Dolly Parton's America Podcast Worth a Revisit
We lost Dolly this week and it still doesn't feel real. 80 years old, and somehow it feels like she was supposed to be around forever. She passed peacefully in Nashville after a short fight with cancer, surrounded by people who loved her, and honestly that's about as gentle a goodbye as you could hope for someone like her.
I've been seeing everybody share their favorite Dolly songs and movie clips the last day or two, which is great, but if you really want to sit with who she was, there's a podcast that does it better than almost anything else out there. It's called Dolly Parton's America and I recommend it without hesitation.
It's a nine part series from Jad Abumrad, the guy behind Radiolab, and producer Shima Oliaee. They spent years actually talking to Dolly, not just about her hits, but about how one woman from a tiny town in the Smoky Mountains ended up being maybe the only person left that everybody in this country still agrees on. That's not nothing these days.
Just yesterday NPR sat down with Abumrad to talk about her legacy, and Shima has been doing the rounds too talking about what made her so special to work with. Everybody making this podcast clearly loved her, and you can hear it in every episode.
Here's what critics said about it when it came out, and keep in mind these are their words, not ours, we just point you toward the good stuff:
If you only know Dolly from Jolene or 9 to 5 or the theme park, this podcast fills in everything in between. Her childhood, her marriage, her weird and wonderful relationship with fame, why she never talks politics even though everybody wants her to. It's all in there.
Rest easy, Dolly. Thanks for the songs and thanks for showing us how to be kind to everybody, even the people who didn't agree with you.
Give it a listen this week. It's the best way we know to say goodbye.
-Captain Ron
Sources:
NPR, "Creator of 'Dolly Parton's America' podcast discusses her life and legacy"
Yahoo News, "'Dolly Parton's America' podcast creator breaks down country star's legacy"
ABC News, "'Dolly Parton's America' podcast creator breaks down country star's legacy"