Dolly Parton: The Legend Behind the Rhinestones

[00:00:00] Lizzy Evans: [00:00:00] But that's beautiful, isn't it? Because She's obviously done whatever she can, you know, philanthropy isn't for everyone, but she's dedicated her life in the later years to helping other people,

[00:00:12] Kyle Risi: And this is something that she's extremely proud of. Like she's super happy that her legacy is going to be about books and not about her boobs or her sexuality, yeah, absolutely.

[00:00:20] Lizzy Evans: I mean, I remember her breasts. I just want to like lay on them. [00:01:00]

[00:01:07] Kyle Risi: Welcome to the Compendium, an assembly of rhinestones and revelations. I'm your host Kyle Risi, and you're listening to the Compendium, an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things. We're a Weekly variety podcast where I ordinarily tell Adam Cox all about a topic that I think he'll find both fascinating and intriguing.

[00:01:25] Kyle Risi: But this week Adam is taking a well deserved break and filling in for him. We have the insatiable, the gorgeous Lizzie. Yay. Hello . So Lizzie, what's your name? Where do you come from? Do you get that reference? I do. I thought you were too young to get that reference.

[00:01:43] Kyle Risi: I grew up on good old Cilla Black. So yeah, Lisi, do you want to introduce

[00:01:47] Lizzy Evans: yourself? Yeah, so ~I'm, ~I'm Lisi. ~Um, ~I am bit of a ~local, ~local gal. I love country music, so I'm really looking forward to this episode. Oh, so you

[00:01:54] Kyle Risi: even know what we're covering today. So you've got the clue then, right?

[00:01:58] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, I picked up on that, [00:02:00] yeah.

[00:02:00] Lizzy Evans: I cameoed in the Scientology

[00:02:03] Kyle Risi: episode that you did. Oh you did? You were one of the little soundbites

[00:02:06] Lizzy Evans: I am one of the famous people that wheezes in the shower. Me and my

[00:02:09] Kyle Risi: mum. Are you the one who also stamps the poo down the plughole?

[00:02:11] Lizzy Evans: I'm not even sure if I would admit that.

[00:02:15] Kyle Risi: They call that waffling. Poo in the shower and just stamp that down the plughole.

[00:02:23] Lizzy Evans: Generally no, although I have, I used to work, I did a summer school and some kids would smear their poo all over the walls, almost in protest. Of what? I don't know, they didn't really ~like ~the accommodation so they would just smear their shit everywhere.

[00:02:38] Kyle Risi: But it's not like they can go anywhere because now they have to sleep in their shit now.

[00:02:41] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, it was disgusting. But they had rich parents and we charged them for it, so it's fine.

[00:02:46] Kyle Risi: And the rich parents as well, they should know better. Yeah, they should, yeah. ~That's, ~that's horrendous.

[00:02:49] Kyle Risi: It was disgusting.

[00:02:52] Kyle Risi: Well, welcome. Welcome to the show. Thank you for filling in for Adam while he takes a little sabbatical away from the show.

[00:02:57] Kyle Risi: So at the beginning of the show, we like to do a little segment [00:03:00] called All the Ladies Sings, where we talk about some of the more interesting things that we have discovered from the past week.

[00:03:06] Kyle Risi: So did you come prepared?

[00:03:07] Kyle Risi: I certainly did. Well, we should roll the credits. So Lizzie, what have you got for us this week?

[00:03:21] Lizzy Evans: It's a bit of a weird one, but I think it's quite fitting, because I don't know if your listeners know, but you've got a giant cat.

[00:03:28] Kyle Risi: Mm hmm. Good old Keith. He's just, he's downstairs at the moment.

[00:03:30] Kyle Risi: Keith. Yeah. He's a bit overwhelmed by the new faces in the room. But ~yeah, ~yeah, we have a giant cat called Keith. ~Well ~he's

[00:03:34] Lizzy Evans: beautiful and I thought that I wanted to find a fitting story and it just so happens that a few weeks ago there was a weird nudist story, obviously in America, and ~um, ~it was an emotional support alligator.

[00:03:47] Lizzy Evans: I don't know if you've seen this in the news.

[00:03:49] Kyle Risi: Do you know of it? Literally Adam came with this story.

[00:03:54] Lizzy Evans: Just last episode.

[00:03:57] Kyle Risi: But let's see your take on it.

[00:03:59] Lizzy Evans: I just thought it was [00:04:00] really cool because I wanted to find something fitting. You know, and you've got a giant cat. So I thought, what other weird and wonderful creatures do people keep? ~And, ~and they took this alligator. To a baseball game? Yep. And they weren't allowed in, obviously, because it's an alligator. I mean, that's fucking crazy. But I watched this video of this guy, and he keeps reptiles and stuff, and they've got ~like ~three alligators, but Wally, Wally Gator, that's his name.

[00:04:21] Kyle Risi: That's his name, Wally. Yeah, he's

[00:04:23] Lizzy Evans: he's like a cuddly gator, which is not a thing in my world. But, they essentially pay ~to, ~to hug him,~ um,~ and they donate to this guy,~ um,~ I've got his name,~ Joey,~ Joey Hennie is his name.

[00:04:33] Lizzy Evans: I've never heard of him. Nicest guy, like you, you look, and he basically had depression, a few years ago. And he like Wally got him through it and I thought it was such a heartwarming story. But that led me to think of all the other weird and wonderful animals. Cause emotional support animals obviously are a real thing.

[00:04:49] Lizzy Evans: But a lot of the time it's dogs, especially in the UK. We don't really have that weird and wonderful. Creatures like around Puff, you know, giant main, Koons . ~Um, ~but yeah, he's got 32, nearly [00:05:00] 33,000 followers on Instagram. Wow. And I just thought that's incredible ~for, ~for an animal.

[00:05:03] Kyle Risi: But the implications of having a alligator as an emotional support animal, that's pretty dangerous.

[00:05:08] Kyle Risi: Like what if he attacks someone I know,~ like,~ yeah, he hasn't attacked anyone, has he? ~This, ~this one. And apparently he eats. Is it more like he only eats dead things? He doesn't actually eat anything live?

[00:05:16] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, exactly. I just think that's really weird because he's a carnivorous

[00:05:19] Kyle Risi: animal. But still, it takes one though.

[00:05:20] Kyle Risi: It only takes one for him to ~like, ~just snap. He might just go, oh, you look tasty. Kids

[00:05:24] Lizzy Evans: pet him. They take him to cafes and diners and kids pet him and he's not,~ uh,~ got anything around his mouth. He just doesn't bite.

[00:05:31] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I don't trust it. No, I'm sorry. It's not for me

[00:05:34] Lizzy Evans: they take him everywhere the baseball game was in Pittsburgh I think ~it was ~it was in Philadelphia Against Pittsburgh. And they were supposed to meet the team.

[00:05:42] Lizzy Evans: He was supposed to ~like ~be an emotional support animal for the team, but morale and,~ uh,~ wasn't allowed in obviously. So just stood outside hugging people as they went in. Amazing. Yeah, that led me to think of what other weird and wonderful animals and it won't surprise you that all of them are in America

[00:05:55] Lizzy Evans: so you probably haven't heard of any of these but we've got cuddle quack, which is [00:06:00] obviously a duck a duck Yeah, it helped its owner with anxiety Then you got pitter pepper The

[00:06:05] Kyle Risi: pig.

[00:06:06] Kyle Risi: Pizza pepper the pig. It's a bit of a

[00:06:07] Lizzy Evans: tongue twister. Appropriate. Helped,~ uh,~ it's owner with a medical condition to get through it. So you're sensing a theme here. ~Um, ~you've got Alpine,~ um,~ Al for short, a cockatoo, helped it's owner through anxiety and depression. Oh. I think it's a social thing I'm picking up.

[00:06:22] Lizzy Evans: ~Um, ~and then you had Emerson, which is a capuchin monkey,~ uh,~ which helped it's owner through ~uh, ~mental health after,~ uh,~ sexual abuse. Oh really? So again, similar sort of thing. Just psychological. Yeah. That's cool. But I think the strangest thing, my ex boyfriend, one of my first loves, you know. The one that got

[00:06:38] Kyle Risi: away?

[00:06:38] Kyle Risi: No, no. Oh, okay. Clearly got away.

[00:06:42] Lizzy Evans: Absolutely bolted out the door. But... His mum used to own a reptile shop, and they occasionally had other weird and wonderful creatures, and she used to have a ~capuchin, ~capuchin? Capuchin. Capuchin? Sure. Monkey. And,~ uh,~ it was little, like a little, almost like a squirrel sized, and it just used to run around the house, and that was the best part about our

[00:06:58] Kyle Risi: relationship.

[00:06:59] Kyle Risi: Tiny shits everywhere. [00:07:00]

[00:07:02] Lizzy Evans: Yeah. And then the last one is Big Daddy.

[00:07:05] Kyle Risi: ~Um... ~What do you think that is? Oh god. A gorilla.

[00:07:07] Lizzy Evans: ~No, ~no, it's a miniature horse. Helped its owner with PTSD and anxiety because animals don't judge you.

[00:07:17] Kyle Risi: That is so true, they don't judge you. Keith doesn't judge me.

[00:07:19] Kyle Risi: I mean, he hasn't approached me yet. No, he hasn't. He's secretly judging you. But it's crazy that,~ like,~ because a lot of them use these emotional support animals for,~ like,~ connection, right? And ~it's, ~It's a reflection of the world that we live in where people are so starved of this human connection that they can't get it from other humans that they find them in animals and thank god we have them,

[00:07:39] Lizzy Evans: I guess.

[00:07:39] Lizzy Evans: I think it was just a nice story and also quite fitting ~for ~for you but a question I had I guess for ~your ~your listeners maybe or for you is whether they know any weird and wonderful like creatures because I don't personally UK everyone's got a dog or a cat. You know, some people have birds, but most people just the bog standard.

[00:07:56] Lizzy Evans: I don't know anyone with a weird and wonderful creature in the U Cause all these are in the [00:08:00] USA. Yeah, that's true. So if you know of any, write,

[00:08:02] Kyle Risi: write in. Yeah, write in, let us know. Yeah. Let us know, I'll pass messages on. Yeah. ~Well, ~thank you very much for that.

