Welcome to Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living.

I'm Sid Evans, editor-in-chief of Southern Living magazine, and I'm talking with legendary musicians and celebrated chefs about family, food, songwriting, and Southern culture.

I can't tell you how excited I am about today's guest.

Her first name alone is known around the world, and so is her voice.

Long before she became a huge star, she came from a little cabin and a poor family in the hills of Tennessee,

but that never took away the magic of Christmas.

We believed in Santa Claus, but we lived far back in the mountains.

He never found us.

We believed in him.

We figured he was going to find us one day.

But in the meantime, we made a lot of things for each other,

homemade toys, mom and dad made for us.

And so it was just a special time, Christmas season.

You just felt different.

Dolly Parton is an entertainment icon, a beloved performer and an inspiration in every sense of the word.

As a prolific singer and songwriter, she's responsible for some of the biggest country and pop hits of all time.

Like I Will Always Love You, Jolene, Code of Many Colors, and Nine to Five.

She's also well known for her philanthropy, especially her imagination library literacy program,

which sends almost a million children a free book by mail every single month.

As she approaches her 75th birthday, she is more productive

than ever and seemingly never out of the spotlight. She stars in movies, publishes books,

and even has her own theme park, Dollywood. Last year, she was the subject of Dolly Parton's

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