Smart Blonde The Life Of Dolly Parton

Synopsis: An updated edition of the first new and substantial biography for over 15 years. Stephen Miller goes behind the larger-than-life image to find out what really makes Dolly Parton tick. What emerges is a unique portrait of a strong woman who came to town looking like a burlesque hooker but who took control of her life, her music and her career with resolute determination.

In this revised edition of his definitive biography of Dolly Parton, Stephen Miller has updated his original book on the superstar. Going behind the larger-than-life image to discover what makes Dolly tick, Miller gets to the core of a remarkable woman from a poor East Tennessee background who made it in the male-dominated world of Sixties Nashville and went on to build a respectable movie career. Talking to Dolly's family members, musicians and producers, the author explores Dolly's private life, including her closely-guarded relationships with her husband of nearly fifty years, Carl Dean, and her lifelong friend Judy Ogle. What emerges is a unique portrait of a strong woman who took control of her life, her music and a successful business career with resolute determination. Dolly loves making jokes at her own expense; perhaps the best joke has been how one of America's great singer-songwriters became a legend by being serious about her music while being frivolous about her image. Dolly has been a huge star five decades. Her ability to pull in and delight large crowds remains undiminished - as many fans old and new discovered at the world's biggest open air festival in 2014.

Born in poverty in Tennessee, Dolly Rebecca Parton had ambition and determination in spades. Her first single, the ironic Dumb Blonde, launched the now legendary career of a singer-songwriter with a pure country voice and a gift for story-telling. Smart as a whip, Dolly Parton shrugged aside the male-dominated world of Nashville to command her own destiny, creating huge business enterprise in the process: She owns Dollywood theme park and other hospitality venues; she has hosted her own television programs and appeared in films with Jane Fonda, Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone; her Imagination Library project sends free books to children all over the world – For Dolly, dreams are everything and nothing – you gotta roll your sleeves up and get stuck in. Collating interviews and encounters with Dolly Parton from 1967 onwards, Not Dumb Not Blonde proves just that. As in her songs, she is unfailingly entertaining, frank and feisty. These are the words of an artist and performer who, beneath the bravado, is deadly serious about her music and career, and this duality proves to be a touching, insightful and joyous read.

In this Time Top 100 Book of the Year, the National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Heartland “analyzes how Dolly Parton’s songs—and success—have embodied feminism for working-class women” (People). Growing up amid Kansas wheat fields and airplane factories, Sarah Smarsh witnessed firsthand the particular vulnerabilities—and strengths—of women in working poverty. Meanwhile, country songs by female artists played in the background, telling powerful stories about life, men, hard times, and surviving. In her family, she writes, “country music was foremost a language among women. It’s how we talked to each other in a place where feelings aren’t discussed.” And no one provided that language better than Dolly Parton. In this “tribute to the woman who continues to demonstrate that feminism comes in coats of many colors,” Smarsh tells readers how Parton’s songs have validated women who go unheard: the poor woman, the pregnant teenager, the struggling mother disparaged as “trailer trash.” Parton’s broader career—from singing on the front porch of her family’s cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains to achieving stardom in Nashville and Hollywood, from “girl singer” managed by powerful men to self-made mogul of business and philanthropy—offers a springboard to examining the intersections of gender, class, and culture. Infused with Smarsh’s trademark insight, intelligence, and humanity, this is “an ambitious book” (The New Republic) about the icon Dolly Parton and an “in-depth examination into gender and class and what it means to be a woman and a working-class hero that feels particularly important right now” (Refinery29).

Take a deep dive into Dolly Parton’s almost 60 year career with this complete guide featuring more than 400 photographs, little-known stories behind each album, and behind-the-scenes details about the recording of each track, the musicians involved, and the songwriting process. Organized chronologically, and covering every album and every song that Dolly has ever released, Dolly Parton All the Songs is the result of years of research by three Dolly megafans and longtime music journalists. Beginning with a childhood famously spent making music with her family in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains, Dolly Parton All the Songs follows along as the country music superstar conquers Nashville, Hollywood, and then the world with her captivating music, unforgettable style, and unmatched humor and kindness. At 608 pages, Dolly Parton All the Songs is filled with amazing photographs of Dolly in all her glory, and it features tons of fascinating details about Dolly's recording process, including which musicians appeared on each track, and little-known details about her working relationship with Porter Wagoner (she wrote the classic track "I Will Always Love You" about him), as well as looking at her forays into film stardom with appearances in classic movies like 9 to 5, Steel Magnolias, and the recent Netflix series, Heartstrings. This is a must-have book for any fan of Dolly Parton and country music.

