Dolly Parton

Don’t let the Backwoods Barbie flash fool you — under the piled-high hair and brilliantly bedazzled façade lives one of music’s sharpest songwriters, and a voice, impossible to imitate, as fresh, fluid, and pure as a sparkling Smokey Mountain stream. More than a cherished country icon, more than a crossover queen, Dolly Parton is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime artist who can move you to tears with the simple beauty of the autobiographical “Coat of Many Colors,” then turn around and sass it up but good with her gutsy breakout story-song, “Joshua,” and the working-woman’s pop-hit anthem “9 to 5.”

Dolly delivers a bluegrass “Travelin’ Prayer” as we journey to Next Steps for more essential Dolly Parton.

If you’ve ever wondered how “Stairway to Heaven” would sound sung with an actual angel’s voice, then offer your ears to Dolly Parton’s incredible, intimate cover of the Led Zeppelin staple. The song is a glorious example of Parton’s genius for singular sounds, but it’s just one jewel in a Next Steps playlist set with everything from Top 10 duets (“The Last Thing On My Mind” with Parton’s early-days mentor Porter Wagoner), to landmark solo singles (“Just Because I’m a Woman”), and, for good measure, Oscar®-nominated flights of fancy (“Travelin’ Thru”), and harmony-drenched country collaborations (“Wildflowers” with Trio partners Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt).

Dolly and Porter are “Making Plans” to be lonesome, but in Deep Cuts we’re keeping company with more great Dolly Parton tunes.

Dolly Parton laid her cards on the table from the time of her very first Country charter, 1967’s not-what-she-seems single “Dumb Blonde.” Since then, she’s never been anything less than true to her instincts, smarts, and talent, whether she’s strolling into popdom arm-in-arm with Kenny Rogers (“Real Love”), demonstrating her superlative songwriting skills on soaring country tributes (a gorgeous “Eagle When She Flies), or lettin’ loose her incomparable pipes on a rowdy bluegrass “Cash On the Barrelhead.” And live? Parton proves her gift is the real deal on a heart-stopping “Smokey Mountain Memories.”

She’s been performing for more than half a century, earning GRAMMY® Awards, Oscar® nominations, and hit upon stone-smash-hit along the way. She’s starred in movies and on TV, even opened her own theme park. She’s known for big hair, bigger presence, and a wardrobe that keeps the rhinestone industry afloat, but at the beating heart of Dolly Parton’s monumental success is an unbreakable bond with her humble Smokey Mountain home and a staggering talent for writing and singing everything from classic country to bluegrass to mainstream pop and back. Her bittersweet song of parting “I Will Always Love You” is one of the most moving tunes ever to rule the charts, but she just as easily sends lusty honky-tonkers, like “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That,” over the party-time top. From the early country stunner “Jolene” to the twice-as-nice Kenny Rogers duet “Islands In the Stream,” these are the very necessary Essentials of an American living legend.