Dollywood lately unveiled its newest attraction, The Dolly Parton Experience, celebrating the life, profession and style of the nation music legend. The new reveals opened as Dollywood was named Tripadvisor’s No. 1 theme park in the U.S. and amongst their prime 10 sights worldwide in 2024.
The reveals inside Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, showcase Parton’s iconic costumes, together with her well-known excessive heels.Â
“I’m a big shoe person ’cause I’m so short,” Parton joked in an interview that aired Tuesday on “CBS Mornings.”
Visitors can interact interactively by “Dressing Dolly,” selecting Parton’s wardrobe and choosing a guitar for her.
“I dress her every day,” Parton mentioned with fun as she strolled by means of the attraction.
Parton mentioned she had the thought of the expertise for years, and now that it has come to life, she feels overwhelmed by the exhibit’s scope.Â
“You know how they say sometimes that when you start to die, your whole life flashes before you?” she mentioned. “Well, it about killed me going through there ’cause I got so emotional.”
Songwriting legacy
Parton’s songwriting, which started in her childhood, is a central theme of the exhibit. It’s one thing she has all the time believed in, with encouragement from her mom, who was fascinated by Parton’s songwriting capabilities. Parton says her ability with the pen is her most essential.
“I take myself more serious as a songwriter than anything else. And if I had to give up every other part of the business, I would choose to be a writer,” she mentioned. “Because that’s my therapist. My guitar is my friend.”
The music icon nonetheless will get excited when she comes up with a superb lyric. Sometimes, when Parton thinks of a superb line, she feels it should be divine inspiration. That was the case for one among her most well-known strains. “Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition,” the opening strains from her 1980 hit “9 to 5” got here to her shortly.
“That just rolled right out. I hadn’t even thought about that,” she mentioned. “When I thought of that one, I went, wow, that’s – that’s as good as this cup of coffee’s going to be.”
Notable profession moments
Parton was decided to make it within the music trade. Despite preliminary resistance from Nashville, Parton mentioned her perseverance by no means wavered.Â
“Giving up ain’t in me,” she asserted.
The exhibit options notable moments from her profession, together with her collaboration with Porter Wagoner beginning in 1967. Her appearances on his TV present considerably boosted her recognition. She turned so standard, she mentioned, that Wagoner did not need her to depart, however Parton had different plans and wrote him a tune – “I Will Always Love You.”
When she performed, “I Will Always Love You,” for him, he was moved to tears and instructed her it was the most effective tune she had ever written. He agreed to let her go if he may produce it, and he or she did.
Parton later heard that Elvis Presley wished to file the tune, however his supervisor, Colonel Tom Parker, demanded all of the publishing rights. She refused.Â
“I said, ‘Well, it’s gonna be the biggest heartbreak of my life. You can’t have it. I can’t do that ’cause this is my most important copyright,'” mentioned Parton. Priscilla Presley later instructed Parton that Elvis was singing it to her as they walked down the courthouse steps throughout their divorce.
Beyoncé’s tackle “Jolene”
Parton’s music continues to resonate throughout generations, with her songs coated by artists like Beyoncé. Parton mentioned she’s pleased with Beyoncé’s interpretation of “Jolene” on her newest album, “Cowboy Carter.”
“I was just assuming it was gonna be that you know, ‘Jolene’ the traditional way. But when I heard it, I thought, ‘Wow boy, she put a lot into that.’ And that was a great album of hers, by the way,” mentioned Parton.
As Parton mirrored on her profession, she expressed hope for extra initiatives sooner or later, together with the Broadway musical based mostly on her life story.Â
“I’m on my last chapter because of my age and everything, but I want [it] to really be the best one,” she mentioned. “I want the story to end really well.”