[00:08:07] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So, my latest things for this week is all around this concept of girl math and you're the first girl that we've had on the show. And really, I wanted to get your point of view on girl math because I speak for the whole population.

[00:08:20] Kyle Risi: You speak for the whole population. You have a virgin and therefore that makes you qualified because very often we shy away from female talk because we're not qualified.

[00:08:29] Kyle Risi: We don't have the goods. So this woman was on TikTok and she was like, okay, so basically if she goes and buys a Starbucks, which is four pound 90. Anything under 5 or 5 feels like it's basically free and therefore she hasn't really spent any money.

[00:08:46] Lizzy Evans: It's funny because I had Starbucks for breakfast. How

[00:08:49] Kyle Risi: much was the Starbucks?

[00:08:50] Lizzy Evans: Oh, I don't want to say. I had a breakfast burrito thing and it came to 11 with a hot chocolate. Babe,

[00:08:58] Kyle Risi: for breakfast, really? [00:09:00] Yeah. That's almost a meal. Like it's a dinner meal.

[00:09:02] Kyle Risi: Yeah. No, that's too much. Too much. Right. So the next one she returned something at Zara for 50 or 50 pounds. She bought something else that was a hundred pounds. Therefore, it only costs her 50. Yeah. Girl math.

[00:09:15] Kyle Risi: Yeah, yeah.

[00:09:17] Lizzy Evans: What? It's basically 50 percent off. No, but you spent 100 before. You spent 100 50 had already left her account. So it's already gone in your mind. Right. That's the real thing.

[00:09:26] Kyle Risi: That's what she was saying, basically. No, I didn't get it. So she also says, ~so... ~Even though you buy tickets months in advance, you show up at the concert and basically the concert's free because you bought them so far in advance.

[00:09:38] Kyle Risi: So it's ~like, ~is this a free concert? Yeah.

[00:09:39] Lizzy Evans: Yeah. Go math. But again, it's the same premise ~that ~that account left, that money left your account so long ago. It doesn't register now because you paid for it, say in April and you went in July. Right.

[00:09:49] Kyle Risi: I mean, I get it. I get the logic, but it's probably not the best way to live your life.

[00:09:54] Lizzy Evans: But it's gone. It's past. You can't regret anything, it's

[00:09:56] Kyle Risi: already happened. Let's spin this around.

[00:09:58] Kyle Risi: You pay for a prostitute in [00:10:00] advance, and then months later you have sex with the prostitute, so basically you haven't paid for a prostitute. Yeah, she's free. She's a free prostitute! Yeah. Okay, so. She would apparently never spend 500 on Amazon, but she would happily spend 100 five times. Girl, man. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:10:19] Kyle Risi: I get that one.

[00:10:19] Lizzy Evans: Because it's a big, yeah, it's a bigger amount,

[00:10:20] Kyle Risi: right, so you feel the guilt. Yeah, yeah. Okay, no, I get that one. So she almost got a pedicure, but she didn't. Now she has 50 extra to spend. Yeah. Girl math!

[00:10:32] Lizzy Evans: You're saving money, you know. One bad decision leads to another. No. ~So. ~Okay, so

[00:10:38] Kyle Risi: when you're on your period.

[00:10:39] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Technically calories don't count. Girl math.

[00:10:44] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, because it's just the dragon and you can't control that. Oh, she's a different entity within you. Yeah, you have no control over that. ~Like, ~if I've popped into Tesco on my way home, that's not my fault it's the dragon.

[00:10:55] Kyle Risi: Okay, so see, girl math, interesting.

[00:10:58] Kyle Risi: But, [00:11:00] just to spin this around... Let's try some gay math.

[00:11:04] Lizzy Evans: Okay.

[00:11:06] Kyle Risi: So we know about girl math, but what about gay math? So I found this guy on TikTok and he just blew my mind. So he goes, if it takes a regular person 15 minutes to get there, a gay man will make the same journey in 7. 5 minutes. Gay math. Okay.

[00:11:20] Kyle Risi: Because we're very efficient, right? We know where we're going. We know what to do. We walk very fast. We're very mincy. Planned it ahead. Gay math. Yeah.

[00:11:26] Kyle Risi: So. If you have four siblings in your family, one of them is gay. Okay. If you have three siblings in your family,

[00:11:35] Kyle Risi: one of them is gay. If you have twins in your family, one of them is gay.

[00:11:42] Kyle Risi: Okay, okay. If you're an only child... The dad is gay. That's just science. So he also says that if someone looks at you one time or two times, they're not interested in you. Yeah. If they look at you a third time, [00:12:00] that is the love of your life. You're falling in love. Book the venue. Okay,

[00:12:05] Lizzy Evans: okay. That's intense, but okay.

[00:12:06] Lizzy Evans: That is intense.

[00:12:06] Kyle Risi: But if they look at you a fourth time or more, yeah, you go back to being not interested.

[00:12:10] Lizzy Evans: Really? Yeah, because... Why would they look at you a fourth time? Because they're too keen

[00:12:13] Kyle Risi: now. Because they regret their decision? No, if they... No, you're not interested anymore. Not them, because they're too keen now, right?

[00:12:19] Kyle Risi: And they're too keen, okay. Yeah, you a fourth time and you're like,~ hmm,~ I've got the ick now.

[00:12:23] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, you don't resonate with that? I get the ick yeah, I get it. After four looks? Mmm, depends how many drinks I've had.

[00:12:32] Kyle Risi: And then, oh, this one's a good one. If I call you a bitch or a slut, we're best friends.

[00:12:38] Lizzy Evans: Okay, that's good to know.

[00:12:39] Lizzy Evans: Gay

[00:12:39] Kyle Risi: math. Reassuring. Yeah, I call you that all the time. If I call you honey or sweetie, We're mortal enemies. I hate you. That's just gay math. Yeah, I understand

[00:12:50] Lizzy Evans: that. I appreciate that. Although I've been called sweetie a few times. Not by you. But I

[00:12:55] Kyle Risi: think it's more condescending when people, especially gay men, call you sweetie.

[00:12:59] Kyle Risi: Yeah. You [00:13:00] know, oh sweetie, what's this? When you came in today, I was like, you dressed like a farmer's wife, sweetie. What is this?

[00:13:06] Lizzy Evans: It's fucking cold.

[00:13:08] Kyle Risi: And , that was all the latest things.

[00:13:13] Kyle Risi: So Lizzie, are you ready for this week's topic of the week? I'm very excited, yeah. ~So, ~in today's episode of The Compendium, I'm going to be telling you about the life of a truly remarkable human being, known by many names, the Backwards Barbie, the Smoky Mountain Songbird, the Queen of Country Music, and even the Dolly Llama.

[00:13:35] Kyle Risi: Her story is one for the ages. This person's charisma, her uniqueness, her nerve, her sheer talent. Seems to strike a chord with nearly every person who knows her name. This amazing woman can play more than 20 instruments and has penned over 3, 000 songs. She has won so many awards that even counting them is just an impossible task.

[00:13:56] Kyle Risi: But her story doesn't start in the world of sparkle [00:14:00] and fame. It starts from humble beginnings and it's a heartwarming tale that begins in a one room shack nestled in the smoky mountains of East Tennessee. Today, Risi, I'm going to be telling you the story of the insatiable life of Dolly Parton. Tell me, what do you know? Oh, Dolly Parton.

[00:14:21] Lizzy Evans: I listen to country music a lot. ~Um, ~

[00:14:23] Kyle Risi: cause you're a huge, you're a huge fan of the country music and I'm surprised how eclectic ~your, ~your music taste is. Yeah. So

[00:14:29] Lizzy Evans: ~my, ~my main,~ uh,~ country playlist is 27 hours long now. And I

[00:14:33] Kyle Risi: have that.

[00:14:34] Kyle Risi: That's too much country. That's why you dress like a farmer today. ~Well, ~

[00:14:37] Lizzy Evans: it's all different types of country though. So you have modern contemporary say like indigo, which is a side of country. Then you've got the older style, but Dolly kind of comes in a mixture of that. And obviously she's still putting out music.

[00:14:49] Lizzy Evans: She's still, yeah, I mean, she's definitely grown over the years.

[00:14:53] Kyle Risi: She's transcended through the ages. Yeah, I was talking about her

[00:14:55] Lizzy Evans: breasts, but...

[00:14:58] Kyle Risi: They're good too. Yeah, [00:15:00]

[00:15:00] Lizzy Evans: but I think she, she puts out some really heartwarming, but then I think, I think country music is all heartwarming because it's all from the heart.

[00:15:08] Lizzy Evans: It's always a story, isn't it? Exactly, and I think that's why I resonate with it so much, I do love her music. I mean, Islands in the Stream, it's probably one of my,~ uh,~ pet peeve songs. Because it's so overplayed. Working 9 to 5 though. Every day.

[00:15:21] Kyle Risi: You know, the interesting thing about Islands in the Stream is that she didn't write it.

[00:15:24] Kyle Risi: Neither did Kenny Rogers. No. Really? It's a Bee Gees song. Is it? Yeah. You're going to find out a lot about Miss Dolly Parton today. Okay. So should we get on with it? Yes, please. Okay.

[00:15:34] Kyle Risi: So Dolly Parton was born Dolly Rebecca Parton on January of 1946. This is the same year of Freddie Mercury, Sylvester Stallone and the magnificent Liza Minnelli. So she was the fourth child to Robert Lee Parton Sr. and Avie Lee Caroline. Now at the time of her birth her mother was just 19 years old and her father was just 21. Now her parents both married when they were 15, 17 years old. After which they immediately started just [00:16:00] popping up babies literally every single year.

[00:16:02] Kyle Risi: Dolly's family was dirt poor. And when I say dirt poor, I mean like as poor as it can get, right? They lived in a small one room shack on a remote farm in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee in a small town that even today has only got like 500 people living in it.

