It’s “Dolly Week” In Nashville, and tomorrow night the cream of Nashville’s Country music community will enjoy two sold out shows: “Dolly Parton: 50 Years at the Grand Ole Opry,” with guest stars galore: Dierks Bentley, Lady Antebellum, Emmylou Harris, Toby Keith, Hank Williams, Jr. and more.
NBC-TV will tape the show, and re-package it as a Thanksgiving special. Dolly credits the network with not only sharing her 50-year career milestone, but also to helping Country music reach a broader audience, beyond her Country fans, which, in light of the recent Ken Burns Country Music series on PBS, is great timing.
Dolly’s was inducted into the Opry in1969, when she was 23 y/o, however, she first performed there when she was 13, and Johnny Cash introduced her: “We’ve got a little girl here from up in East Tennessee. Her daddy’s listening to the radio at home, and she’s gonna be in real trouble if she doesn’t sing tonight, so let’s bring her out here.”
Parton earned her chops on the top rated,long-running Porter Wagoner TV show—clip below. She’s. Too. Adorable.
Born Jan., 1946, Dolly is a “Zoomer”—the first wave of Boomers.