Dolly Parton: Queen of Everything

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It was incredible. And I can't, I'm just so grateful and so thankful. Bunny X-O, Bunny X-O, Bunny X-O, Bunny X-O, Bunny X-O, Bunny X-O, Bunny X-O, Bunny X-O, Bunny X-O because I started this podcast six years ago and when I named this podcast, I named it after a specific song that was tongue-in-cheek, but also was an oxymoron to my life, but also a woman who I have admired and literally just patterned my entire life after the iconic, the queen of, not just country, but the queen of everything, Miss Dolly Parton is here today. Well, hello, now we should put an ass on the dumb blonde. I'm talking two of us here today. Will you be my co-host? I'll be your co-host. I would love for you to be my co-host. I've got a bony and squirrel. I love it. I love it. So it's both are fast though. Very, very slippery suckers, right? Yeah, very, very. This has been something that I have pretty much manifested since I started this podcast. Everybody has always asked me, "Who is your dream guest?" And there's two of you. Dolly Parton and Joyce Meyers are the two people that I have said that I have wanted since the beginning and sitting here with you today is such an honor and I just want to say thank you for making time for me today. Well, I'm happy to do it. We love you. You're great on your own. No. And you're no dumb blonde. No, I can tell you that. Thank you. And neither one of us are though, right? No, I don't know about me, but I know you're okay. Well, I mean, the testimony to your life is pretty much shows how brilliant of a woman you are and I kind of want to dive into that with you. Starting with, I want to paint a picture for my viewers at home. For some people who might not even know your backstory, I'd like to start with your childhood and where you grew up and stuff like that if you could tell me a little bit about that. Well, I grew up in the great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee way up in the hills. Actually, I was actually born in a little cabin on the little pigeon river. My dad was a sharecropper for a while and then eventually we moved over to the little place we call Locus Ridge where you hear me talk a lot about my Tennessee mountain home. But there's 12 of us in all. Mama had 12 kids and six boys and six girls. We were pretty even and we were just country people just trying to scratch her, living out of dirt up there in the hills. But I was blessed to have a good mom and dad and they managed pretty good to work with nothing to try to, you know, raise a house full of kids and none of us wound up in jail. None of us had to get married. So all in all, I think they did a pretty good job. But we were just a lot of folks in our area were poor. That's just the way it was in that area. But it's been one of the greatest things, really, that I've cared with me all my memories of my childhood. And so maybe appreciate life and people more than if I had been brought up a different way, I think. Yes, ma'am. I always feel like harder childhoods make for great adulthoods. It like sets you up for just a lifetime of, you know, knowing that you have to work for what you want and going after your dreams. And you, I feel like you dream a little bit bigger too. I think you do. I think you also kind of can relate, you know, to things more. And you also, because if you like us, you stay so close together as a family in order to try to make it. And I think that in yourself gives you a strength that you wouldn't have had you not had, you know, to know what it's like to work together. Yes, ma'am. You know, to make things work and to keep family together. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. A lot of your songs are deeply personal. And some of them reference your father's tough love. And you've also spoken about your mom's faith, how she was, you know, extremely religious. Do you feel that the tough love approach and her religious views is kind of what made you so independent or like dare I say rebellious? Oh, I don't think I'm rebellious as much as I'm just strong. And I get my work ethic from my dad, and I get my spirituality and, you know, just my faith, I mean, my faith, but also just my creativity from my mom's side of them, because they were all musical. Now, dad's people worked hard and dad was not a tough dad. He was strong though. He was kind of like that. We knew we knew we better watch out. He wasn't willing to play with. No, he wasn't going to beat us to death or anything like that. But we weren't afraid of mama, you know, we could get by with anything with her. But she would say, you know, you couldn't push her over the age, she'd say, okay, now that's enough, right? But my dad, we, but I think that that was a good combination with mom's faith and, uh, and with dad's, uh, strength that it made us really all pretty well balanced kids, I think. I love that. I love that a lot. The respect that you have for your parents still after all these years is admirable also. Yeah, well, I loved my family. Still do. I have, I stay as close as I can to them. Certainly if I don't see them as often as I'd love to, but they're always in my heart. Now, I always carry home with me wherever I go and I write so many songs in order. Well, it comes natural to me, but I often do it just to keep all that straight and keep that still present because it's so easy and I'm sure, you know, living out in this big world, you can just go anyway, whether it be right or wrong. You can go left and right and wrong. But it's, it's like, if you keep that thing and you remember as a child, that faith, I keep