Dolly Parton is an American treasure. She is not only a talented singer-songwriter and musician but also a philanthropic soul. Her literacy program, Imagination Library, sends young children a book per month until they enter kindergarten.
Dolly was recently interviewed on Apple Podcasts. The four-part series entitled “What Would Dolly Do? Radio” premiered on October 25, 2023. Dolly spoke with co-host and fellow country music star Kelleigh Bannen about her amazing career, revealing that in the beginning, a friend advised her to tone down her look.
Dolly revealed that it was Chet Atkins, who ran RCA, who told her to tone it down. He is a dear friend, but she didn’t listen to him.
“He pulled me over to the side because he really liked me,” Dolly recalled. “He said, ‘Dolly, I really don’t believe that people are going to take you serious as a singer and songwriter unless you tone down your look. You’re a right pretty girl. You don’t need all that.’ And I said, ‘Well, OK, I’ll take that to heart, Mr. Atkins. Thank you for your advice.’ And of course, I just got worse with it. And years later, after I became a star, he sidled up beside me and said, ‘Now, ain’t you glad you listened to my good advice?’”
Kelleigh asked what Dolly would say today to someone who asked her to tone it down. “I’d say, ‘Go to hell. I ain’t doing it,’” she mused. “My true belief with most things, you’ve got to really find out who you are, what makes you happy, what you’re comfortable in, and if you feel like you look your best, according to your rules, then you are going to do your best. I really believe that. And I think everybody has their own little things they love. To me, that is what fashion is.”
More from LittleThings: Dolly Parton Was 'Whipped' By Her Grandfather Due To Her Appearance
Dolly embraced fashion and big hair even before she was famous. She was often the victim of other people’s judgments and assumptions.
“I was [teasing] my hair, my family’s hair, because I had a knack for that,” she stated. “But I was wearing too much makeup, and a lot of the mothers in school thought that I was a bad influence on some of their girls, thinking I was too cheap, a little too this, too that.” The ironic part is she just looked flashy but was innocent. The other girls without the big hair were the ones getting into all the trouble.
Dolly’s mom was supportive of her look and would try to shield her from her conservative preacher grandfather and father. “Mama, she understood that I was just trying to be myself,” Dolly explained. She often helped Dolly with her costumes and clothing but would tell her to not tell her dad.
“Mama trusted me too,” Dolly added. “She knew that I was a singer and I was creative and that I was different. And so she tried to keep me in check as much as she could. But she did understand.”
Dolly’s first makeup items were homemade. There was never any doubt she loved beauty products. “Even when I was little bitty, I would get in trouble because I would find all the natural things living back there in the mountains,” she revealed. “I would pick poke berries that stain forever, and I’d paint my lips. I’d use flour for powder, burned matchsticks, the kitchen matches, Mama’s big old wooden matches, to make my eyebrows and paint a beauty mark or whatever, eyeliner.”
Despite her love for flashy fashion and dramatic makeup, Dolly has a softer side. Playing the guitar gave her the confidence to be seen and made her feel heard. She leaned into that feeling but her private side did not ever fully go away. “I have a shy side, believe it or not,” she admitted. “And in my early days, till I learned what all I could do, what all I could get away with, that side of me was kind of always there. But the more I felt my own power and my own importance, so to speak, the more I was free to get to be more of what I have become.”
