Bunnie Xo welcomed Dolly Parton to the Dumb Blonde podcast this week to talk about everything from her humble beginnings in the Great Smoky Mountains to the empire she’s built as the present-day Queen of Country music.
LISTEN NOW: Dolly Parton joins Bunnie Xo’s 'Dumb Blonde' podcast
Parton was quick to credit her hard-working father and spiritual mother for the balance she’s found in her personal life and career, and while she says everyone in her family was musical, it was always clear she had a little extra interest in the craft. Parton shared she used to do her siblings chores in order to get them to sing back-ups on her songs or help her record.
“They knew me as someone who would offer to do their chores if they would come help me sing on a song, or add some background,” she shared. While her musical talents were recognized by all within her family, it was her mom’s brother — Dolly’s Uncle Bill — who really fostered her creativity and eventually helped her land her first performance at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry at the young age of 13.
“It was scary,” Dolly recalled when asked about what she remembered from the night of her debut. “I remember my heart was beating like a drum.” I wasn’t just the performance that triggered her nerves, but the fact that she was introduced by Country great, Johnny Cash, who she recalls having a crush on at the time.
“I had seen Johnny Cash another time when we were sitting in the audience and I had the biggest crush on him because he had so much magnetism,” she shared before detailing the friendship she later got to form with he and wife June Carter Cash. “For years and years I told him he was my first crush, and he was.”
While Cash might’ve been her first crush, it was present-day husband, Carl Dean, who swept Dolly off her feet immediately upon her move to Nashville.
“I thought, ‘the last thing I want is a boyfriend,’” she said if her mindset while moving to Nashville to pursue music. “The very day I got to Nashville, I met Carl Dean and sixty years later — I’m still with Carl Dean… he’s quiet, I’m loud… we love each other, respect each other, but we have a lot of fun.”
Hear stories of Dolly and Carl from across the years in addition to more anecdotes from her upbringing, rise to fame a much more by checking out her entire conversation with Bunnie Xo on the Dumb Blonde podcast above.