[00:16:15] Kyle Risi: So ~it's, ~it's really tiny. So to give you a sense of just how poor they were. When Dolly was born, her family couldn't afford to pay the doctors, so instead they gave the doctor a bag of cornmeal because that's literally all they had to spare. That's crazy. And what's cute is that Dolly even jokes about this today, saying that her birth was paid for with a bag of flour and ever since she's been rolling in the dough.

[00:16:36] Kyle Risi: How good

[00:16:36] Lizzy Evans: is that?

[00:16:39] Kyle Risi: So as time passed, her parents eventually had 14 children and they were all living in this one single room shack. And many people just assumed that Dolly's parents were Catholics because they had so many kids. But according to Dolly, that wasn't the case. Her parents were just really horny hillbillies. Dolly said that once she had found a diaphragm in her mother's [00:17:00] drawer and she couldn't work out why it was there. Clearly wasn't bloody using it. Wow.

[00:17:06] Kyle Risi: So growing up, Dolly's family like lived a really basic life. They didn't have any running water or electricity and as soon as the siblings were old enough to walk or even hold a tool, they were like literally expected to help out around the farm.

[00:17:18] Kyle Risi: And eventually the Partons did manage to upgrade their shack to a two bedroom shack, and then to a three bedroom shack, but even then, during the colder months, they didn't have like any electricity to kind of warm themselves. So all the kids would just ~kind of like ~have to huddle together, I guess that's one of the perks of having 12 kids

[00:17:32] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, everyone mucks in.

[00:17:33] Kyle Risi: So despite tough conditions, Dolly was a really happy child. She loved being the center of attention, which makes sense. When you're one of 12 kids, you kind of have to like really compete for attention. And Dolly managed to find her own special way to stand out. And that was her voice, even from a really young age. When she was four years old. She started to learn all the different folk songs that she would hear from her mother.

[00:17:53] Kyle Risi: And she would just mimic them because she knew that was the way that you got attention. And even at the age of four, [00:18:00] Dolly showed an amazing talent for singing. And by the time that she was five. She had already taken the steps to start making her own songs. And remember, she hadn't even started school at this point.

[00:18:09] Kyle Risi: But she had this kind of natural gift for really putting words together and creating these really cute little girly little melodies. And it was clear that she had something really special. Natural gift. Yeah, for sure. So every day Dolly would put on a show, she would force her siblings to sit and watch or act as her backup singers, weren't available, she would just go in the backyard and literally just perform for the chickens.

[00:18:31] Kyle Risi: And she's so vocal about the days that she would just spend singing to these damn chickens in the garden. Can you imagine when they're going to call the chickens she's like, you're killing my fans. These are my groupies. My groupies.

[00:18:43] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So one of Dolly's favorite places to sing was of course, her local church where her grandpa was a local preacher. And it was a big part of who she was, whether or not it was family, farm animals or at church, she always found a way to draw the attention of an audience or a crowd.

[00:18:58] Kyle Risi: She had a very unique voice. [00:19:00] When you hear like different clips of her singing when she was a child. It's just angelic. It's beautiful. She's so cute as well. And you can tell it's like a little Dolly Parton, like it's a mini Dolly Parton when you hear her sing.

[00:19:11] Kyle Risi: Yeah, she's got that already. So Dolly's uncle, Billy, he worked in the music industry, and he was really quick to notice Dolly's talents. And he was truly impressed with the uniqueness and purity of that little voice. So when Dolly was just eight, her uncle Billy

[00:19:25] Kyle Risi: heard that she had tried to make a guitar from a bunch of broken instruments that she had found. And this really made him realize just how deeply serious she was about music.

[00:19:33] Kyle Risi: So he goes and buys her a real guitar and he takes the time to teach her how to play. And what's really touching is that beyond Dolly's obvious talent,~ like,~ she also had someone that truly believed in her. Yeah. And I think if you have someone that's going to nurture that within you. Then you're halfway

[00:19:47] Lizzy Evans: there. Especially when you're young, you need someone to fight your corner. Yeah,

[00:19:50] Kyle Risi: for sure. And that's exactly what Billie did. So, when he gave her her guitar, like Dolly was literally over the moon and she played it so much that her tiny little [00:20:00] fingers would bleed.

[00:20:01] Kyle Risi: But he told her, he's like, you've got to keep going because the more you keep playing, you'll develop these little calluses on your fingers.

[00:20:07] Lizzy Evans: Imagine being told that as a child, it's like, if you play enough, they'll go numb.

[00:20:10] Kyle Risi: Yeah. They'll go numb. They'll fall off. You'll be fine.

[00:20:12] Kyle Risi: But yeah, she just continued to play and she was a complete natural. And what makes this even more remarkable is that she, even to this day, she cannot read sheet music at all. No, everything ~she, ~she plays is completely by ear. So Dolly and her uncle Billy begin writing a bunch of songs together.

[00:20:28] Kyle Risi: And because he was involved in the music industry, He teaches her the ropes basically. And he also manages to get her a bunch of opportunities to sing at local radio stations. And he puts a name out there. He's constantly advocating for it. And that's what I mean.

[00:20:41] Kyle Risi: Like he's the one that's always back in her corner. He's the one that's really driving her forward? So when Dolly is 10, Billy books her on a spot on a famous TV show. But the ironic thing is, is that Dolly's family don't even own a TV, so they wouldn't even get to even see her perform for the first time.

[00:20:56] Kyle Risi: It's really sad. But she is a huge hit and part [00:21:00] of the appeal, of course, was obviously her age,~ but,~ but mostly it was that really unique and captivating little voice that grabbed people's attention. And Dolly had this, just this magnetic stage presence too. And it's no surprise that she just kept getting booked on various gigs all around the country.

[00:21:16] Kyle Risi: And by the time that she was 12, she was often making more money in a week than her father was. And that effectively made her the breadwinner of the family. Can you imagine?

[00:21:25] Lizzy Evans: I mean, it happens, but you don't think about it,

[00:21:27] Kyle Risi: do you? No! I wonder how her dad felt about it. I mean, it sounds like she had a very supportive family anyway.

[00:21:32] Lizzy Evans: They're probably relieved that one of their children is successful.

[00:21:34] Kyle Risi: They've finally made it. They've made 12 kids. ~Like, ~finally. Finally someone's paying. It

[00:21:38] Lizzy Evans: paid off, yeah.

[00:21:40] Kyle Risi: ~So, ~around the time she was 13, her to Johnny Cash, who was already, of course, a huge deal at the time. Do you know much about Johnny? I love Johnny. Do you? Yeah. Well, gets introduced to her and he helps her kind of land a spot on a show called the Grand Old Opry. Have you heard of that?

[00:21:55] Kyle Risi: I haven't. So this was like kind of a weekly country music radio show based in [00:22:00] Nashville. And at the time was literally one of the biggest. Country music, TV shows ~in, ~in America. So being on the show was a massive deal for Dolly, not just because it was obviously significant to her career opportunities, but because it was a family's favorite show, it's the one show that they listened to every single week on the radio.

[00:22:18] Kyle Risi: So for Dolly, this was literally like a dream come true. And Dolly's performance was just a massive smashing success. And the crowd was so taken with her performance that they demanded three encores.

[00:22:30] Kyle Risi: But because she'd only prepared the one song on that night, she just came out and played that same song again, and then again, which I just think is so sweet.

[00:22:40] Kyle Risi: But just a few days later. ~Uh, ~Dolly Parton was back at school, but she was facing a completely different challenge because Dolly was severely bullied, so badly, that kids would lock her in cupboards, they would taunt her, and they would often,~ like, physically, ~physically hit her, which is just so sad,~ like,~ don't, you don't hit Dolly Parton.

[00:22:56] Lizzy Evans: But why though? Was she... ~Like, ~a weird

[00:22:59] Kyle Risi: one. I don't [00:23:00] know, Do you think she was really annoying?

[00:23:02] Lizzy Evans: I don't know. I don't know what vibe she gives when she's younger, but some people... Are you justifying bullying? No, I'm not justifying it. There's like a standard process, right?

[00:23:11] Lizzy Evans: There has to be something about them Yeah.

[00:23:13] Kyle Risi: For you to pick on. Yeah. ~Like ~are you a moving target basically? Mm-Hmm. . So for Dolly, like school's really difficult. So much so that she did contemplate leaving several times, but thankfully the context that she had made in the music industry, they all convinced her like, you need to stick at it because having an education was going to be the one thing that's gonna help you navigate.

[00:23:31] Kyle Risi: Yeah. the complexities of the industry without being taken advantage of. And so she just sticks at it and, yeah, fast forward to graduation of 1964. The teacher's going around the class asking everyone to stand up and talk about what their plans are after graduation. And Dolly announces that she's going to Nashville to become a star and literally...

[00:23:51] Kyle Risi: Everyone laughs at her, which is so nutso because remember she's already had loads of years experience ~like ~and success on TV

[00:23:58] Lizzy Evans: But I feel like that's standard at school. It's ~like ~yeah, [00:24:00] whatever. Yeah, but she's already famous It's like fleeting, you know high school like the best days of your life. They say it's absolutely not true, by the way But that's what they say.

[00:24:10] Lizzy Evans: So when she's ~like, ~yeah, I'm going to be a big star, you know, for the rest of my life, it's ~like, ~whatever. No one thinks when you're in your eighties, you're going to be a star. Yeah, I guess so. You know, it's not going to last

[00:24:18] Kyle Risi: forever. But I mean, the people in the community just believe that people like us don't make it big beyond the small town. So they just don't have big

[00:24:26] Lizzy Evans: dreams. They

[00:24:26] Kyle Risi: don't come true. But Dolly. Of course. Isn't face. The next morning she literally hops on a bus to Nashville, carrying all of her belongings in literally paper bags. So for Dolly, life in Nashville wasn't easy at all.

[00:24:39] Kyle Risi: The only place that she could afford was like a cheap trailer. And to make ends meet, she would literally go shoplifting in the local supermarket. Um, and when she wasn't shoplifting, she would scavenge leftovers from hotel service trays that were left outside the rooms, and occasionally find work babysitting.

[00:24:53] Kyle Risi: At the time like Nashville was the go to place, especially if you wanted to make it big in country music as obviously You know, that's where everyone goes, right?