that very, I'm very, I'm a big person, you know, on faith and keeping that strength because that's my creative energy and my, and my spiritual energy is the thing that keeps me motivated, keeps me strong, keeps me from falling through the cracks, keeps you grounded. Crazy world, yeah. I always say that. I'm like, whenever you're on your knees, you're in the best position to pray. Yeah. It is literally like that has been the only thing that has gotten me through and any hard times in my life is being able to call on Jesus and be like, all right, big homie. I know we got this. I know you got this for me. Speaking about family and you being so close with your brothers and sisters, everybody knows you as Dolly the icon, but how did they know you before all of this? Like if they could describe you, how would they describe the Dolly that they grew up with? Well, I was just another one of those little regularish kids, you know. They were in the smoke, you know, in the mountains, but we all loved the music. I took it more serious, I think, because my uncle Bill, one of my mom's brothers, he took a great interest in me because he saw me paying more attention to it than maybe some of the others did because I was always trying to learn all the chords on a guitar or any kind of an instrument laying around. And so they knew me as somebody that's going to offer to do their chores if they'll come help me sing on a song or if they'll add some background or help me work up a background part that I thought of if I remember once. I had, when Pig Latin, when I was in school, somebody came up with Pig Latin and I never learned how to speak that. Well, I did. And because I was fascinated with anything different. I only learned, I only learned to do it. Yeah, I'm going to sing you a song in Pig Latin. But anyway, so I came up with a song called "Friendless Enemy" and I wanted the backgrounds to be like she was my best friend to go with that in the background. So it was like, "E-Shay, Ausweigh, I may S-Bay in French, E-Shay, Ausweigh, I may S-Bay in French, ooh, ooh." And that meant she was my best friend. But if the song was, she's the friendless enemy, I believe, every D-C, and she'd better get my baby over her mind, He shay as when I may as they embrace. So anyway, I had to get my sisters because they had to learn it, you know, they had to learn all that. I had to offer to do their chores for a week or two to, you know, for them to take the time to do it and just make them do it. So, you know, that kind of stuff. So they knew me as somebody that was always singing, always writing, always, you know, fidgety, I couldn't stay still, you know, I was just kind of always full of energy and life. But we all loved each other. We all had our own personalities. We all loved each other for the way we were and that's how we still are. We all, some of us were good mix, you know, we're all a good mix. But a lot of them are more like mom's people or some are more like days. But I was a really good mix between the two and I love that. That is perfect. And I really think you need to release that song in person. Well started new trend again. We actually did it up in, as one of the shows in, at Dollywood when I was telling my life story. So we worked it in a couple of years ago, and at the Dolly show, and my nieces got such kick having, having to learn to sing it up there on the show. But everybody was singing it because everybody tried to learn that little part. I love it. I was so jealous of the people who could do Piggy Lotten because I just couldn't do it. I just could not catch on to it or how to do it. So I'm just fascinated that you can do it. That was a big, so I learned to stop it right now. That was Farmer's daughter. I love that. So circling back to your family, you helped raise, being from 12 children, you guys all took turns raising a baby, right, in the family. The oldest ones did. That is what I had read. And you had one specifically your brother Larry that you helped raise. Listen, nobody wants to give their money away to ridiculous bank fees. It's your money. You shouldn't have to pay somebody just to keep it in an account. That's why I like what time is doing. There are no overdraft fees, no monthly fees, and no minimum balance fees. You can also get 5% cash back on your time card in a category you choose, like gas or groceries, while building credit through your everyday spending with no credit check. And if you're ever in a pinch, spot me lets you overdraft up to $200 fee free. To me, banking should make managing your money easier, not nickel and dime you every chance it gets. So if you're tired of ridiculous fees, time is definitely worth checking out. Join the millions who are already banking fee free with America's number one choice for banking. Head to chimed.com/bunny. That's chimed.com/bu and an i.e. Sign up now. It only takes a few minutes. