Dolly did mean so much to me. She'd not toured the UK for an absolute age, but I had the pleasure of seeing her live in concert, in my backgarden of Nottingham UK, 3 x before. 2008, 2011 and 214.
Great shows, each and every one.
Y'see, I was a Country T-Girl (in training) even back then.
The news of her passing just blew up on my phone when we were on our way to the football...and our team lost, sweeties...so there's been double upset.
I was crying then - ruining my bloody suppose-to-be-waterproof mascara - just as I have been crying since.
Sleep...whatever I was able...didn't help....and the sadness carried on. I got my shit together enough to get to work....but actually doing it, when I was breaking down in tears...well...that's another thing entirely!
I was sent home.
Home to wallow.
Dolly's is the first death that I've ever been around. I have the good fortune of having a small family and all still being alive and well.
I was getting prissy and feeling that Dolly was the first of my community - the LGBTQ, which she so championed - to die and then I had a thought...
She's not my community....not just....
She is everyone's community!
America's Princess Diana? That's not too far of a stretch, I don't think.
She and Carrie (Underwood) - my absolute hero in a fan girl kinda way, in case you have ever wondered - were my introduction to the music and the lifestyle of this thing called Country.
But..far from that. Far and away from that...Dolly represented hope...love... understanding...doing the right thing....a certain moral code of being respectful...of being honest...of helping your fellow human being.
I am staggered by the love I have had for her...of the love that others have had for her...and of the support that others have given me during this very difficult time for me.
Still grieving, but have good memories too.
To get out of the funk we went up to Liverpool, for the football, and....our team drew....that was a sign that things are turning around for the better.
Gone but never forgotten....thank you Dolly....from the bottom of my heart...for the 80 years that you shared with us....now go on your merry way and entertain Heaven...
I never knew much about Dolly Parton, only because I’m not a fan of country music. But when she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I really respected her openly acknowledging that she is not a rock act and her feeling she has to earn her place there by proving she can rock. That she most certainly did! [media=https://youtu.be/zByw9s4EUZk] A song written for that very event, no less. Even if I was never a fan of hers, that is legendary material
Yes, she always felt that she had to earn whatever accolades that she got, being that looking on-point 24/7, singing so effortlessly (show me a vid where she's straining to hit a note...I don't think I've ever seen one!) or performing like she'll never get that opportunity again.
Respect to her...and her band. In that case, the Zac Brown Band...