[00:24:59] Kyle Risi: So it [00:25:00] was super competitive They say like at that time nearly a thousand people were moving to Nashville Every single week and only ~like ~a handful of them would make it the majority of them would leave like after the first year which is Her chances aren't great.

[00:25:13] Kyle Risi: She would have to be really amazing. And obviously she is amazing. Cause she made it big. But that's why everyone laughed at her. Well exactly, yeah. So her uncle Billy would come and visit her from time to time and offer some help, but for the most part she was literally on her own, literally pounding the pavement to try and sell her songs.

[00:25:27] Kyle Risi: At first she didn't make any money, partly because she was still like largely unknown, but also because she was a woman in a male dominated industry. Like at the time only a select few women were big in country music. And if you were big, you were typically in a duo with another man.

[00:25:43] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I do, yeah. That's just shit. I am familiar. Oh, babe, I'm sorry. Um, but obviously she just kept going.

[00:25:51] Kyle Risi: And in 1965, she does sign a contract with monument records, but the record label thought they should be better in the bubblegum pop rock genre, and this is all kind of just based on [00:26:00] her look and obviously her voice. They just didn't think that there was an appetite for someone that looked like Dolly in country music.

[00:26:06] Kyle Risi: So Dolly does kind of give pop music a try, but it's only because that's what was On the table, but her pop singles don't even make a dent in the chart, but ironically, the country songs that she's writing for other artists, they end up doing really well. So the label decided, all right, fine.

[00:26:22] Kyle Risi: We've made a mistake. We'll give you a go at country music. So in 1966, Dolly records and releases her first album and it's called. Hello, I'm Dolly. Are you familiar with it?

[00:26:32] Lizzy Evans: I'm not. No, not the actual album.

[00:26:35] Kyle Risi: So most of the songs were written by Dolly and Billy and the first single from that album was called Dumb Blonde and this conveyed a very clear message like don't judge me based on my looks and do you know what it charted really well and was the first time that Dolly's name was getting up there in the charts and This marks kind of that first steps to her rise to fame.

[00:26:55] Kyle Risi: So by the time all of this happened, Dolly had already met the man that she was going to marry. [00:27:00] In fact, She had already married him, but had been keeping it all a secret.

[00:27:04] Kyle Risi: Did you know this?

[00:27:04] Lizzy Evans: No, I didn't. Why why a secret? Well for sex appeal.

[00:27:08] Kyle Risi: So basically on the first day that Dolly arrived in Nashville the first day. She was waiting outside ~a ~laundromat A laundromat?

[00:27:15] Kyle Risi: A laund a laundromat. A laundromat? A laundrette. Yes. So she's waiting outside a laundrette when a guy called Carl Dean just drives past and he just yells something at her. Um, something like along the lines of like, hey, you're going to get sunburned, like showing that much skin. And for Dolly, like just being her sweet self, she just politely smiles and she waves at him out of habit because like she's used, even at this age, used to people just catcalling her based on her looks because she already had nice big flumptuous breasts, right?

[00:27:42] Kyle Risi: And also she's just like, well, that's just what country folk do. So Carl Dean parks his truck. He walks back to the laundrette and basically starts laying on the moves.

[00:27:50] Kyle Risi: Now, Dolly does try to brush them off. But he follows her inside and he starts helping her kind of fold all her laundry. And then eventually he walks her home. Once he knows where she lives, which is [00:28:00] creepy as fuck, he starts visiting her every single day.

[00:28:02] Kyle Risi: So after a few weeks, he finally asks her out to what Dolly thinks is a proper date. So she's all excited, she thinks they're going to a nice fancy restaurant. Instead, Carl Dean takes her home, he doesn't introduce her to anyone, and he just announces, mama, fix this little gal a plate. She's the one I'm going to marry. That's sweet. That is sweet. But in that moment, Dolly just gasps because at that point they haven't even kissed, let alone discuss being boyfriend and girlfriend.

[00:28:28] Kyle Risi: So you this guy's a bit too forward. Yeah.

[00:28:29] Lizzy Evans: But it's sweet. It's very intimidating. And some, you know, nowadays you'd definitely get the ick. Would you get the ick? Yeah, because so it's ~like, ~whoa, slow down, you know, I'm not sure

[00:28:40] Kyle Risi: that you know There's something really endearing about it. I'm

[00:28:43] Lizzy Evans: a hopeless romantic, but you just said I gave you the ick. Yeah, but

[00:28:48] Kyle Risi: That's not the words of a hopeless romantic babe, yeah,

[00:28:50] Lizzy Evans: but there's a line doesn't right and you think this is the line Yeah, at least kiss me first I mean fucking hell.

[00:28:55] Kyle Risi: Eventually, when the time comes for him to propose, there's no ring, there's zero [00:29:00] romance, and his words were along the lines of, You live too far away, we should get married so we can move in together. And, obviously, Dolly is completely shocked, again, because they haven't even talked about future plans together at all, let alone marriage, and in fact, they hadn't even said, I love you at this point. And he's proposing, but she accepts and they start making plans for a wedding.

[00:29:21] Kyle Risi: And when she tells potential producers they argue that she's more marketable as a single woman. And they tell her, of course. Not to get married, but she ignores them, and Dolly and Carl, they elope to a small little chapel in Georgia.

[00:29:34] Lizzy Evans: That's really weird.

[00:29:36] Kyle Risi: I think she just knew what she wanted. Come on, you gotta lean into it. You did say that you're a hopeless romantic. Lean into it. You

[00:29:41] Lizzy Evans: gotta... I am a hopeless romantic, but hopeless being the operative word. Sounds like you're a

[00:29:45] Kyle Risi: hopeless romantic who's been bruised.

[00:29:48] Kyle Risi: Let's

[00:29:48] Lizzy Evans: not get into that, haven't we all, ladies?

[00:29:52] Kyle Risi: So Dolly's mum makes her a little dress and their honeymoon is just two hours long because afterwards they have to drive back to ~Nashville, ~Nashville, for work the next day and they don't tell anyone for [00:30:00] six bloody years.

[00:30:01] Kyle Risi: Six years? They keep it a secret. Yeah. Oh my god. Isn't that mental? Yeah. So on their first anniversary, Carl asked Dolly about her past relationships and Dolly is just honest with him and Carl is completely heartbroken even though he himself wasn't a virgin before meeting her. Double standards, huh? It is double standards, yeah.

[00:30:17] Kyle Risi: So years later, Dolly releases a song, Just Because I'm a Woman, that's the title, and the song says ~like, ~That my mistakes are no worse than yours simply because I'm a woman. And the song is all about the unfair standards that women are held to and men just get away scot free.

[00:30:30] Lizzy Evans: But this is what I love about country music because it always tells a story. It

[00:30:33] Kyle Risi: always tells a story. That's what I realized.

[00:30:35] Lizzy Evans: Yeah. And it always comes from the heart of whoever's obviously singing it. So it makes sense. But you never piece it together because you don't know ~their, ~their life story.

[00:30:41] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's it.

[00:30:42] Kyle Risi: What I find so interesting is that from early on in the marriage, Carl makes it clear that he wants to stay out of the public eye. And he tells Dolly,~ like,~ you can become as famous as you want. I just have no interest in the spotlight whatsoever. So Carl would avoid all parties, all events. And for Dolly, [00:31:00] this arrangement,~ like,~ works really well. And they agreed to keep their private life private, while Dolly could go out and do whatever she wants in public. And it's obvious that this is a secret to their successful marriage because they are still married today.

[00:31:12] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, just the time apart that makes so much sense though. Because if you've spent, if you've spent enough time away from your partner, I think you'll be forever together forever.

[00:31:23] Kyle Risi: Yeah, you've got to kind of say, okay, ~so.~

[00:31:24] Kyle Risi: An average marriage lasts 10 years, right? Let's every time that we're together, that's a clock ticking, but every time moment that we're apart, that doesn't count as part. So let's just spend as much time apart and then we can have a lovely 10 year marriage that spans 80 years. That makes so much sense. It does make sense.

[00:31:41] Kyle Risi: So, Dolly does describe her marriage as open, but not in a sexual way. She says that we're both each other's primary partner, but we're both free to kind of flirt with other people. She says that he's not jealous, I'm not jealous, he knows I flirt, I know that he flirts, but I would kill him if I thought that he was doing anything more and he would shoot [00:32:00] me too but yeah, so they kind of alluded to the fact that they have an open marriage, I guess.

[00:32:03] Lizzy Evans: I completely understand that, I do. I think it's very normal for you as a human being to have interactions with other people, but as long as it doesn't extend beyond anything.

[00:32:11] Kyle Risi: I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if she does have... sex with these other guys as well because she's very open about how strong her appetite for sex is and if she's away for eight months of the year exactly and she's from that stock i know what you mean but if she's away for eight months of the year yeah ~like ~come on yeah what are you doing you just like putting ice down there in your loins like cooling it down no

[00:32:32] Lizzy Evans: she's ~we're not ~we're not all obsessed with sex

[00:32:33] Kyle Risi: let's just go you know dolly parton's obsessed with sex trust me trust me. So in 1967, Dolly's career soars to a whole new height and she's offered the role as girl singer on the Porter Wagner show, which at the time is the highest rating TV show in the USA. Now, Porter Wagner was a massive name in country music at that time. Like he quite literally has millions of fans.

[00:32:56] Kyle Risi: So initially Dolly was brought in to replace the previous girl [00:33:00] singer called Norma Jean who was, like, incredibly popular on the show. So this sudden change didn't sit well with fans. Partly because they were used to kind of Norma, but mostly it's because the women were like completely polar opposites of each other.

[00:33:14] Kyle Risi: Norma Jean was kind of this brunette type with a slim figure and kind of a fairly low voice. But Dolly was of course blonde, she was a bit thicker and juicier, and she had a kind of a higher pitched voice.

[00:33:24] Lizzy Evans: What you're describing there is best friends. What do you mean? ~Well, ~like a blonde and a brunette, you know, total

[00:33:29] Kyle Risi: opposites, but they end up...

[00:33:30] Kyle Risi: Yeah, because you're not competing on each other's turf, right? Yeah, because you're totally different. Yeah, I guess so. But it didn't obviously sit well with them. ~So, ~so for the audience, this is really jarring. They had been expecting something a bit more familiar.