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services and chime card provided by Chime's bank partners, qualifying direct deposits required. Go to chimed.com/disclosures for details. Attention all new and existing members of the WDNC. I'm Melanie Sanders and this is the We Do Not Care Club Podcast. We got to meet life and realize we just simply do not care much anymore. Now we got to help each other make sense of hot flashes, dry koochi, chin hair, trifling families, brain fog, and bat wings. We are not alone and we will be heard. So come join the WDNC follow and listen to the We Do Not Care Club podcast with Melanie Sanders wherever you get your podcast. Can we touch base on that whole situation a little bit? Well I think let me clear up a little bit. We all had, I have a sister and two brothers older than me and there's eight kids younger. But we, mom had so many kids, there was only 18 months, two years difference in our, in all of our age. One dad married when mom was 15, she had her first baby at 16 and so they were just born one right after another. So any older child had to help with whoever was coming along. But the one that was going to be my baby was little Larry. He didn't live that long actually and you know he was just, he died at birth but he was, I'd followed mom around when she was pregnant the whole time. She said that was going to be mine, I'd sing, do it and I'd kiss on the belly and you know it couldn't wait for my baby to come but he didn't make it and it just crushed me because I, that was when I, you know, I didn't understand about death and all of that. So that was a real hit for me at that age that I had lost my baby. I thought it was some, you know, I had a guilt thing about it somehow that I'd done something wrong. But I think any child that goes through a thing like that but we all agreed over him, not just me. But I, more than the others because he was supposed to be mine. I was picturing how he was going to rock him and how he was going to sing in my songs and you know and all that. But, but we loved all the kids and we all helped with all the kids. You've spoken about the influence of your family. So would you say that Larry's spirit and the memory of him has continued to impact you both personally and professionally because after that he passed away when you were nine correct. And then at 10 is when you like started performing and kind of like, I don't know, I feel like maybe it was kind of like a push, it was at your way of dealing with the pain. No, no, I don't think there had anything to do with it. I was so musically oriented in new way and I had my dreams, it did take me a while. I was so depressed as a little kid over that, took me a while to kind of overcome that. I mean, you know, weeks and months kind of, I didn't know why I really wasn't all that interested in stuff. But I don't think that had anything to do with the rest of my life. It just taught me about grief, you know, how we all have to learn those things at some age. And so that was, you know, that was a real hard hit. But no, that after I got over the grief of that and I moved on, I knew he was in heaven and we would, if Mom could handle it, certainly I could, you know, that kind of thing. But I just was ready to go on and Michael Bill was pushing me on and he saw my desire and my dreams and so we would, he would take me around to, you know, to different local things to sing and on the local radio and TV. But all of those things helped to make up a human being, all those memories of the bad and the good. And you know, I think that just all, you don't even know what parts they really play, a little things that happen. It just either, if nothing else, it makes your heart tender or you know how you have to protect certain things and it teaches you got to know about those things. Yes, ma'am, I couldn't agree more. So, you know, at 10 years old, you're starting to work with Uncle Bill and you guys are going around, you know, you're performing and stuff like that. At 10 years old, a lot of kids are still figuring out who they are. How did you find your confidence to stand out and perform at such a young age like that? Well, I was always writing songs, I was always able to rhyme and Mama was always fascinated and there was always so much commotion in the house for that many kids. Oh, I can imagine. And none of us really got any real special attention unless we were in trouble, you know, or something, you're going to get called out or something. But I learned early on, Mama was always fascinated and you know, when I'd sing these songs that I'd written, I would hear people talk, I'd hear stories. So I was writing songs at 8, 7, 8, 9 years old about people getting killed in the war, things that I'd never seen or done, but I was able to rhyme and write. And Mama would, she would always, I noticed early on that I'd get more attention because of that and of course everybody wants to be paid attention to, everybody wants to be special. So when somebody come to our house, Mama would often say, "Running each guitar." And then she'd say, "Who ever was the uncle to hear this thing, this little thing wrote, uncle to hear this song, this little thing wrote." And so I'd be really just singing my song and I was getting all that extra attention which is making some of the other kids jealous because they weren't doing it, but they didn't work as hard as I do, but learning them chords, I had little calluses on my little fingers, you know, cut deep, they were hard, they hardened, I had to really learn it till it, you know, hardens those calluses for you to play. So I took the time to do a lot of the things and some of the younger ones weren't willing to do. So I just saw that that was, and I got the confidence from Mama, Braganome, and I knew that I could do something special that some of them couldn't play in the guitar and all that. But I just, and then Uncle Bill, he took great pride in me and anytime somebody would tell me, "Oh, you're going to be good, you're just, I just kind of took that." And my personality was very, you know, susceptible to that kind of stuff. Do you feel like you're an old soul because you were able to relate to those songs of like people losing people in the war and stuff like that? Like to be 10 years old and writing songs like that, like you would have to resonate with them in some way. Well, I'm just very perceptive and I had the