Dolly Parton's America By cover art

Dolly Parton's America

By: WNYC Studios & OSM Audio
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  • Summary

  • In this intensely divided moment, one of the few things everyone still seems to agree on is Dolly Parton—but why? That simple question leads to a deeply personal, historical, and musical rethinking of one of America’s great icons. Join us for a 9-episode journey into the Dollyverse. Hosted by Jad Abumrad. Produced and reported by Shima Oliaee. Dolly Parton’s America is a production from OSM Audio and WNYC Studios.
    © WNYC Studios & OSM Audio
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Episodes
  • Dolly Parton's America Trailer

    Dolly Parton's America Trailer
    Oct 3 2019

    In this intensely divided moment, one of the few things everyone still seems to agree on is Dolly Parton—but why? That simple question leads to a deeply personal, historical, and musical rethinking of one of America’s great icons. Join us for a 9-part journey into the Dollyverse.

    Hosted and created by Jad Abumrad and Shima Oliaee.
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    1 min
  • Sad Ass Songs

    Sad Ass Songs
    Oct 15 2019

    We begin with a simple question: How did the queen of the boob joke become a feminist icon? Helen Morales, author of “Pilgrimage to Dollywood,” gave us a stern directive – look at the lyrics! So we dive into Dolly’s discography, starting with the early period of what Dolly calls “sad ass songs” to find remarkably prescient words of female pain, slut-shaming, domestic violence, and women being locked away in asylums by cheating husbands. We explore how Dolly took the centuries-old tradition of the Appalachian “murder ballad”—an oral tradition of men singing songs about brutally killing women—and flipped the script, singing from the woman’s point of view. And as her career progresses, the songs expand beyond the pain to tell tales of leaving abuse behind.

    How can such pro-woman lyrics come from someone who despises the word feminism? Dolly explains.  
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    58 mins
  • I Will Always Leave You

    I Will Always Leave You
    Oct 22 2019

    Porter Wagoner led the most successful country music television show of its time, and in 1967 he needed a new “girl singer.” He turned to a 21 year old songwriter named Dolly Parton, who’d just recorded her first hit “Dumb Blonde.” So began a nearly decade-long partnership that, behind the scenes, was as contentious as it was commercially successful. This episode tells the story of the “Porter years,” the period during which Dolly arguably discovers her power - both as a performer and songwriter - and then makes the difficult (and radical for its time) decision to strike out on her own. Through interviews with Dolly, country music star Marty Stuart, Wagonmaster Buck Trent, and Porter’s daughter Deborah Wagoner, we explore how Dolly handled what’s sometimes called the great “hillbilly divorce” with such characteristic grace. 
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    54 mins
Music History Social Sciences
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What listeners say about Dolly Parton's America

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Profile Image for DoJo

Excellent podcast

We love Dolly's music and travel to Dollywood every year. I heard that the podcast discusses Dollywood so I thought it'd be interesting to hear what she says about the park. Of course it's so much more than that. The best part for me was when some radical feminist tries to make Dolly the matriarch of 3rd wave feminism and Dolly recoils and says she's definitely not a feminist and that she loves men too much to be one. The writer and producer have done an excellent job

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Dali Momma says it all

wonderful wonderful wonderful.
Bravo.
I look forward to following your work in the future.
hugs

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Profile Image for Songbirdbutler

Exceeded My Mother And I's Expectations!!!

My mother (73) and I (42) have always loved Dolly Parton as an artist and as a human being but after listening to this podcast, we love her even more! Mom and I went on a road trip to visit family in a different state so when I was searching for a podcast for the drive that we both would like, this one couldn't have been more perfect! The host and Dolly herself were great. Dolly is not only a talented and true artist, she is witty, genuine, honest and sweet. We learned so much about her as a person, about her past and about the stories behind some of her songs. We even got to hear some of her songs! Dolly is such an interesting person and is a genius songwriter and musician as well as a fantastic role model for women of all ages.
I ❤️ Dolly!

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Dolly is the best!

I loved this podcast! I was sad when it was over.Dolly is real and surreal. don't we all wish we could be that real.thanj you for bringing this to me!

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Profile Image for ish824

not what I expected

this podcast was not what I expected. I thought there would be more interview time with Dolly Parton. that said, I really enjoyed it. It was interesting to learn more about Dolly's life and business acumen, as well as the issues raised in several of the episodes. well worth the listen. Also, I really love Dolly Parton in 9 to 5 🙂

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