I was sitting outside this afternoon, perusing Instagram, where I happen to follow Dolly Parton, when the first thing I saw was a video from a guy stating that he was her nephew. I didn't even need to watch it to know what he was going to say.
The world had lost one of the most amazing women it had ever produced.
It's actually kind of funny — I was on Instagram looking specifically for a quote about being a strong, independent woman (or something along those lines — long story), but one of the strongest and most independent of women was right there in my face.
She didn't need to advertise. She lived it.
One of the first things I did was text my friend and colleague (and our boss) Chris Queen, and he asked me whether I wanted to write up the breaking news, but I was outside and still needed to feed my animals, so it would be a while before I could get back to my laptop. He ended up writing it himself and doing an amazing job.
Related: Dolly Parton Passes Away at 80
I'm glad he did it anyway because honestly, I needed to gather my thoughts. By the time I got inside, I'd run through every memory of Dolly that I'd ever had. I think it was my grandmother who introduced me to her. My parents were never really country music people — though I'd argue you didn't really have to be a country music person to love Dolly — but when I visited my grandmother, she was always sharing the classic country music of that era with me. One time, she even dressed me up like a little country star, rhinestones and all, and I sang and danced to her records for my mom when she came to pick me up.
But one of my favorite Dolly memories was from the 2000s. I was in college and working at Borders at the time. A few days a week, I worked the super early shift, which meant coming in two hours before the store opened to shelve books. The handful of us who were there got to select the CDs that would play over the loudspeaker for the day, and our choices usually included promos of the new albums that had come out in recent months and years.
On a day when I got to choose, I was rooting around in the big drawer of CDs and discovered Dolly's Halos & Horns album. It was the third installment in her acoustic and bluegrass trilogy. While I'm not the biggest country music fan on the planet, I do love me some bluegrass, so I popped it into our music player.
Let's just say my coworkers weren't fans. By around 11 AM, an hour after the store opened, I saw several of them gathered around the information desk where the music player was located. "What the hell is this music? Who picked it today?" Our manager told us she was going to switch it out because it was annoying people.
Looking back, I'll admit it wasn't exactly the best choice for background music in a large bookstore, but I sure did love it. My boss could clearly see that and she told me to just take it home and keep it. And I did. And I played the heck out of that CD. I still listen to the digital album pretty regularly.
When we talk about Dolly's music, we often mention the hits like "I Will Always Love You" and "9 to 5," and "Jolene."
But I thought I'd introduce this beloved underrated album Halos & Horns to you in honor of her life and all the years of entertainment and inspiration she provided us.
There's something raw and personal about the album, and while I had never actually researched it, I did so today and found out that Dolly wrote 12 of the 14 tracks herself. She also produced it and used her regular touring band instead of bringing in studio professionals. She thought that would make it feel more intimate and more like "mountain music."
The lyrics are a master class in storytelling, and the music behind them does indeed evoke mountain music vibes, even though it's probably the least bluegrassy album in the trilogy. There are a lot of old-time string-band arrangements. There's also a really bold cover of a classic song that few people can master, and it received strong praise from the original artists.
The album received great reviews when it debuted in 2002 and even earned her some Grammy nominations, but I never hear anyone mention it. To me, it was one of the finest things she ever recorded. And since I'm not great at reviewing music, I'm just going to stop here and share some of my favorite songs from the album and let them speak for themselves.
I'll start with the album's title track. It's actually not my favorite, but I love the arrangement.
The second track, "Sugar Hill," is actually one of my favorites. It's just a sweet song that makes me nostalgic for simpler times.
Here's one of the two covers on the album — Bread's "If."
"The Old Bones" is probably exactly what my Borders coworkers heard when they were ready to cut this off (you'll see what I mean when you listen), but it's the perfect example of the storytelling and string-band arrangements I mentioned.
"I'm Gone" is another one of my favorites. It's about a woman leaving her husband and life behind, and it's not something I can relate to in the least, but it's so catchy and upbeat that you will find me singing along to it in my car like I left that fictional guy myself.
That big cover song I mentioned? It's the one and only "Stairway to Heaven." Robert Plant reportedly loved it.
Last but not least is "Raven Dove." Hearing it now and thinking of the lyrics brings a tear to my eye. It's a pretty song with a beautiful meaning.
Oh, there will come a day when I'll fly away
Forever to be in His keep
Eternal life in the sweet by and by
When raven dove, raven dove speaks
When lambs walk with lions, a child tames the beast
Nations shall gather and bow at His feet
And loved ones shall rise up from their earthly sleep
And he'll separate all the chaff from the wheat
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, how sweet
Anyway, I hope that if you've never heard this album, you'll give these a listen if you enjoy this kind of music. It was the best way I could think of to honor a woman who was such a big part of my life — of many of our lives — even if we never met her.
Rest in peace, Dolly. There's a gaping hole in the world today, but I imagine heaven is enjoying one heck of a show.