gift of rhyme as I mentioned, and I had the gift of song. And so I would just hear things and you can always, you know, I was, I could kind of take a story from one other thing and I could change a few things around so I didn't feel like I was necessarily an old soul that I had lived before or anything, I mean, I might have, I hope I did, I hope I might live again. But I just think I was just able to do that because I had a, I was very perceptive and receptive and I just had a very creative mind, you know, I had a great imagination. So it wasn't hard for me to make up a bunch of junk. Well, being around 12 kids, I'm sure to even just get any sort of piece you had to have a great imagination. - Yeah, I'd sneak up, 'cause there was a lot of kids going on a sneak up behind the wood chair, round the outhouse, sit back there, do whatever you do, wrap my song, shake a spot or a warm spot. But yeah, I was always into that guitar and I was writing my song. - I love everything that you do is productive. I want my daughter to watch this. Our daughter to watch this, because she's 16 right now, she's still trying to find her place in this world. And I think it's awesome that, you know, you were so productive at such a young age. Can we talk about Uncle Bill? - Okay, Uncle Bill really believed in you and he took you to all these shows and then he landed you in the Cass Walker Farm and Home Hour and you became a regular on that show. Can you take me on that journey? - Well, Knoxville was about 30 miles from where we actually lived and I had an aunt that lived in Knoxville that was where the show was from. And so I would, in the summer, after I got, to where I actually got the job, when I got old enough to be allowed to stay away from home, but God, I was so homesick. She worked at one of those department stores and my uncle was a carpenter. So I was there in that house a lot and I would go up to the top of the hill from where they lived and I'd catch a bus down to the radio station. I'd take my little guitar and I would go to walk across the viaduct, I guess is what they call it, like a big bridge, have my little guitar and then I would go do the Cass Walker Show, play my little guitar, do my songs and Bill wasn't always with me there. Bill was doing a lot of other things but when I was working on the-- - Bill was living a full life. - Walker Show, yeah, well he did some of my things but I could go there and then the guys that the Brewster Brothers especially that worked with the Cass Walker Show, they'd back me up and work with me, play in the songs or sing something with me. And then sometimes I'd wait while I was waiting for the bus, I'd just get my guitar out to be singing and some people would walk by and they'd think that I was standing on the corner and they'd drop money in my guitar case, which I love because then I'd go home and buy those little jiffy burgers up at the top of the hill from where my aunt lived, they were like a crystal white castle things. Oh, that was the greatest thing if I made enough, somebody threw enough money in and then I got on to that to where I just got to play it and I even wrote a song with my brother Floyd called Nichols and Dimes and it was about that time when I was walking across. But working with the Cass Walker Show was amazing. Bill had taken me there early on before I got the job. He's the one that got me, as you mentioned, got me on the Cass Walker Show and he'd take me to the fair, the county fair where I could join in contest and different things like that. And then eventually he would take me back and forth to Nashville. And so he just had, he saw that I was so serious about it and he saw that I had potential and I'd just, and Bill was a great guitar player. Bill wrote great songs, we wrote great songs together. In fact, in '19, I guess it was '67, we won the song of the year, BMI Song of the Year and put it off until tomorrow. Bill Phillips on deck of records. He was a pretty big artist at the time. And so I got, when I had, we had sent the demo to him from when we'd just written it. Then they wanted me to sing on the demo. So that was kind of like my first kind of break, up being heard, like on the, on the real radio. Everybody was, DJ's were calling, who's the girl singing with the Bill Phillips on the Bill Phillips song? So anyway, that was kind of a moment too. - That's awesome that Uncle Bill's been so pivotal in your career. - Yeah. - That's amazing. At 10 years old, being on the cast walker show, who were some of your musical influences? Was there anybody that you wanted to be like or did you have an idea of like, hey, I'm gonna pave my own way? - Well, all of my people were very musical. And so I think some of my greatest influences were within my own family. My, I had an aunt, Dorothy Jo, my mom's sister. Well, she played the band, so she played the guitar and she wrote great songs. And she was an evangelist. She also, it was a pinnacle of stupidity. - I love that. - Yeah, and I used to, well, I was just totally influenced by her. But as far as some of the others, there were the kitty, you know, there was kitty whales on the Grand Ole Opry and Roy Acuff. And there was some early on after I got to out, to where we really had a little bit more exposure to Big Radio and all. There was a woman named Rose Maddox. She was, it was the Maddox brothers and Rose. She worked with her brothers and as the first time, I'd ever seen people dress in the roundstones. They wore kind of western, kind of like the, how the Grand Ole Opry does, but they were the first ones I'd ever seen do that. And so, and they also put a show together. A little, they did