgold, Ga., but kept it a secret for a year. On May 30, the couple will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

THIS ‘N’ THAT

— In 1967, Dolly’s song “Dumb Blonde” made it into the top 10 on the country music charts. This got the attention of Porter Wagoner, who asked her to sing on his popular television show for $60,000 per year. Dolly Parton was on her way up.

— Dolly and Porter had a troublesome relationship, but stayed on the air together through 1974. It was for Porter Wagoner that Dolly wrote “I Will Always Love You” in appreciation for all he had taught her. Another huge hit, “Jolene,” was written that same evening.

— Between 1968 and 1972, Dolly released 21 albums.

— In 1978, Dolly became one of the few celebrities to have their own pinball machine. While in operation, it played “Here You Come Again.”

— In 1980, Jane Fonda sent Dolly a script for the movie “Nine to Five.” Reluctant at first, Dolly took the role, enjoyed acting and was nominated for an Oscar for writing the title song.

— Dollywood opened in 1986. It was originally a small tourist attraction opened in 1961 as Rebel Railroad. At other times and different owners. the park was known as Goldrush Junction and then Silver Dollar City. The “new” Dollywood put Pigeon Forge, Tenn., on the map and hundreds of people to work. The park has its one-millionth visitor just five months after opening.

— Dolly’s Imagination Library was founded in 1996. Every child in her home county receives a book (to keep) each month from birth until their fifth birthday. The program has spread across the country and into other countries. A rough estimate of books placed in the hands of children over the last 20 years is knocking on the door of 50 million.

— Scientists named the world’s first cloned mammal, a sheep, after Dolly Parton. When asked why, scientist Ian Wilmut said “Dolly (the sheep) is derived from the mammary gland cell and we couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton’s.”

— One Halloween, Dolly exaggerated her appearance and entered a Dolly Parton look-alike contest. She lost.

— Dolly estimates she has written around 5,000 songs and writes a new one every two or three days.

— Although Carl and Dolly have no children of their own, the couple raised five of her siblings.

— Dolly Parton and all her holdings are worth an estimated $500 million. She, however, has no maids or servants.”

IN HER WORDS …

“Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out.”

“Storms make trees take deeper roots.”

“When I am home, I spend Sunday with my husband. If we’re not cooking, we travel around in our camper, stop at fast-food restaurants, and picnic. We love that stuff that will harden your arteries in a hurry.”

“If I can get my dress on, my weight is under control.”

“I have tennis shoes with little rhinestones that I slip on if I exercise. But I always wear heels, even around the house. I’m such a short little thing, I can’t reach my kitchen cabinets.”

“I look just like the girl next door … if you happen to live next door to an amusement park.”

“The only way I’d be caught without makeup is if my radio fell in the bathtub and electrocuted me and I was between makeup at home. I hope my husband would slap a little lipstick on me before he took me to the morgue.”

“My husband says I look like a Q-tip.”

“I’m not offended my dumb blonde jokes because I know I am not dumb. I also know I am not blond.”

“You can’t change the wind, but you can adjust the sails.”

QUIK ANSWER: (b) Miley Cyrus.

Dolly Parton in 1978. (Albany Herald files)

Dolly Parton in a publicity photo from 1986 for her first TV movie, “A Smoky Mountain Christmas.” (Photo: ABC)