Culture chat: the unknowable Dolly Parton

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2023

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This Friday, we’re talking about the deification of Dolly Parton, or, as we like to call her, Saint Dolly. Her new release Rockstar comes out today – a 30-track rock album that features duets with artists such as Paul McCartney, Sting, Elton John and Stevie Nicks on cover versions of their classic songs. The album feels a bit like a karaoke album, but we had a lot of fun listening to it – partially because Parton is so easy to love. So how did Parton become such a cultural icon? What does she represent? And why do we want a Saint Dolly? Lilah is joined by US media correspondent Anna Nicolaou and FT Magazine’s food and drink editor (and long-time Dollyhead) Harriet Fitch Little.

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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. You can email her at [email protected].

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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):

– Rockstar by Dolly Parton is available to stream now, on all music streaming platforms.

– Here’s the FT’s review of Rockstar, by our pop critic Ludo Hunter-Tilney: https://on.ft.com/3ufuiql

– Harriet unpacks the history of Parton’s hit ‘9 to 5’ for the FT column Life of a Song: https://on.ft.com/49F9Uiz

– Anna is on X @annanicolaou, Harriet is on X at @HarrietFL and Instagram at @huffffle

More or less:

– Harriet recommends Jury Duty, available to stream free on Amazon Prime

– For great local-feeling restaurants in New York, Lilah has a hundred recommendations, but here are three: Claud, a wine bar in the East Village, Names in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and (the classic) Frankie’s in Carroll Gardens

– Here’s the article Harriet mentioned, ‘The UK’s 19 cosiest winter restaurants – according to FT writers’: https://on.ft.com/3MNmZwy

– Anna hates grey wood floors

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Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart

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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. Clips courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Transcript

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0:00.9	Welcome to Life and Art from FT Weekend.
0:03.8	I'm Lila Raptopoulos, and this is our Friday chat show.
0:07.6	Today we are talking about the great Dolly Parton and her new album, which came out today.
0:12.3	It's called Rockstar.
0:14.2	This album purports to be Dolly's first ever rock album.
0:17.8	It is mostly her singing covers of rock songs with the artist that originally performed
0:22.7	them. Here she is singing Let It Be with Sir Paul McCartney.
0:43.6	Today we'll talk about the album and we'll talk about Dolly.
0:47.1	Because over recent years, we have deified her.
0:50.6	She's larger than life, and she's become a kind of saint.
0:55.3	My guests and I have thoughts about what has made her an exception to the rule.
1:02.1	Joining me in the New York studio is Anna Nicolao. She works nine to five as our U.S. media correspondent,
1:06.4	and she just got back from a reporting trip to the country music awards in Nashville.
1:08.8	What a way to make a living.
1:15.4	Hi, Anna. Thanks for having me back after I scolded you about Taylor a few weeks ago.
1:16.1	Any time.
1:17.8	It's encouraged.
1:21.6	And from London, her smile is like a breath of spring.
1:23.5	Her voice is soft like summer rain.
1:24.9	It is not Jolene.
1:27.4	It's FD Food and Drink editor Harriet Fitch Liddle.
1:28.4	Wow. Harriet is also...
	...

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