little bits, a little comedy and little things and I thought that was amazing. So, you find that now that I'm older, I look back. And I find that I have just picked up bits and pieces from so many people through the years and I've learned so much that I didn't realize I'm like a sponge, you know, I just, without even knowing that I'm doing it. And then later on, I'll do something. And I'll be like, "Oh, that reminds me so much of when I saw so and so or." Or, you know, you just learn, you just learn to watch it. - Well, I always say we're like a masterpiece of all the art we pick up from each person. You know, it's just like little gyms of their souls that we take with us and that, you know, we look back on and we're like, "Okay, this influence this and this influence that, so." I love that you always give credit where credit's due because I'm the same way. Like, if anybody asks me what you're like, I'm like, "Dolly, I'm Dolly all day long, you know." - Well, I'm wish, you look like you. - Oh, stop it. - You didn't need me for that. - Oh, you listen, we could trade outfits right now and I'd be happy. I love this outfit right here. - Well, yeah, we love God, I guess. - God. - We're like, absolutely, yes. So circling back, let's talk about the Grand Old Opera because you made your first appearance at the Grand Old Opera when you were 13 years old. How was that for you walking out on that stage at 13, being introduced by Johnny Cash? - It was scary. (laughing) - Yeah, I could imagine. - Yeah, I remember my heart was beating like a drum, but I always said my desire to do a thing has always been greater than my fear of it. So I just try to hold on to that. I thought, well, I can't turn around in the middle of stage or run back, I thought, I gotta finish. It's kind of how I felt today. - No matter what. - That was so scared. - Oh no, in a good way though. I feel like if you're not scared of what you're doing, you're not growing. - Well, I agree with that, but anyway, that was scary. That was big. That was, you know, working with, just being around all those big others, but I was also in awe of it. And like I said, of course, I'm not just a country kid. You know, you're always nervous when you first time you ever eat in a restaurant around people, you're not used to knowing how to do that, what spoons and forks, and even to this day, I still don't know exactly what I'm saying. - Yeah. - When I go to big five meals and all that, but I figured, well, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't a star, so to hell with 'em. I'm gonna eat what I eat, do has to. - Yeah. - But I still would like to know those things, but I just never know that. And now I don't care that I, you know, sometimes you think, ooh. - It's a point where you've earned. - You just kind of watch other people. That's how you learn. You say, oh, watch them, and they pick that up off, pick that up, and all it is, and all it is. - I could never, I could not point out a solid fork to you if somebody paid me. I don't know how to do that either. - But that's what I'm saying. I just kind of watch if it's a big old, big thing. Like if I'm invited to eat the royal family or something, you think, yeah, I'm very uncomfortable. - Yeah. - But I mean, I better watch, so I don't make a fool of myself. - Oh, well they, so circling back to the opera, Johnny Cash introduced you, and he's known for his powerful presence and mentorship. What do you remember about your interaction with him that night, and did he say anything to you that stuck with you throughout your career? - He said hello. (laughing) That stuck with me because, at that time, I thought, see, I had seen Johnny Cash at another time when we were sitting in the audience, and I had the biggest question on you. - Oh my goodness, yeah. - 'Cause he had so much magnetism, and I was young. You know, I was just beginning to feel those hormones. - Yeah. - Look at, you know, to where you feel those things. I never felt very masculine energy. - Well, he did, you know, he had all that, you know, movement, and I found out later, because he was coming off drugs. Oh, no, he had, he just had twitches, and what I thought was magnetism. (laughing) - I love that. - But, there was some truth in that, I thought, you know, he was a Pisces, right, yeah. But, I loved him, and as for years and years, I told him he was my first crush, and he was. And then, so, in my Broadway musical, The Life Story, I covered that about Johnny touching me on the shoulders, like, I mean, it just changed my life. - Yeah. - You know, because I wasn't, I thought I was growing then, 'cause I felt all those feelings. But he was, he was a real nice guy, and very quiet. But I became best friends with June and Johnny, after so, as the years went by, you know, we would visit, and we liked each other a lot. - She was a good woman, I really, I remember. She was a loud mouth like me, so we got along just fine, and Johnny, I remember when somebody said something about, "Johnny, don't you get tired of hearing June talk all the time?" And he said, - No. - I do some of my best thinking when June's talking. So, it's still gonna get true to me as well. - I think he does some of his best thinking when I'm talking. - I think that's how all husbands are. They just tune us out. They're just so used to us. - I'm sure they do. - When you performed that night, did you already have a sense of like the legacy that you wanted to build in country music or did that experience at the opera shift your perspective on what was possible for you as an artist? - Because at that time I was just so nervous and I reflected on that years later as I still