Daring Dolly Deep Dive During December's Demise
December 28, 2019 12:32 PM   Subscribe

Dolly Parton's America (trailer, 1m30s) is a 9-part podcast from Jad Abumrad and Shima Oliaee, assembled over 2 years, which goes further and deeper into Dolly Parton than you ever knew you wanted to go. But in the end, you realize it was something you needed all along. Start with Episode One: Sad Ass Songs - "[W]e dive into Dolly’s discography, starting with the early period of what Dolly calls “sad ass songs” to find remarkably prescient words of female pain, slut-shaming, domestic violence, and women being locked away in asylums by cheating husbands." [59m]

Episode Two: I Will Always Leave You - "This episode tells the story of the “Porter years,” the period during which Dolly arguably discovers her power - both as a performer and songwriter - and then makes the difficult (and radical for its time) decision to strike out on her own." [54m]

Episode Three: Tennessee Mountain Trance - "The trance opens a portal to many questions about country music, authenticity, nostalgia and belonging. And to a place called Dollywood." [41m]

Episode Four: Neon Moss - "Back on the mountaintop, standing under the rain by the Little Pigeon River, the trip triggers memories of Jad’s first visit to his father's childhood home, and opens the gateway to dizzying stories of music and migration." [43m]

Episode Five: Dollitics - "[S]he refuses to answer questions about President Trump, or any question on politics period. Her nephew calls this “Dollitics”: Dolly doesn’t take a position because she knows half her fans are on the right, half are on the left." [46m]

Episode Six: The Only One For Me, Jolene - "One of Dolly’s most iconic and successful songs is “Jolene,” a song that, at first listen, is about a romantic rival trying to steal her man: a prime example of the classic “cheating song.” But some see it as flipping a popular country music trope on its head." [37m]

Dolly's Wildflowers: live music from the series - A bonus episode of musical performances. [31m]

Episode Seven: Dolly Parton's America - "Dr Sacco gives the class an assignment: Write an essay that answers the question “What is Dolly Parton’s America?” Lurking just behind that question are thornier ones about Southern shame and identity and hillbillies and football and...well, Dolly." [41m]

Episode Eight: Dixie Disappearance - "This episode delves into the controversy surrounding Dolly Parton’s Stampede (formerly known as “Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede”)—a dinner theater that presents the Civil War as a friendly competition between neighbors." [40m]

Traveling Creatures: live music from the series - Another bonus music episode [13m]

The final episode will be released Tuesday, December 31.
posted by hippybear (10 comments total) 49 users marked this as a favorite
 


Was just listening to this and made it through episode 6, but it was a little too zoomed in on the host's perspective for me. Very interesting. I love Dolly's music.
posted by Peach at 1:28 PM on December 28, 2019


Oh, keep going - 7 and 8 are the best episodes of the series, and much less Jad-centric.
posted by Flannery Culp at 1:57 PM on December 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


I realized that I liked Dolly Parton when Hard Candy Christmas helped me get through one of the hardest winters of my life. I'm tearing up a little thinking about it now. I may not get a chance to listen to all the episodes, but I just wanted to get my thumbs-up-for-Dolly vote in.
posted by clawsoon at 2:39 PM on December 28, 2019 [3 favorites]


Such a timely post, as we just drove through Tennessee to the sound of this podcast. After "
Episode Four: Neon Moss" the first thing I did was to look up Rhiannon Giddens and get my fill of banjo music.
posted by of strange foe at 8:08 PM on December 28, 2019 [2 favorites]


Oh it’s fantastic. I was born in East Tennessee and grew up in Appalachia. This show is like group therapy for me and probably anyone else that ever felt conflicted about that.
posted by thivaia at 6:55 AM on December 29, 2019 [2 favorites]


Tonight is the 8th night of Partonukkah, a holiday celebrated by Jews who grew up in Appalachia. Well, one Jew who grew up in Appalachia.
posted by less of course at 7:10 PM on December 29, 2019 [7 favorites]


I’m listening to these as I do major pull-apart house cleaning. Thank you so much for posting this!
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 11:23 AM on December 31, 2019


Episode Nine: She's Alive! - "Dolly tells a story of finding God in an abandoned church filled with X-rated graffiti. And she speaks of her plans for how she'll be remembered after she’s gone—how her voice will live on for the next 50, 100, 200 years." [28m]
posted by hippybear at 4:24 PM on December 31, 2019 [1 favorite]


So, uh, Twitter – can we talk about Jolene?
A song I’ve never really listened to past the first few “Jolene Jolene”s but just came on the radio.
& … like …
My God
It is literally the gayest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.
Alexis Hall @quicunquevult 8:59 AM - 15 Jan 2020

“Jolene,” Genre, and the Everyday Homoerotics of Country Music: Dolly Parton’s Loving Address of the Other Woman Hubbs, Nadine. Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, vol. 19, 2015, p. 71-76. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/wam.2015.0017.
“Jolene” throughout is a direct address to the other woman. Far from adversarial, the lyric starts as a plea and quickly turns rhapsodic, an ode to the other woman’s beauty and desirability. Parton’s narrator rehearses the incomparable qualities of Jolene’s hair, skin, eyes, smile, and voice. She proclaims her vulnerability to, and even contingency on, Jolene: “My happiness depends on you.” And she addresses the other woman by her name, repeating it again and again, seemingly fixated—like the hypnotic, bluegrassy, finger-picking riff that introduces the song and repeats throughout each chorus until the final fade, tracing and retracing a short, circular path stepwise up (do–re–me) and down again.
The Only One For Me, Jolene, from the WNYC podcast Dolly Parton's America- "One of Dolly’s most iconic and successful songs is “Jolene,” a song that, at first listen, is about a romantic rival trying to steal her man: a prime example of the classic “cheating song.” But some see it as flipping a popular country music trope on its head. This idea takes shape when Nadine Hubbs, a professor at the University of Michigan, writes a fourth verse to “Jolene," which makes us reimagine Dolly's songs in entirely new ways. "

Jolene at 33 rpm
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:53 PM on January 18, 2020


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