Dolly Parton: It’s Your Birthday!

Dolly Parton is celebrating her 72nd birthday, so let me tell you a quick story or two.

Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton in the 1960s

Did you know she was once a regular performer on Chattanooga TV? No, she never lived here or worked as a full time employee like Jim Nabors, but she made the weekly trip from Nashville to the Channel 3 studio for “The Porter Wagoner Show.”  In the 1960s, before videotape became affordable, Porter took his busload of pickers and singers around the south for weekly shows on local TV stations.  Monday night they might be in Birmingham, Tuesday in Chattanooga, Wednesday in Knoxville, and so on.

During my various interviews with Channel 3 employees of that era, they recall Porter’s bus pulling up to 1214 McCallie Avenue to unload their gear.  There were tiny little “dressing rooms” in the building, used by newsmen, wrestlers, and country music stars.  They tell me that Dolly, barely five feet tall, would “carry a box about as big as she was,” which contained her gigantic wig.  Once she was in full Dolly mode, she would emerge for her solo number, usually followed by a duet with Porter.

Not long after their weekly Chattanooga visits, Porter’s sponsors (Duz Detergent, Soltice Rub, and Black Draught Laxative, to name a few) decided that taping the shows in Nashville was more affordable than those weekly bus trips.  But Dolly had certainly made a big impression with the crew at Channel 3.

Dolly and Carl Dean’s wedding day, May 30, 1966 in Ringgold, GA

She has another strong connection to our area, as told to my co-anchor Cindy Sexton a few years back.  It’s a popular myth that Dolly and Carl Dean were married at the Ringgold Wedding Chapel, or the Catoosa County Courthouse.  Actually they exchanged vows at Ringgold Baptist Church on May 30, 1966.  Carl was familiar with the area from having spent part of his youth on Missionary Ridge, and Dolly learned that that couples could get their marriage license and get married the same day in Ringgold.  Plus, she said, it sounded good: Ring-gold was a good place to get hitched.  Almost 49 years later, they’re still married.  Dolly is still very much in the public eye, and Carl, as always, doesn’t get out much.

Dolly Parton, all done up

However, Dolly said that she and Carl still feel a close connection to Ringgold, and Chattanooga, and visit the area “at least once every three years, around the time of our anniversary, on Memorial Day.”  As recently as 2012, she said they returned to Ringgold, and they’ve visited nearby attractions like Lookout Mountain and the Tennessee Aquarium.  Guess what?  You may have seen Dolly in these parts, but you didn’t know it.  Here’s what she told Cindy: “They never know that we’re there.  We have a little RV camper that we travel around in. We stop and I’m not totally in my rhinestones. I put on a little makeup for my husband, I usually have my own hair, just put it up in a little scrunchy or something.  You wouldn’t think about it, you just don’t see me. But if you hear me and see me up close, you know it’s me.”

So keep your eyes open if you’re visiting Ringgold, or local tourist attractions, or even the local convenience store come May 30.  That pretty little woman without the big hair and the rhinestones just might be Dolly Parton.  She might be in line ahead of you at the Kangaroo store buying some Slim Jims and a lottery ticket.  You never know!

Since everybody has a favorite Dolly song, here’s mine.  In 1974, she had a big country hit called, “Love Is Like A Butterfly” which was also played on a few top-40 stations.  I used to play it when I was a weekend deejay on WEPG in South Pittsburg.  It’s a quick little two-minute tune, and it’s as sweet as can be.  Here’s a YouTube video of her singing it live on “Hee Haw,” and if I didn’t love her enough already, I love her even more when she nervously giggles a couple of times in this performance.  Enjoy the music, and Happy Birthday Dolly!  Come see us next time you’re in town.