do. But at that time it was just a big deal to be there on at the Grand Ole Opry with all those big name artists. And so I think that I was just, it was just kind of addling at that time. I was just kind of addled about the whole thing. But I knew that that was, just like when I got my encore on the cast Walker Show the first time I was on there. And I thought, oh boy, you know I'm gonna be a star. And now years later I realized they weren't applauding so much because I was good. It was just 'cause I was little. You know, I know it wasn't, 'cause I wasn't. You know you have to develop and grow. But you know everybody wants to be good to a kid. And the fact that I was out there doing it, I think that people were just extra nice. And I think a whole lot of that might have been so with the opera it was just kind of cute when you see a young person doing something. So, but I did feel, and I felt back on it shortly after thinking wow, you know I was on Wendell Opry and they liked me. - They asked you for the re-encore. - This is what I want to do. - Yeah, they asked you for the re-encore as after your first performance there. - No, I'm joking. They asked, no actually they did applaud and I kept singing the same, you know, last first couple of times. She's like, this is all you get. - This is all a practice. - Yeah. - So soon after that you ended up moving to Nashville and you graduated from high school correct and then you ended up moving to Nashville and you moved to Nashville with, you know, minimal amounts of money. How did you make ends meet in those early days and were there any creative or unexpected ways you found to survive while pursuing your dreams out there? - Well I was lucky because there are so many songwriters in Nashville and publishing companies and a lot of the people that write songs are not good singers. So all the publishing companies they hire if there's a song, female songs that you can get a job singing those songs. So I got work through tree publishing company, Buddy Kill and it was a dear friend. And so he would get me on these sessions singing some of the songs that these writers had written singing the girl song and then I didn't have a card and have a phone and have anything. And so all these musicians, 'cause I was a rap pretty girl at that time, you know, this young girl and, you know, it's so beautiful. And so I had all these musicians that were on the sessions are always willing to drive me home. Always willing to stop showing about me a burger. Some of them thinking they might get more and some of them might have, but that was not. Because I'm lucky fellows. - I know, but I'm so serious. It's like they were always so good to me. Everybody seemed to know that my heart wasn't a good place and that I was just come to girl. I was funny, you know, I was always cracking jokes or, you know, just being well like I am now, really. But everybody got a kick out of me. So I was just one of the boys because I had six brothers and all my uncles and my grandpa was not a bit shy around the man and I knew how to, you know, how to maneuver with all that. So I made money and then I also got on a small salary with tree publishing company in those early days. And then later I got with the combine music with Fred Foster, a monument records. They had a publishing company. So I was lucky that I always got a little bit of a salary as a writer of my own songs in addition to being able to sing some of the demos. - She's like, I figured it out, sister. I did what I had to do. I love that so much. - But I used to go in the early, early days. I would walk down to the hotels and I would walk through the hallways and I would see all the trays out on the front of the doors and any food that, you know, like all those little mustard and ketchup packets and bottles. I'd take those all back and anything that looked like, you know, that was pretty decent to still eat. - I would get it, I would just kind of get a napkin off of the tray and put it all in my purse. - Yeah. - So whatever you had to do to survive it. - And there was a restaurant down around 12th Avenue at that time and this was different places I live but right above the hill. It was called Calzars. It became very famous. It was a meat and three in the two. The Calzars brothers owned it. And I would walk down there and they locked me. And so they would give me free food. They would give me a good meal. But I would clean off the tables and I would refill the salt and pepper shakes and I would, you know, do all the things that you do like that. So I could, I would do that. I didn't get it for money but I got good food and then they'd pack me stuff to take home too. - Oh, that is so sweet. I never knew what a meat and three was until I moved to Nashville. And I was like, what is that? I love them now. I think the concept is so awesome. I think they need them all over everywhere. Not just in the South, like on the West Coast and everywhere I think it they would just be a hit. - But I guess if somebody out there don't know what a meat and three is. - Yes. - Wherever the choice of meat, whether it be meatloaf and it's like three, three bags with three side dishes you get. - Yes. - But yeah, all of those terms I never, I remember once I was on the road with one of my brothers and we were just, he played the bass and my first, one of my first bands. And we stopped at a truck stop and he had, I guess it looked at the menu and it had corn beef, corn beef and cabbage. When they brought it and he said, "Well, what is my corn?" 