It Was Dolly’s World, We Were Just Living In It

What can we say about Dolly Parton, the spectacular singer, songwriter, musician, businesswoman, and national treasure who just passed away at the age of 80, that hasn’t already been said? What did the New York Times miss in its very thorough obituary?

The answer is, unless you knew her personally, probably very little. Her stellar career has been well documented for decades.

While most people are reminiscing about her music, we care more about what a damn good leader she was. And all the qualities we can learn from her. 

1. SHE HAD THE GOODS. 

Dolly didn’t just turn up one day and say, “Hey y’all, I’m rich and famous, pay attention to me!” She wrote more than 3000 songs. When she sang, people listened. They couldn’t help it. It was that simple. Her authority wasn’t dreamed up in a record company marketing department. It came from doing the damn work. 

• SHE HAD HER PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. 

Dolly was famous for never taking herself too seriously. None of the jokes made about her, whether it was her big hair, her dress code, her deep-Appalachia accent, or her store-bought bosom, weren’t said by her already, publicly, many times. She called herself a backwoods, Barbie and famously admitted it takes a lot of money to look that cheap. She could out-nay the biggest naysayers out there. The trolls could never land a punch because she’d already thrown them all herself. 

• REAL POWER COMES FROM EMPATHY.

Her father never learned how to read. Once Dolly escaped her very humble beginnings and made it big, she never disappeared so far into the celebrity bubble that she forgot what really mattered to her. She built the Imagination Library, which shipped more than two hundred million books to children. She wrote about feelings no amount of money can make you immune to: heartbreak, pride, struggle, dignity, love, work. Her life grew to extraordinary heights, but the subject matter of her songs stayed relatively ordinary. She wrote with extreme tenderness and relatability because she never forgot where she came from, or stopped considering the people who were still there. 

• SHE KNEW WHAT A NO WAS WORTH 

In 1974, Elvis wanted to record, “I will always love you.” His manager demanded half the publishing rights. Dolly said no to the biggest star on earth and went home and cried all night. 20 years later, Whitney Houston‘s version earned her millions and the copyright never left her hands. She always called it the smartest business decision she ever made. 

• SHE KEPT AT IT.

Her career had its ups and downs, like every long career does. When her stint in commercial pop dipped in the 80s, she returned to her country roots and transitioned to acoustic music. At 68, Dolly was the highlight of the 2014 Glastonbury Festival (the British equivalent of Coachella), grabbing national headlines at an age when most musicians are expected to be reminiscing about their glory days, not creating new ones.

• SHE KEPT WHAT WAS UNDER THE HOOD, UNDER THE HOOD.

She was a brilliant businesswoman whose investments made her far more money than royalties ever could. But you never heard her make a big deal of any of it. She was married to the same man for sixty years. Not a fellow pop star, but a real estate developer. Rumor has it she would cover her big hair with scarves and wear loose clothing when they went out in public, so she could protect them from the onslaught of obsessive fans. She gave the world plenty of Dolly, but never all of her. Some things stayed sacred because she refused to turn them into a spectacle.

• SHE DIDN’T TAKE SHORTCUTS

Her talent was off the charts, but talent wasn’t what kept her on stage for six decades. Discipline did. Stamina did. The rhinestones were fake. Nothing underneath them was. 

The universe is suddenly minus one very bright light. She wrote, “I Will Always Love You,” 50 years ago. And now we sing it back to her. Rest in peace, Dolly. And thank you for all that you gave us.