Dolly Parton Q&A

Dolly Parton spoke with Lisa Denton of the Times Free Press recently about three new products she has released exclusively at Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores. The following exchange has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: Where are you today, Dolly?

A: I’m in the back room of Cracker Barrel sitting in a pink rocking chair talking to you.

Q: That seems fitting. Are you at the Nashville location?

A: Yeah, we’re in Nashville. I’ve been doing a lot of press today, all about the collector’s edition of ‘Backwoods Barbie,’ which has three new songs that you can only get at Cracker Barrel. They were written exclusively for them. They kind of cater to their clientele and my type of audiences.

Q: Besides the CD, there’s also a rocking chair and photo album?

A: It’s called the collector’s edition. It’s like a photo album. It’s got pictures of my childhood, early days in the business and through the movies, lots of things that I’ve done through the years. It’s done in black and white, some beautiful color sheets, and then little stories, little things I have to say. It’s a hardback, and it’s in that beautiful light and dark pink, like the “Backwoods Barbie” colors.

The pink rocking chair has got to be a hoot sitting on the porch at Cracker Barrel ’cause you can see it for a mile. They say they’re selling out. I said, “Yeah, I’m sure they are. People are buying them just to get them off the porch.”

Q: I got so many comments on a previous story I wrote about meeting you. It seems that everybody loves Dolly.

A: Well, I’m sure everybody don’t love Dolly. I’m sure some people would like to smack a knot on my head. We don’t want to hear about them. We don’t care about them. We want the ones who want to come in and get this collector’s edition of the photo album and get this collector’s edition of “Backwoods Barbie” and sit and rock in one of them pink rocking chairs. Even if you don’t buy it, you might can sit in it and rock a while.

Q: I know you are not ready for your rocking years. Hearing about the chairs reminded me of that duet you did with Ricky Van Shelton.

A: I though of that too. I mentioned that to them: You do know I’m famous for a song my brother Floyd wrote called “Rocking Years”? You don’t think they’re gonna take this wrong and think I’m ready to be rocking away in a chair? Maybe we better promote it “Dolly rocks” instead of “Dolly’s in her rocking years.”

Q: I can’t imagine you’re ready for that yet. I think the hot pink makes it work though.

A: If I do ever have to sit in a rocking chair, I’m gonna put wheels on it, so I can rock and roll.

Q: Your name comes up so often in pop culture. On “American Idol” recently, they talked about how contestant Alexis Grace, who sang “Jolene,” bears a resemblance to you, and I started thinking maybe she could play the younger version of you if you ever do a biopic. Do you see that as maybe a next step after “9 to 5: The Musical”?

A: Actually, I do. I’m working on it right now. I’m gonna finally do my life story. I’m working on that. I don’t know for sure who we will choose. I felt so bad that (Alexis) got kicked off. I felt responsible because I thought maybe it’s because of my song. I hope not. Anyway, I’ll definitely keep her in mind as well.

I’m anxious to at some point to get at least a portion of my life story going. Maybe we can do a continued one too.

Q: You’re still gonna have plenty of chapters left.

A: We wouldn’t have time to tell my whole story. We could start and then do a sequel that would actually just pick up and do the rest of my life.

Q: Was there a particular reason you wanted to go with Cracker Barrel? I guess the down-home flavor of it probably appeals to you in some way.

A: It did, and that was basically what it was. We felt like we were a perfect fit, me being a Tennessee girl, a country girl, and the old country store and all the things that they represent with family. You know, I’m from a big family, brought up poor and ragged. They were interested in that whole thing. They know who I am. They know what I’ve been and where I’ve been. I seem to represent their values and standards. Hopefully, I can live up to it. They know I like the food. It just seemed to work well.

Q: Before you go, can tell me about “I Am a Rainbow”?

A: That’s a children book that’s coming out in June. It’s catered to children from the time they’re born to kindergarten, till they’re 5 years old. It’s a little book hopefully we’ll be able to use in the (Imagination) Library. It’s just about the moods of children and how they deal with them. Like red being anger, yellow being cowardly, pink being shy. All that sort of thing, That’s what the rainbow kind of represents. We’re gonna unravel that at Kids Fest (at Dollywood) in June.