'Cause he knows corn, corn beef, bread from corn. - Corn to beef. - Yeah, corn beef and cabbage and he said, "Well, what is my corn?" She said, "What did you want corn, sir?" He said, "Well, it says corn beef." - He took it literally. - Yeah, we always, there's jokes about those things with country boys coming to Nashville to tell their stories. - So switching gears, we're gonna talk about Carl for a second because you came to Nashville. Did you think coming to Nashville, you were gonna meet the love of your life as soon as you came here? - I left two boyfriends back home that had wanted to marry me and I kept saying, "No, I'm going to move Nashville." You know, when I, you know, I mean, different, well, I left two boyfriends. (laughing) I love that there was two of them. - And I thought, yeah, well, I dated, but not at the same time, but they were like in that. - That's okay, have you dated? - They both, well, I know that's true too. (laughing) But my point is that I thought, well, the last thing I want is boyfriend. I got it, you know, 'cause I'm leaving two boyfriends here and I kept saying, "No, I'm going to Nashville." And so I got here and I thought, well, that's the last thing I'm gonna get caught up with some boy, you know, 'til I get my feet on the ground and get things going and the very day, I got to Nashville, I met Coraldean. And 60 years later, I'm still with Coraldean. But that's the one that took, yeah, we've been together for 60 years, we've been married 58. Going on, that's six decades. - Yeah, well, it took. (laughing) But anyway, he's a good guy and, you know, he's caught and I'm loud and we just, we're funny. - Oh, he's hilarious. - And I think one of the things that's made it last so long through the years, we love each other, we respect each other, but we have a lot of fun. Anytime things get too much tension going on, we either one of us can like find a joke about it to have the tension and where it's not, we don't let it go, you know, so far. We never fought back and forth. - Well, I'm glad now. - That's amazing. - We never did, 'cause once you start that, that becomes a lifetime thing I've seen. It was so many people. And I thought, I ain't never starting that. I couldn't, I couldn't bear to think that he'd say something I couldn't take, you know. - It would hurt, you know, 'cause I'm a very sensitive person toward other people and myself. You know, you may hurt people's feelings, not knowing it, but knowingly, you don't do it, yeah. - In a world where love and marriage is often romanticized, what do you think was the most important, but sometimes overlooked aspect of you and Carl's relationship? - Well, he was a homebody, and that worked well for us. You know, 'cause he was in, well, he was in asphalt paving, but he just, his son, I don't know if anybody out there that goes about astrology or-- - I'm paying attention to that astrology. - Well, he's Cantor, and I'm Capricorn, and those are compatible signs, yeah. 'Cause the Capricorn is the mountain goat, and it's always Kalavan, wonderful up down on the other side. And the Cantor is more of a homebody, and he really was. He never, he loved to go places if we were going to drive cross-country or go for, if we had planned thing, but boy, he can, he never could wait to get home. He wanted to be around home, and I wanted, I'm a gypsy by nature. I just loved to go and love to see what else is out there. there. But I think that he's just, that's, that's worked well for us. He's not the least, he loves music, but he's not the least bit interested in being in it. And he told me that right up front. I begged him to go with me in '67. We'd got married in '66. So that's when I got one that first award for the BMI song of the year. And I rented him in Tucks and you know begged him to go and he did. Oh, he was so uncomfortable. The whole night. And as soon as he got hit the door, he started pulling off stuff. And you know, he thought he was just, so he said, look now I want you to do everything you want to do. And I wish you the best, but don't ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things. And he never did. So we just kind of have that respect. And I respected that because I didn't know he was going to be that uneasy. But he doesn't even like to go out to, you know, to big dinners or anything like that. So even on anniversaries and stuff like that, we usually stay home and make something special, do something special like that. But he does, or go to McDonald's, or go somewhere we want to go to this comfortable, or to go to, you know, we will go to Mexican restaurants. He does. He will go in, sitting a booth and do that. He loves that. So for all of nachos. Yeah, he loves Mexican food, period. But we go, you know, we'll go sitting a booth like if it's an anniversary or just sometimes on a Saturday. We just go, we know where to go when before the crowd comes. He doesn't like big crowds. But anyway, he's just special to me and I just love him like he is. He's light up whenever you talk about him. Well, I love to see that. He's good. Everybody loves Carl. What's something that you would want the world to know about Carl that they don't know? He don't want me to tell the world nothing about Carl. So I love that. I love that he's such a private person. Yeah, he is. I mean, he can, I can tell what I want to be. He'll say, just leave me out. Oh, damn thing. Don't, don't, he said, don't say nothing. I said, but I do all the time because he's funny. Yeah. I love that so much. And I also wanted to tell you, I always tell everybody whenever they give me, they're like, oh, you're like a young dolly. And I'm like, dolly's birthday is January 17th. Mine's January 22nd. So we're on the same cusp. And I, that's like always my thing. I'm