[00:33:40] Kyle Risi: So as a result, the audience were really harsh and even booing her during her performances, which I think is really horrible. It's really sad. So Dolly was super crushed at the time, understandably ~so, ~because she like really hoped that this gig would be the thing that kind of takes it to that next level.

[00:33:53] Kyle Risi: So it seemed like she might lose her job, but Porter stepped in he starts like kind of doing these duets with her on the show [00:34:00] and just like magic, it worked really well. The audience got used to her voice and they started to really enjoy the solo performances in her own right.

[00:34:07] Kyle Risi: Good. And over the years. She and Porter released a string of successful duet albums. Porter even produced Dolly's own solo albums. But their relationship was also a super, intense rollercoaster filled with ups and downs. And even when they worked really well together, They just disagreed a lot on stupid things and this was really tiring for Dolly.

[00:34:26] Kyle Risi: So she made a promise to herself. She'd stay with the Porter show for a maximum of five years and then she would use this experience to ~kind of like ~launch her own solo career.

[00:34:34] Kyle Risi: So fast forward to 1971. It was obvious that Dolly was the star of the Portland Wagner show. And a big moment for her was when she released a song called coat of many Colours

[00:34:45] Kyle Risi: Okay. Have you heard of it? I think I have. Yeah. This is essentially a thank you note to a mother so the song tells a story of a coat that Dolly's mother and made for out of rags and Dolly was so proud to wear it to school, but the other kids kind of just tease her for it. And so the song is a [00:35:00] tribute to Dolly's mother and the love and the care that she put into making this coat. It's very sweet. Yeah. So ~it's, ~it's so heartfelt. Yeah. And the thing is, it really resonated with the audience as well.

[00:35:09] Kyle Risi: Cause to the audience, the themes of kind of shame and poverty was what really resonated with him the most. And the song was that one hit that catapulted Dolly to kind of the next level.

[00:35:19] Kyle Risi: And porter was really pissed he was really resentful of the fact that she was starting to kind of manifest herself into kind of this real big star. Yeah. So he just starts being really mean to her and not just behind the scenes,~ like,~ but also on live TV as well. It's horrible. Like in the middle of a song that they're singing together, he would tell , Dolly to stop playing the guitar I've got this. I can handle it. No, he didn't. Horrible. And you can see it in her face. Like, she just steps back and she's ~like, ~oh, all like a little mousy. And she like, retreats.

[00:35:49] Kyle Risi: And it's horrible. Yeah. There's compilations on YouTube that you can watch of all this happening. It's just horrible. Poor

[00:35:55] Lizzy Evans: Dolly. Yeah. Obviously you feel sorry for her.

[00:35:57] Kyle Risi: Yeah. No one deserves that. No. Especially not [00:36:00] Dolly. Like. How many people do you know that hate Dolly? Name one person that has a bad word to say about Dolly.

[00:36:04] Lizzy Evans: I don't, but then I don't know many people who listen to country

[00:36:06] Kyle Risi: music. The only people I know are those bullies that bullied her. Yeah.

[00:36:09] Lizzy Evans: That's their claim to fame. I used to bully Dolly Patton.

[00:36:13] Kyle Risi: God. So Dolly just knew that she had to leave. But as she pulled away, like Porter could sense it and things just got even more intense between them. And in his mind, he believed that he had made her into the style that she is. So effectively, like she belonged to him he just couldn't stand the fact that she is becoming more popular than him, but he also didn't want her to leave at all.

[00:36:37] Kyle Risi: So it took her another three years before she managed to break free. So she had to endure all that bullshit. That's such a long time. It's horrible. Yeah.

[00:36:45] Kyle Risi: So in late 1973, Dolly releases a song called Jolene. We all know. This is the best song, one of her most iconic songs. Of course. So this was the first time she had charted on the overall billboard [00:37:00] charts and outside of country music.

[00:37:02] Kyle Risi: Did you know this? No, I didn't know. This is kind of like her breakthrough.

[00:37:04] Lizzy Evans: Doesn't surprise me, but yeah. There's been endless covers of it as well. Like ~really, ~really good covers. Amazing.

[00:37:08] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Brilliant song.

[00:37:09] Kyle Risi: So the story behind Dolly Parton's song Jolene is just incredible.

[00:37:13] Kyle Risi: So Dolly notices that Carl Dean was visiting the bank more than usual. So curious, she decides that she's going to go with him to the bank one day. And she notices that Carl starts chatting up the cashier. So she's got this kind of stunning auburn hair. Like really beautiful skin. She's got this gorgeous little voice and Dolly thinks to herself, Ah, I see what's happening here.

[00:37:34] Kyle Risi: So she's ~like, ~decides that she's going to store this little observation inside the back of her mind because every song needs a story. And she's just waiting for the right story. Then fast forward a couple of years later, Dolly is on tour when this little cute little 10 year old girl approaches her for an autograph.

[00:37:50] Kyle Risi: And when Dolly asks the girl for her name, she hears Jolene. Even though the little girl says Julene. So Dolly's ~like, ~Oh my God, what a beautiful name [00:38:00] and tells the girl that she's going to write a song about that name one day. And the girl's like, uh, okay. And she leaves.

[00:38:07] Kyle Risi: And then she realizes that Dolly's written Jolene instead of Julene. So she does contemplate going back to get a corrective, but she's like, fuck it. She goes, she off she goes.

[00:38:17] Kyle Risi: So meanwhile, Dolly is frantically trying to make sure that she doesn't forget the name in her head. So she's repeating it over and over and like adding this little melody to it because that kind of helps reinforce the memory.

[00:38:26] Kyle Risi: So she starts singing, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. And just like that, the song Jolene is born. Wow.

[00:38:33] Lizzy Evans: Sounds so simple when you put it like that.

[00:38:37] Kyle Risi: So yeah, that was it.

[00:38:38] Lizzy Evans: That's incredible. I love that song. I

[00:38:40] Kyle Risi: really do. It is such, it's for the ages. When I was like young if there was ever karaoke, it would always be that song, and I'm like, that's the gayest song that a man could sing, I guess.

[00:38:49] Kyle Risi: Is it? I think so.

[00:38:51] Lizzy Evans: I don't know. Maybe.

[00:38:53] Kyle Risi: So Dolly has this huge hit under her

[00:38:55] Kyle Risi: name, and now is the time. So she needs to leave the Porter [00:39:00] Wagner show. But she doesn't want to just write a regular resignation letter. Oh no, this is Dolly Parton we're talking about, right? So she decides to write her resignation letter in a song. Okay. So she walks into Porter's office and she asks him to just sit down and listen.

[00:39:17] Kyle Risi: And then she plays the song on a guitar from start to finish and Porter just stays quiet the whole time. But by the end, like a single tear is rolling down his face and he's gotten the message loud and clear. And he tells her, I'll let you go, but only if I can produce this song. And that song was... I will always love you.

[00:39:37] Lizzy Evans: Oh, that's sad and happy. It's like closure.

[00:39:42] Kyle Risi: But my whole life I always thought I will always love you. was a song between two lovers, but it's actually a resignation letter to your damn boss. And the lyrics are like, ~if I, ~if I should stay, I would only be in your way, so I'll go. And when you read through the lyrics, it makes complete sense.

[00:39:58] Kyle Risi: It's just, I

[00:39:58] Lizzy Evans: think I can safely [00:40:00] say that I will never. Sing that to my boss. Fuck you.

[00:40:09] Kyle Risi: But yeah, she decided to sing what would become one of Whitney Houston's biggest songs ever . Yeah. I just think it's one incredible story. I love the backstories. So the wild thing is that Jolene and I Will Always Love You, those songs were literally written on the same day or at least consecutively.

[00:40:26] Kyle Risi: Because when you look through Dolly's old notebooks, on one page you see Jolene and the next page is I Will Always Love You. She just had a really good couple of days. Yeah. And she always says that when you like listen to interviews that she has, she always says ~like, ~I've written like 3000 stars and maybe five of them are good.

[00:40:41] Lizzy Evans: Yeah. But it's like when you take a selfie, isn't it? And you'd have to take like a hundred and one is good in your opinion.

[00:40:47] Kyle Risi: It's a good way of putting it. That's a Gen Z insight. It's a Dolly Parton type thing. I think so. Well, you're 25. 26. 26 on the cusp. You're, you're, you're a Gen Z elder. [00:41:00] Or, uh, or a millennial youth.

[00:41:02] Kyle Risi: I don't like being a millennial. Okay, so we'll slot you ~a Gen Z, ~a Gen Z elder. I'm a 90s baby.

[00:41:07] Lizzy Evans: Gather round children, let

[00:41:08] Kyle Risi: me tell you the story of the... Landline.

[00:41:11] Lizzy Evans: I remember dial up. Dial up? Yeah, flip up phones. Babe I

[00:41:15] Kyle Risi: think you might be millennial. No. Yeah, no babe, millennial. If you remember dial up, you're millennial.

[00:41:20] Kyle Risi: Yeah, sorry. Okay. Millennial youth. Okay, fine. So ~it's the, ~it's the millennial elders that are saying gather round children, let me tell you the story about the landline. You're like, I already know it. Yeah. I'm beyond my years. Okay.

[00:41:34] Lizzy Evans: That's fine, I'll

[00:41:35] Kyle Risi: accept that.

[00:41:37] Kyle Risi: So Dolly makes a decision to let portner produce a song, Hoping that it will kind of obviously help her escape the strained relationship. So the song becomes like a massive hit and even Elvis Presley falls in love with the song. So much so that he sings this song to Priscilla Presley on the day of their divorce.

[00:41:57] Kyle Risi: Oh wow. And he loves it so much [00:42:00] that he asks Dolly if She will let him cover the song and Dolly is like, um, hell yes. Like one of the biggest stars in the world. Yes. I'll let you sing it. But when it comes down to terms, Elvis's manager demands half ownership rights to the song. And Dolly is just like, do you know what?

[00:42:14] Kyle Risi: I can't bring myself to just let go of the song. And so this refusal turns out to be one of the smartest moves that she ever makes in her life ~because later, ~because later Whitney Houston herself will cover the song.

