Dolly Parton Visits Country Woman Magazine

Dolly Parton visited Country Woman Magazine on the heels of her new album, ‘Blue Smoke,’ and she talked about her dreams, her future, and her past. Read some choice quotes below.

Country Woman AS 14 - Cover-Dolly Parton (1)

Where she gets inspiration from her songs:

“My songs are the door to every dream I’ve had and every success I’ve ever achieved.”

On playing the guitar at age seven and what she used as a fake microphone:

“I used to put a tin can on a tobacco stick. And those were not chickens out there in the yard, they were my audience.”

What she would have done if she didn’t pursue her passion:

“If it hadn’t been for music, I’d have been a beautician. Or maybe I’d have been a missionary; but where would I get my hair done?”

How Dollywood got started:

“I just love [the mountain range] the Smokies. I bought the old home place years ago and fixed it up as a retreat.”

Her goals for Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort (opening next summer):

“With the resort, we want to inspire people to bring their families and connect again. In this high-tech world, everybody is off in his or her own little world and always on some smartphone or a computer or something, and we’re not connecting as a family. Everybody is living separately, together. We’re trying to encourage people to bond with family again…at least for a vacation.”

On being the book lady when it comes to her organization Imagination Library:

“We send a book once a month to kids from the time they’re born until they start school. Many of the kids don’t know I sing or write songs. To them, I’m the book lady.”

On fond family memories growing up in the country:

“In the country, it’s just too hot in your old house in the summertime to be inside. So everybody gathered on the front porch or the back porch, depending on where the shade was. That’s where we’d sit to gossip, to talk together and to sing and to play. The porch was a very special place for us.”

How her faith and country roots have kept her sane:

“Well, it’s all kept me sane. It’s kept me stable. A belief in God is essential. You have to believe in something bigger than yourself. We grew up believing that through God all things are possible. I think I believed that so much that I made it happen. I just live by that Scripture. The fact that I can write is very helpful, too. I can write about anything I feel. Also, family helps me stay grounded and humble. I know what it’s like to be without, and I know what it’s like to have things. And I appreciate both.”

What she’s working on now:

“Right now, I’m writing my life story as a musical for the stage. That’s really one of my big dreams, and it’s in the works.”

On landing a career among country music’s most honored performers:

“I think of myself as a working girl.”

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