Dolly Parton's success as a performer and pop culture phenomenon has overshadowed her achievements as a songwriter. But she sees herself as a songwriter first, and with good reason. Parton's compositions like "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" have become American standards with an impact far beyond country music. Lydia R. Hamessley's expert analysis and Parton’s characteristically straightforward input inform this comprehensive look at the process, influences, and themes that have shaped the superstar's songwriting artistry. Hamessley reveals how Parton’s loving, hardscrabble childhood in the Smoky Mountains provided the musical language, rhythms, and memories of old-time music that resonate in so many of her songs. Hamessley further provides an understanding of how Parton combines her cultural and musical heritage with an artisan’s sense of craft and design to compose eloquent, painfully honest, and gripping songs about women's lives, poverty, heartbreak, inspiration, and love. Filled with insights on hit songs and less familiar gems, Unlikely Angel covers the full arc of Dolly Parton's career and offers an unprecedented look at the creative force behind the image.

"Nobody knows Dolly like Dolly," declares Dolly Parton. Dolly's is a rags-to-riches tale like no other. A dirt-poor Smoky Mountain childhood paved the way for the buxom blonde butterfly's metamorphosis from singer-songwriter to international music superstar. The undisputed "Queen of Country Music," Dolly has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and has conquered just about every facet of the entertainment industry: music, film, television, publishing, theater, and even theme parks. It has been more than fifty years since Dolly Parton arrived in Nashville with just her guitar and a dream. Her story has been told many times and in many ways, but never like this. Dolly on Dolly is a collection of interviews spanning five decades of her career and featuring material gathered from celebrated publications including Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, Playboy, and Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. Also included are interviews which have not been previously available in print. Dolly's feisty and irresistible brand of humor, combined with her playful, pull-up-a-chair-and-stay-awhile delivery, makes for a fascinating and inviting experience in down-home philosophy and storytelling. Much like her patchwork "Coat of Many Colors," this book harkens back to the legendary entertainer's roots and traces her evolution, stitching it all together one piece at a time.

Debby Campbell writes her story of a father and his devoted daughter from her heart, and from her diary. She has shared some of the most rewarding years in her father's life. And now, for the first time, she blows the lid off all of Glen Campbell's family secrets. It is about a family bound together by Glen's talent, and ultimately torn apart in the name of money and power.

Experience the electrifying, never-before-told true story of amusement parks, from the middle ages to present day, and meet the colorful (and sometimes criminal) characters who are responsible for their enchanting charms. Step right up! The Amusement Park is a rich, anecdotal history that begins nine centuries ago with the "pleasure gardens" of Europe and England and ends with the most elaborate modern parks in the world. It's a history told largely through the stories of the colorful, sometimes hedonistic characters who built them, including: Showmen like Joseph and Nicholas Schenck and Marcus Loew DIV 0pt? 0in MARGIN:Railroad barons Andrew Mellon and Henry E. Huntington/div DIV 0pt? 0in MARGIN:The men who ultimately destroyed the parks, including Robert Moses and Fred Trump/div DIV 0pt? 0in MARGIN:Gifted artisans and craft-people who brought the parks to life/div DIV 0pt? 0in MARGIN:An amazing cast of supporting players, from Al Capone to Annie Oakley/div And, of course, this is a full-throttle celebration of the rides, those marvels of engineering and heart-stopping thrills from an author, Stephen Silverman, whose life-long passion for his subject shines through. The parks and fairs featured include the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Coney Island, Steeplechase Park, Dreamland, Euclid Beach Park, Cedar Point, Palisades Park, Ferrari World, Dollywood, Sea World, Six Flags Great Adventure, Universal Studios, Disney World and Disneyland, and many more.