[00:42:23] Kyle Risi: And it will literally make her so much bloody money, like annual royalties in the millions. It's just mental. Yeah. It's crazy. So after breaking ties with Portner, he is still producing some of the music. And after a few more disagreements, he tries to sue her for 3 million, saying that she stole that money from him when she decided to go solo.

[00:42:44] Kyle Risi: Right. What a bastard. Yeah. I knew that was going to happen. Of course you knew that was going to happen. So he also starts bad mouthing her, which like, really starts to affect her reputation. So Dolly responds by agreeing to just give him a million dollars just to make him go away.

[00:42:55] Kyle Risi: And even that almost ruins her. Like, she doesn't have a million dollars

[00:42:59] Lizzy Evans: [00:43:00] at that time. But it's crazy when you think where we started in this story and she had nothing. Yeah. And now she's like, well, I'll just give him a million. Yeah.

[00:43:06] Kyle Risi: Yeah. I don't think it was a, eh, I'll give you a million. She was like, I need to gather a million dollars.

[00:43:11] Kyle Risi: Okay. That's all I can afford. But,~ um,~ yeah, so Dolly starts branching out into different genres like disco and pop and initially her fans are like, um, no. But Dolly knew that they would adapt and they did. And she starts touring globally. She makes hundreds of TV appearances. One of the highlights is Emmy nominated performance with Cher, which leads to her hosting... Her own TV shows and even appearing on the cover of playboy and this is that cover.

[00:43:37] Lizzy Evans: She looks like a sexy bunny playboy, Marilyn Monroe.

[00:43:42] Kyle Risi: Yeah, she does. That's what she looks like, yeah. She also looks a little bit more distinguished and a bit more mature.

[00:43:45] Kyle Risi: She doesn't look like your young, kind of, 20 year old. She looks like she's got a bit of maturity to

[00:43:51] Lizzy Evans: her. Yeah, a mature playboy, for sure. But she looks ~very, ~very naturally beautiful. And it's classy as

[00:43:55] Kyle Risi: well. It is classy, yeah. Really classy.

[00:43:57] Lizzy Evans: Beautiful. I have also worn that outfit. Have you? To [00:44:00] a club, yeah. Oh.

[00:44:00] Lizzy Evans: And in other places. And

[00:44:02] Kyle Risi: do you think you look like her? No,

[00:44:03] Lizzy Evans: no, I don't. I don't have the breasts.

[00:44:06] Kyle Risi: I mean, that's why,~ like,~ chicken fillets are for, right? Just stuff your brow in. It's not worth

[00:44:10] Lizzy Evans: it for me.

[00:44:13] Kyle Risi: So Dolly receives a package in the post. It's from Jane Fonda. And it's a script for a film called 95. So the character of Dora Lee was specifically created with Dolly in mind and she's obviously the southern kind of secretary who people often misjudge based on her appearance and her accent and at first Jane Fonda doesn't think that Dolly would even be remotely interested, but she shoots a shot and Dolly just loves the script and she agrees to be in the film.

[00:44:42] Kyle Risi: And her only condition is that she would get to perform the theme song, which Jane Fonda is like, um, okay. Yeah. Yeah, sure. If you want, are you sure? She's like, ka ching. So up until this point, Dolly has never acted before.

[00:44:56] Kyle Risi: So in preparation for the film, she memorizes not just her own [00:45:00] lines. But everyone's lines in the script, because remember she's used to live TV, so everything is done in just one single take. And she thinks that movies work the same way. So you can imagine her surprise when she shows up on day one, when she finds out that there's a whole new script.

[00:45:15] Kyle Risi: She's like, but hang on a minute. I just memorized the whole thing and everyone thinks it's bloody hilarious but she then goes ahead and memorizes the new script as well and yeah. Dedication. Yeah for sure that shows like her commitment and her work ethic. She's just incredible. Yeah. So the film turns out to be a huge hit and even today the friendships between Dolly, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin they're all just super close.

[00:45:39] Kyle Risi: Have you I haven't seen it. You haven't seen it? No. Babe, you have to see it. Okay. I can't believe you haven't

[00:45:45] Lizzy Evans: seen it. I feel like I'm such

[00:45:46] Kyle Risi: a novice. Babe, go home and watch it. You'll love it.

[00:45:48] Kyle Risi: Okay. So, yeah. Let's talk Dolly and makeup for a second, because it's clear that it's obviously a huge part of who she is, so from childhood, she was super fascinated with it, but she was never allowed to kind of wear makeup growing up.

[00:45:59] Kyle Risi: [00:46:00] So to get creative, she would use iodine from berries for lipstick. She would use flour for face powder, and she would even like burn matchsticks and use that as eyeliner. And she would do this all in secret. She would go out into the woods and just do it all there, then wash it all off before she came home. Because she knew that she'd be in trouble.

[00:46:16] Lizzy Evans: That's really resourceful though. I feel like that's the kind of thing they do in prison.

[00:46:20] Kyle Risi: Babe, it is exactly what they do in prison. Is it? Yeah, you gotta be resourceful ~when, ~when my,~ uh,~ Nan was growing up in the wall, because there was a nylon shortage what they would do is they would mix up some Bisto gravy.

[00:46:30] Kyle Risi: And then they would smear that over their legs to make it look like they were wearing pantyhose. And then they would get an eyeliner pen and draw a big long line right up their leg to because the old nylon stockings had that seam growing going at the top. And they would just fake it. But didn't they smell?

[00:46:45] Kyle Risi: Probably. Can you imagine if it started raining, what's that smell? That's my nanny. What? Not

[00:46:51] Lizzy Evans: my fanny.

[00:46:54] Kyle Risi: Babe, kids listen. I'm

[00:46:57] Lizzy Evans: not even sorry. [00:47:00]

[00:47:01] Kyle Risi: So, to her, makeup was just magic. And she's always maintained that if she didn't make it in entertainment, she would have been perfectly happy. being a beautician or a hairdresser. Yeah, I can see that for her. Yeah, I see that for her as well. So even some of her closest friends,~ like,~ have never seen her without her makeup or her iconic wigs. Which she's been wearing since the 60s, by the way, I didn't know they were

[00:47:22] Lizzy Evans: wigs. I thought she just had a bouffant.

[00:47:24] Kyle Risi: No, like they're all wigs. Sometimes six of them all at once. Really? Yeah. Oh, I guess that's why it's so big.

[00:47:28] Kyle Risi: So sometimes she gets up at 2am in the morning just to apply a full face of makeup before even like setting foot in a makeup trailer. And once she's there, she'll just tell the makeup artist, can you just ~like ~do as little as possible, please? Cause, cause you know, I've got it nailed.

[00:47:42] Kyle Risi: She often tells a story about when she was caught in an earthquake one year and her friend was like, Dolly, come on, we've got to get out. And Dolly's like flat out refuses because ~like, ~she's got no makeup on.

[00:47:53] Kyle Risi: So Dolly made a promise from that day on that she will never be caught unprepared again. So before she heads to bed every [00:48:00] night, she puts on a full face of makeup So she's ready for anything that might come her way. That's crazy And it's not just makeup dolly ~is a ~is a huge advocate for plastic surgery.

[00:48:10] Kyle Risi: She says that If it sags, bags, or drags, she's gotta get it nipped, tucked, plucked, or sucked. That's my Dolly

[00:48:17] Lizzy Evans: accent. I love that, but just for comparison, if you look at my face, ~I don't, ~I don't, can't relate. No, because

[00:48:23] Kyle Risi: I mean, ~you're, ~you're like tight as a tambourine, babe. Yeah, but I just I can literally smack your face and it'll just bounce back.

[00:48:28] Kyle Risi: I can flick peas off your

[00:48:29] Lizzy Evans: cheeks. Yeah, everything stays exactly where it is. But I mean, ~I don't, ~I don't wear a lot of makeup or anything, so I can't relate to her spending so much time it takes a certain dedication to do it before you go to bed. I lay on my front when I sleep.

[00:48:42] Kyle Risi: Right, so if you had makeup on you'd just be like, in the pillow. But

[00:48:45] Lizzy Evans: she would have to sleep on her back, although I suppose because of her breasts she'd have to do that anyway. But I just think it's fascinating. And then she'd wake up and wouldn't have to do that. Whereas I wake up and do my makeup, very little makeup, half asleep. So different world.

[00:48:58] Kyle Risi: But also like [00:49:00] Donny knows that people often joke about how she looks, but what's amazing is that she's always ready to also join in on the laughter as well. But one of the most famous lines is that it takes a lot of money to look this cheap.

[00:49:11] Kyle Risi: So she knows, and this is the kind of sense of humor. That just makes her so charming and so like sweet. Like, how can you be mad at that? I didn't know that was her saying. Yeah, that's her saying. So she's just a pro at just not taking herself too seriously. And this ability to just make fun of herself.

[00:49:28] Kyle Risi: It's just something that really draws people into her. And it's not just about her look. It's like her whole persona is so thoughtfully. built because she's all she is just true to who she is. I know she's a character, but ~that's, ~that's who she

[00:49:43] Lizzy Evans: is. Yeah. You can't take yourself too serious.

[00:49:44] Kyle Risi: No. Yeah. So Here's a little interesting story that you might not know.

[00:49:49] Kyle Risi: So when she was filming the movie nine to five, she found herself playing around with her acrylic nails. So as you notice that it sounded very similar to the typewriters that were on set. So believe it or not, that little unique [00:50:00] kind of background sound to the song 9 to 5 is actually Dolly's nails.

[00:50:03] Kyle Risi: And they even give her nails a credit in the actual music video as well, listing like nails by Dolly Parton. It's incredible. But

[00:50:10] Lizzy Evans: you can make anything into an instrument, right?

[00:50:12] Kyle Risi: You could do. If you're creative enough. And she's resourceful, right? She came from nothing. You gotta ~like ~think on your feet.

[00:50:17] Kyle Risi: And there's more like ~the, ~the backing vocals in that song, those are women who were like working on the film sets. So Dolly really wanted real working women to be part of the song. However, she does say that she kind of regrets telling the nail story because now every interview that she does, people are like, play the nails, play it, play it.