like, I'm just like dolly. Like, I love that. So we have the same cusp that we're on the 17th or the 22nd. So moving on from sweet Carl. Um, okay, gotcha. Oh, boy, we could talk for you. I know there's so much I wanted to talk to you about. So you and I, um, your signature look, the big hair, the bold makeup, and all that stuff. Um, you now have your own makeup line that we have sitting in front of us right now. And can you show me some of your products because I'm really excited about learning. Well, there's a whole bunch of stuff. There's so much stuff. I mean, we got the lipsticks. You know, we got great lipstick. And, and so we've got all the beautiful colors. And we have these wonderful glosses too with all the, the different colors. But I have always wanted to have my own line of makeup. And I love lipstick. And you do too. And I love gloss. And I love the shine. And, and I love all the beautiful things. And we don't have the full line that we will eventually have. But we started out with our lipsticks and with our glosses. And so we're going to have a line of everything as we got our eyeliners in the different colors. And so we've got great stuff. So have you not had a chance to see anything? I did. I did get to see it. They wanted me to like look at the shirt. Say it with. We don't walk everything over for trying to know you're good. Oh, look at these some of these right here. I mean, you at Dolly, your name is on everything. There's nothing that you haven't covered. I just want to tell you your Dolly part and brownies though are I brag about them on my podcast all the time. I will eat those brownies any time of day. There's so much. I hope they hope it pops. Oh wait. Our nails are too long. So Koya actually showed me how to do this. Yes, there we go. Yeah. And don't you love these? The ranch don't always make my joke of it. I never believe it runs. Don't unturned. It's got my little name there. But that's the color that would fit you. That's the Jolene red. Yes. You know, we thought we had to have have a Jolene color. And then we got our beautiful gold glosses and all the things that go with them. And we have different colors, you know, of the of the lipsticks. We have the gold dust in the gloss and a rose petal, which is real real pink. And so we have different things that we have for for that. So moving on from the lipsticks, because I mean, and we always need a lipstick stained wine glass. You are selling wine to lipstick stained wine. We need the lipstick stained wine glass. We have our shardiness. We have the accolades wine company. And I went in business together. And this is one that's really, really nice. And eventually, you know, we're just like with the makeup. We're starting out with certain ones. But then eventually we'll have all the things. But right now we have our shardinay. And you can get that in easy stores like croggers and stores like that. Yes. And in the in the wine and beer stores. So we were also smelling backstage. We were we opened up your. That was my original. Yes. And now this is that they're doing this as a, you know, special thing. This one's just to collect kind of almost like a collector's item. And I can't wait for everybody to try this. This is the one we tried in the dressing room. And it smells so good. I love everything that you've done. Everything that you've branded your name on. You have cookbooks. I mean, you have children's books. There's so many people that messaged me when they found out on my Patreon that we were going to be doing this podcast together. And they wanted me to thank you for the imagination books that you have. The imagination library. The program. The program. That is anything I've ever done. What we give books to children from the time they're born. Till I start school. Yes. And yeah, we've given over, I think, 250 million books out since we started. Yes. But that's all good. But I'm very proud of all the things we got in the little Billy the Kid books. It's based on stories that have children's songs that I've written. Well, the Christmas one is based on a song I wrote. But the others are children's things that they need to know about. Yes. I mean, if you've got a good book and you got makeup and you got perfume and you got one, what else do you need? I need some of your Jolines. Well, you too. I need some of the Jolines. They're coming out soon. So I need them. They're called Jolines. I love it. And you probably got it pretty butt. So they'll probably look good on you. Well, I got it. I got hips and I got hips. So okay, we need to slap some hips and I think they'll look good on everyone. I've got to get me some of those too. I love it so much. Just don't lean. Boy for them. Hussey that's trying to steal my man. She's gone. She's done pretty good by me. I think Joline might be your alter ego. She might be. Miss Folly, thank you so much for giving me your time. Well, thank you. And I appreciate you. And thank you so much for just letting me be in your world for a little bit today. Well, thank you for being in mind and we're not done blonde. No, no, we are not. But anyway, I love the title of a show. And you have a huge following. And I was honored that you wanted me to be on the show. Thank you. I appreciate you so much. Now I want to be more like you. No, you are so sweet. I think I'm just going to continue to just walk in your footsteps and do whatever I can to be more dolly-like. I always think what would dolly do. So I'm a lord. I'll do anything. Me too. That's what got me here. So thank you Miss Dolly. Thank you. Thank you guys for turning into another episode of dumb blonde. I will see you guys next week. Bye.