By Edith G. Tolchin
While everyone knows Dolly Parton for her golden voice—she’s been famous across seven decades—not everyone knows that she favors songwriting to singing.
“I have often said that my songs are my children and that I expect them to support me when I’m old. Well, I am old, and they are,” writes Parton in her new book.
In the retrospective “Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics” by Dolly Parton (with Robert K. Oermann), the book features a page of lyrics with a companion page of story or photos about those lyrics. Also, while most chapters are written in the first person by Parton, the occasional chapter is written by her co-writer, Robert K. Oermann. The reader should note that the lyrics begin in chronological order, but later jump around between the 1970s and recent songs. In addition to Parton’s compelling life story, the book features many photos as well as 175 songs from her career.
Though she began writing songs at age five, Parton got her start at age 10 singing on a radio show in Knoxville and had her first recording at age 13.
Parton was the first family member to graduate high school in 1964 and the next day she got on a bus to Nashville with just her songs and some clothes. Her first songwriting royalty check was for $1.02 from Tree Publishing Co. in Nashville. She married Carl Dean in 1966, a man she met the day after she arrived in Nashville.
In 1969, Parton started singing on “The Porter Wagoner Show,” which she did for 5 years, and she was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. She also toured with Wagoner’s group. Toward the end of her time with Wagoner, there was conflict when she felt he tried to control her career. Parton felt she needed to control her own destiny and that ultimately led to their parting ways.
Throughout her songwriting career, Parton has never shied away from controversial themes including suicide, war, drugs, cheating partners, transgender issues, and strong women. “Whatever I write is just what comes out of me, and I refuse to be judged,” she writes.
The book is filled with interesting facts about the iconic Parton:
Concerning her megahit, “I Will Always Love You,” Parton sang this song to Burt Reynolds in the film “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” in 1982. She had refused to give up half of her rights to this song to Elvis Presley who’d wanted exclusivity on it. She was thrilled when Whitney Houston had a blockbuster hit with it from Houston’s 1992 movie, “The Bodyguard.”
Though it’s not necessary to prove how prolific she is, there this impressive note: “Dolly Parton has written roughly three thousand songs. Approximately 450 of them have been recorded, though not always by Dolly,” writes co-author Robert K. Oermann. In 1999, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Because her father was illiterate, Parton started the Imagination Library before he died in 2000, which is said to have given away over 150 million books to children.
With the new millennium, Dolly earned numerous awards, including the Kennedy Center honor in 2006 and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
She and husband Carl have been married for nearly 55 years. Her secret: “I think if you can be friends, that’s a big, big part of it . . . Being great friends is the secret of happiness.”
In the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 hit, Dolly donated $1 million to vaccine research.
While fans will be thrilled, some readers may feel there the book could have easily ended at 300 pages instead of 380. But overall, “Songteller” is greater in volume, beauty, and message than a typical coffee table book.
Edith G. Tolchin, whose most recent book is the comedic fictional memoir, “Fanny on Fire,” reviews for New York Journal of Books.
Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics
Dolly Parton (with Robert K. Oermann)
380 pgs., Chronicle, $50