[00:50:34] Kyle Risi: So she's ~like, ~Oh, God's sake. But she reckons ~it was, ~it was worth it because the song got an Oscar nomination for best original song. And she also won two Grammys because of it. Wow. Isn't that incredible? Yeah. It doesn't surprise me.

[00:50:44] Kyle Risi: So moving on to her next film project. Dolly takes the lead role in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Have you heard of this one? No. So alongside Burt Reynolds, the movie is based on basically a stage musical and it turns out to be one of the toughest [00:51:00] experiences of Dolly's career.

[00:51:01] Kyle Risi: She openly admits that working with Burt Reynolds was just a complete nightmare. Okay. Primarily because like he had the biggest ego in the world. And there were also rumours circulating that they were having an affair. And when she was questioned about it, Dolly was like. We are way too much alike to be having an affair.

[00:51:19] Kyle Risi: Like she says, we're like brother and sister. We both wear wigs. We both wear makeup, high heels and tiny little girdles to hide our pot bellies. And Burt Reynolds he's absolutely furious because he really wanted ~like ~the public to believe that they were having an affair.

[00:51:33] Kyle Risi: Like he was angling for that. He wanted people to know for popularity for street cred because she's a huge she's a huge star at the time, right? So the film seemed played with issues from the start and as people were constantly getting fired scenes need to be re shot and the director told her she was a really bad actress and in response she was like, I never said I was a great actor, I just need you to be a good director and tell me what to do.

[00:51:55] Kyle Risi: Which I was like, that's just the best response So once filming [00:52:00] wrapped up, she said that she probably would never act in another movie again.

[00:52:02] Kyle Risi: So in her late thirties, Dolly found herself sinking into a severe depression, which she describes as a midlife crisis. And it was basically because she was pushing herself to the brink, like she was working to the point of physical and mental exhaustion and adding to the burden she was also neglecting her health , particularly, did you know that she had. Endometriosis.

[00:52:19] Lizzy Evans: No, I didn't, but it's very common.

[00:52:21] Kyle Risi: Basically this eventually led to her needing a hysterectomy. Yeah. Pushing her into early menopause. so having biological children was no longer an option for her.

[00:52:28] Lizzy Evans: Yeah. Cause I was going to ask you, has she got any children?

[00:52:30] Kyle Risi: No, she never had any kids of her own. She thought that she had time and then boom, before you know it, she doesn't have the option. She's also been really open about how she came really close to ending her life.

[00:52:40] Kyle Risi: Can you imagine a world where there's no Dolly Parton? No, I can't. Horrible. She brings a lot of joy to my life. She does! ~So, ~recognising a need for change, Dolly makes the conscious decision to refocus her life, prioritising projects that will only promise to give her genuine happiness.

[00:52:55] Kyle Risi: And notably, she scores huge success with Islands in the [00:53:00] Stream. And it's a song that she performs with, obviously, Kenny Rogers. Interestingly though, as I said earlier on, she didn't write it. It's a Bee Gees

[00:53:07] Lizzy Evans: song. Didn't know that. I can't imagine the Bee Gees singing it though. Yeah, because their whole... Persona is really high pitched. Yeah, that's it.

[00:53:19] Kyle Risi: . And it's really fast and upbeat. Yeah,

[00:53:21] Kyle Risi: so she does return back to filming starring in a movie called Rhinestone with Sylvester Stallone, which is a massive flop. And, in the movie she's a country music star played by obviously Dolly.

[00:53:31] Kyle Risi: And she must turn this obnoxious New York cabbie, which is a perfect role for Sylvester Stallone. I imagine him as a cabbie and for a bet. She has to turn him into a singer. in order to win that bet. But although the film was a financial failure, Dolly got two top 10 hits out of that.

[00:53:46] Kyle Risi: So she's the only one who was successful out of this whole film. Everything else was a flop. And then again, tabloids start suggesting that she and Ceylon were doing it. Was he really famous at the time? Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. He was really famous, but yeah, they weren't doing it, but the [00:54:00] papers wanted her to be doing it.

[00:54:01] Kyle Risi: So the thing about the tabloids is that they were, obsessed with her. And for a time she was the third most photographed person on the planet next to Madonna. and the Pope. Wow. One of the biggest rumours at the time was that she was a lesbian with her best friend Judy. They've just been best friends since they were kids they go on holiday together and they've always been snapped together. And so the papers claim that they were in love and they called him was just a beard and that maybe he didn't even exist at all because he's never photographed with him at all.

[00:54:26] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, but you could say that about the Queen, like she had her lady in waiting who was there all the time, it's ~like, well ~maybe they were lesbians. Maybe!

[00:54:32] Kyle Risi: I guess the papers just were really obsessed with people who were gay in the 90s, right?

[00:54:36] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, because it was a big thing. Still is.

[00:54:38] Kyle Risi: So in 1986, the year that Dolly turns 40, significant changes take place in her life. First off, she purchases a theme park in East Tennessee. After some reservations and obviously expansions, she names it Dollywood. And one of the main reasons for doing this was that so she could kind of provide job opportunities for the local community, which hadn't seen any growth for years and years.[00:55:00]

[00:55:00] Kyle Risi: And despite her accountants and lawyers and manager telling her like this is a seriously risky move She,~ like,~ just stands her ground and yeah, the park becomes one of the most popular theme parks in the world. TripAdvisor's 2022 Traveller's Choice Best of the Best Awards named Dollywood as the number one theme park in the United States. And the 8th best theme park in the world?

[00:55:21] Lizzy Evans: That's insane. That's mental! I also think it's beautiful because I didn't know that backstory. I just thought that it was more from a commercial point of view. Yeah. And actually it's for job opportunities and providing for the local community. She's genuinely

[00:55:33] Kyle Risi: daring. So imagine a place with roller coasters, waterslides, bumper cars, but also With a museum dedicated to Dolly herself. So the museum includes like totally unique items like the dry cleaner receipt where she first wrote the lyrics of Coat of Many Colours.

[00:55:49] Kyle Risi: ~Um, ~a huge collection obviously of her wigs. And of course the famous coat itself, the Coat of Many Colours.

[00:55:55] Kyle Risi: So the park also has an exact replica of the shack that she was born in . Which I think is just incredible. [00:56:00] So in that same year, Dolly's record label makes the decision that they're going to part ways with her. And they just believe that she was past her prime however, it doesn't set her back. Another label wasted no time in signing her.

[00:56:12] Kyle Risi: And that allows Dolly to really ~like ~immerse herself in the music that she's always cherished. So she's finally... Finally, just doing everything that she wants to do. That's so rare as well. It is so rare. And remember she's in the forties now. So it's taken her all these years to finally just be like, I'm a big enough star to just do that.

[00:56:28] Kyle Risi: What the hell I want. So Dolly also, as already discussed embraces philanthropy. ~So. ~Within her career, particularly in East Tennessee, the Dollywood Foundation, has a clear mission, and this was to improve education in the area, because at the time, high school dropout rates were alarmingly high, compared to the rest of the country they were 40%.

[00:56:48] Lizzy Evans: Do we know why?

[00:56:49] Kyle Risi: I guess it's just because no one's... Pumping money into it. People aren't telling kids that you can be somebody. Yeah. That's a shame. So in just a few years, though, the Dolly foundation manages to drastically reduce that down to just 6%.[00:57:00]

[00:57:00] Kyle Risi: So just a little bit of love and attention and care you can do things. You can make an impact and she does. Later, the foundation launches the imaginary, I love this, the imagination library. Okay. So the concept behind this is beautifully simple.

[00:57:13] Kyle Risi: Send free books to children under the age of five, because Dolly understood that teaching kids to read before they start school is literally the best way to give a kid a significant advantage in life. And the program isn't just limited to Tennessee. ~Like ~if you live in the US, if you live in Australia, the UK or Canada, parents can register.

[00:57:33] Kyle Risi: And their kids will receive a free book every single month until they begin school. Wow, that's amazing. And the Imagination Library. Has really deep roots ~for ~for Dolly because her father, despite being one of the most intelligent people that she ever knew, he couldn't read or he couldn't write. And Dolly strongly believes that if he could just imagine the incredible things that he would have achieved in his life.

[00:57:56] Kyle Risi: So she's just committed to offering. strong educational [00:58:00] foundations to as many kids as possible. In fact, there are kids all over the world that don't know her as a celebrity that she is, but as the book lady, because her face is so heavily associated with the Imagination Library. So there's ~like, ~ah, it's the book lady.

[00:58:14] Lizzy Evans: But that's beautiful, isn't it? Because She's obviously done whatever she can, you know, philanthropy isn't for everyone, but she's dedicated her life in the later years to helping other people, which is beautiful.

[00:58:26] Kyle Risi: No, it doesn't. And this is something that she's extremely proud of.

[00:58:29] Kyle Risi: Like she's super happy that her legacy is going to be about books and not about her boobs or her sexuality, which I think, good for you. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:58:37] Lizzy Evans: I mean, I remember her breasts. Lovely boobies. It's lovely. I just want to like lay on them.

[00:58:44] Kyle Risi: , so initially Dolly believed that she wanted children of her own but obviously circumstances changed and that path just wasn't available to her at all. However, as she looks back she realizes that she already had a fulfilling family in a unique way because when she made it big several of her younger siblings came to live with [00:59:00] her and called in and essentially they ended up raising them and now their children see her ~as a grandmother ~as a grandmother figure and they call her auntie granny which i think is so sweet it is so in a way she did end up having a family but just not in the manner that she initially envisioned yeah life works out doesn't it yeah

[00:59:17] Kyle Risi: so in 1986 dolly establishes Uh, film and TV production company called Sand Dollar. They played a pivotal role in bringing us Shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer both the movie obviously and obviously the iconic TV show So it's safe to say that without Dolly Buffy might not have kind of grace our scene

[00:59:37] Lizzy Evans: Buffy

[00:59:39] Kyle Risi: is incredible.

[00:59:40] Lizzy Evans: Yeah, I do like it. Not

[00:59:42] Kyle Risi: my generation. It's because ~it's a ~it's a square screen, right? You watch is like otherwise screen square like rectangle I like

[00:59:49] Lizzy Evans: books and music.

[00:59:50] Kyle Risi: Don't make yourself out to be something kind of more intellectual.

[00:59:53] Lizzy Evans: I'm sorry, I'm not,

[00:59:58] Kyle Risi: so Dolly remained incredibly [01:00:00] prolific in her music career. She consistently released a new album almost every year for two decades.

[01:00:04] Kyle Risi: So, here's a cheeky anecdote about,~ um,~ I Will Always Love You. So the song that we talked about earlier on. So, from, as we know, it's from the movie Bodyguard. And obviously it was made famous by the late Miss Whitney Houston. So Dolly was driving home on the freeway.

[01:00:22] Kyle Risi: And Whitney Houston's voice came on the radio. And it surprised us so much because she had no idea that she pulled over just to listen. And you see Dolly had given kind of Kevin Costner permission to use the song in the movie, but she had no idea that it would become the single for the movie soundtrack.

[01:00:37] Kyle Risi: So she'd never heard Whitney's version until that moment on the side of the freeway.

[01:00:41] Lizzy Evans: Isn't that amazing? That's incredible. Hearing someone else sing

[01:00:43] Kyle Risi: your song. And so beautifully as well. So what made this even more special was that this was the first time that anyone had ever covered that song, including the third verse, which Dolly herself had only ever performed.

[01:00:55] Kyle Risi: And this rendition by Whitney moved her so much that she just sat there and [01:01:00] she sobbed, she cried. She was so amazed by what Whitney had done with what she thought was just such a simple song. It's just incredible. And then of course royalty checks started rolling in making her even more thankful to Whitney because to this day that song remains the sixth biggest selling single of all time and it literally generates hundreds of millions of dollars.

[01:01:22] Lizzy Evans: I don't really get how royalties work I think it's Obviously fascinating, and it's just a percentage, I'm guessing, but how do they work it out? And how do you police that? Yeah, exactly. ~Like, ~Happy Birthday, for example. I think that's owned by,~ like,~ Warner Brothers, isn't it? And they get a percentage, but if I say, like, if you put Dolly on here and you say about copyright and stuff, do they, how do, I just don't know how

[01:01:39] Kyle Risi: it works.

[01:01:39] Kyle Risi: I have no idea. Fascinating. Maybe, stations have a quota and they have these, all the songs that you played, and then they calculate the royalties from that. I

[01:01:46] Lizzy Evans: don't know. Yeah, because a lot of them play,~ like,~ chart songs ~over and ~over and over again, Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

[01:01:50] Kyle Risi: Fascinating.

[01:01:50] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So in the same year, Miley Cyrus, who is Dolly Parton's goddaughter, did you know that? Yeah, yeah. She comes into the world, um, both [01:02:00] share a strong commitment to supporting the LGBT plus community, and Dolly has always embraced her gay fans and her trans fans. And remarkably, even her conservative fans don't challenge her.

[01:02:09] Kyle Risi: on this stance. Having their beloved drag queen advocate for such inclusivity serves like just such a beautiful bridge to bringing people together. Yeah. Like even when there's this big divide. Exactly. Because no one hates Dolly on board Dolly Parton. Come on board boys.

[01:02:28] Kyle Risi: So around 2004, Dolly decides that it's the perfect time to remind everyone that she was still a powerhouse. So she embarks on one of the biggest tours of her career. Which was a resounding success, and after the tour she announced her plans to transform her popular song 9 to 5 into a stage musical.

[01:02:45] Kyle Risi: Okay. So the musical made its debut on Broadway in 2008, and while it wasn't a massive hit, it's still going today and has earned, like, a Tony nomination. Which is, in itself, just an incredible achievement. Is it on West End as well? I feel like I've seen it. Yeah, I think so. I'm sure I've seen it [01:03:00] on, advertised in the underground. Yeah, we should go and see it. We should.

[01:03:03] Lizzy Evans: I think it'd be good

[01:03:04] Kyle Risi: fun. 9. 95, learn all the other songs. Yeah, exactly.

[01:03:07] Kyle Risi: In 2016, Dolly celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary with Carl Dean, renewing their vows in a ceremony,~ uh,~ more grandiose than obviously the original wedding that she had.

[01:03:15] Kyle Risi: And in 2021, Dolly's imagination library dispatched its 150 millionth book, which is just an incredible achievement. Yeah, done so well. Yeah.

[01:03:26] Kyle Risi: In 2020, her foundation made a donation of 1 million to support COVID 19 and as a result, in 2022, Jeff Bezos pledged a staggering 100 million to Dolly's Foundation to spend in any way that she wants. In any way. No holds barred. Okay, which I think is she's going to spend that pretty well, right? Yeah, I think she sounds like a good

[01:03:47] Lizzy Evans: honest person. Yeah, trust her to spend it rather than him.

[01:03:51] Kyle Risi: He might have had a clause in there saying no makeup, no wigs. Gotta help the kids.

[01:03:57] Kyle Risi: As of January 19th, [01:04:00] 2023. Dolly celebrated her 77th birthday, but retirement, of course, is far from her mind.

[01:04:06] Kyle Risi: She's still actively involved in writing and performing music. In fact, she has thousands of unreleased songs just waiting to be recorded. And while she knows she's unlikely to finish them, in her lifetime, she's taken a unique approach because Dolly has recorded samples of her voice singing every syllable, every note, every key, spanning various vocal tones.

[01:04:25] Kyle Risi: And this is going to allow future producers to piece together her vocals, creating new songs that we've just never heard before. Yeah, I think that's

[01:04:32] Lizzy Evans: amazing. I think it's incredible. Yeah, didn't they do that with Michael Jackson as well? They, there was some recordings of his voice because ~they, ~they brought out a new album after his death.

[01:04:39] Lizzy Evans: Oh really? And it had ~new, ~new vocals on it. I think it's

[01:04:41] Kyle Risi: incredible. Yeah. You're leaving behind legacy for your kids to be able to capitalize on. Yeah. I know she doesn't have kids, but she's got all of her,~ like,~ her nieces and nephews and stuff and

[01:04:49] Lizzy Evans: grand nieces and also just being able to enjoy her art after

[01:04:52] Kyle Risi: she's gone.

[01:04:53] Kyle Risi: Yeah. It's a shame that she won't be able to see some of those as well. That's the biggest tragedy

[01:04:57] Lizzy Evans: there. Yeah, but there's always a spike in popularity when someone [01:05:00] dies

[01:05:00] Kyle Risi: anyway. Yeah. ~So... ~And if you've got some albums ~in the, ~in the pipeline, you can capitalize on that. Yeah, someone will. What's truly remarkable about Dolly is that her creative journey isn't just about boosting her own ego.

[01:05:10] Kyle Risi: Instead, it's about letting something greater than herself permeate the universe. And I think that this is a testament to her enduring impact on the world of music and storytelling.

[01:05:21] Kyle Risi: Yeah. And that. My friends is the story of the insatiable. Dolly Parton. It's a

[01:05:27] Lizzy Evans: beautiful story. I love her even more now. Don't you just? From a deeper perspective. She's just incredible. I

[01:05:32] Kyle Risi: just liked her music before. Yeah, now, and now you realize that she's actually a decent person. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:05:38] Kyle Risi: Philanthropy. Yeah, philanthropy. Philanthropy. My favorite is the Imagination Library. What a legacy to leave

[01:05:45] Lizzy Evans: behind though. Yeah, I think it's a beautiful story and ~I, I, ~I, again, it comes ~from, ~from the heart, I've said that so much, but ~it, ~it genuinely does and I think she obviously has a big heart to go with the big,~ um,~ chest.

[01:05:55] Kyle Risi: ~Well, ~actually, if you ever get the opportunity, there is a brilliant,~ uh,~ she does [01:06:00] the opening address for, I think the graduating class of, I want to say like 2018. ~Uh, ~East Tennessee University, where she gives the opening speech to the people graduating that year. And she is just incredible. She comes out, she's all like full of fun and love and stuff. And she's telling the story about where she got her look from and she's ~like, ~I'm not someone who should be giving advice because if you follow my advice for some of you boys out there, it'd be very, a very bad move for some of you.

[01:06:26] Kyle Risi: ~Um, ~and she talks about where her look came from. And do you know where her look came from? I think I do. Go on, tell us. You tell us. So she,~ um,~ when she was a very young kid, she would see this woman walking around the town and she was like, she's so pretty, like, she's so beautiful.

[01:06:40] Kyle Risi: And everyone was like, you stay away from her. She's like. She's bad news. Like she's,~ uh, she, ~she's the, she was called the town trial up and she was just like, I don't care. I want to look like that. And that's what she's based her look on. Yeah.

[01:06:50] Lizzy Evans: Cause she was, I've never seen anyone so beautiful.

[01:06:52] Lizzy Evans: Yeah. Cause it was dolled up, literally.

[01:06:55] Kyle Risi: And when you listen to this address, it's about 18 minutes long. If you're ever feeling down or sad, [01:07:00] listen to it. It will just cheer you up because it's just so beautiful. And she's just so genuine and so lovely. Yeah. But

[01:07:05] Lizzy Evans: yeah, it doesn't surprisingly, it doesn't take much to make me cry.

[01:07:08] Kyle Risi: Oh, I did tear up when I was watching it. Did you? Yeah. Beautiful. On YouTube? It's on YouTube. I'll link it in the show notes . But yeah. So should we run the outro? So we've come to the end of another

[01:07:20] Kyle Risi: episode of the compendium and assembly of fascinating and intriguing things if you've enjoyed today's episode please consider subscribing and leave us a little review it really helps us out and don't forget to set your episodes to download automatically so you never miss a thing. You can stay connected with us on instagram where you can find us at the compendium podcast you can also visit our little home on the web at thecompendiumpodcast.

[01:07:40] Kyle Risi: com. New episodes are released every Tuesday. And until then, remember if it sags, bags, drags, get it nipped, tucked, plucked, or sucked.

[01:07:51] Kyle Risi: See you next time.

[01:07:52] Lizzy Evans: See you next Tuesday.