Dolly Parton released her first single in 1959

Dolly Parton details what she loves about country music

Dolly Parton has been a fixture in the country music world for decades, and even though she’s getting older, she doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.

The “Jolene” singer-songwriter recently confirmed that she wants to keep working indefinitely, telling USA Today, “I would only retire if I was ill or if my husband was ill and needed me. That’d be the only thing that would make me pull back.”

Parton married her husband, retired businessman Carl Thomas Dean, in 1966. Even as they approach their 60th wedding anniversary, she seems to be as devoted as ever.

A photo of Dolly Parton

“Work is everything to me,” she told the outlet. “That’s all I know. It’s what I do. It’s how all these things have come to pass.” She believes that songwriting is her “gift” but said, “I love to sing, too, and I love to perform. So, it’s just all one thing to me.”

“I was silly enough to believe it could be done, and I didn’t know it couldn’t be done, until I did it, as they say,” Parton explained of her impressive career. “I’d worked in the fields, being a country girl, and I’ve done all that menial labor because that was just the chores and stuff we had to do back home. But I hated every minute of it. I didn’t like school, either.”

A photo of Dolly Parton, then and now

She famously moved to Nashville to pursue a music career the day after she graduated from high school, saying now, “I thought, ‘Well, what’s the worst that can happen? I can always go back home, study to be a beautician and still get cheap makeup and bleach and all the stuff that I was going to always do, no matter what.’”

Parton has always been open about her appreciation for “cheap makeup and bleach,” and even though, these days, she has more than enough money for high-end makeup and has said she has several wigs, she still maintains the same aesthetic.

Dolly Parton sits on a couch with her guitar in her lap

“There’s a lot of maintenance,” she said about her appearance. “My joke of ‘It costs a lot of money to look this cheap,’ that’s so true because I like to look a certain way. I can’t just put on a little bit of makeup and think I look good because I don’t look good with a little bit of makeup. I like to wear a lot of makeup. It fits my personality. Even if somebody says, ‘Oh God, she was so over-made.’ Well, if it fits me, then I’m going to make everybody around me happy because I’m going to feel good myself.”

One thing that did make her nervous was dressing up as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader at the NFL team’s Thanksgiving game last year.

Dolly Parton performs on Thanksgiving

“But I thought, ‘Well, at my age, if I can pull it off, it’s going to be good. And if I don’t, I can just pass it off as an old woman doing a stupid-a– thing,’” Parton said. “I’ve always said my desire to do something is greater than my fear of it.”

Related Posts

The dog came out of nowhere, white fur matted with blood, eyes wild with something beyond fear. Walter Gibson raised his shotgun, finger trembling on the trigger. But the animal didn’t attack. It clamped its jaws around his pant leg and pulled. Get off. The dog snarled, yanked harder through the rain. Walter saw the torn fabric knotted around its neck.

The dog came out of nowhere, white fur matted with blood, eyes wild with something beyond fear. Walter Gibson raised his shotgun, finger trembling on the trigger….

The sound tore through the October night like a dying animal. Raw, desperate, relentless. Anna bolted upright in bed, her 11-year-old heart hammering against her ribs. Rex was digging again, but this time was different. She pressed her face against the rain streaked window.

The sound tore through the October night like a dying animal. Raw, desperate, relentless. Anna bolted upright in bed, her 11-year-old heart hammering against her ribs. Rex…

The wind howled outside the small house on the edge of town, carrying with it the cold bite of winter. Inside, the soft hum of a nightlight flickered over a nursery that had grown far too quiet. Emma Carter sat slumped beside her baby’s crib, her hands gripping the wooden railing so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

The wind howled outside the small house on the edge of town, carrying with it the cold bite of winter. Inside, the soft hum of a nightlight…

The courtroom held its breath. Sunlight slanted through the tall windows, carving sharp golden bars across the polished wooden floor, light too warm for a place built to hold truth and fear. Dust floated in the beams like suspended secrets. The air felt heavy, expectant, as if everyone inside knew something extraordinary was about to happen, but didn’t yet understand what.

The courtroom held its breath. Sunlight slanted through the tall windows, carving sharp golden bars across the polished wooden floor, light too warm for a place built…

Secret I’m A Celebrity Angry Ginge bond rumbled before show starts

I’m A Celebrity’s Angry Ginge might have an already-formed ally in the Australian jungle after touching down in Brisbane ahead of this year’s series of the hit…

Please don’t kick me. I’m already hurt, cried the waitress. Then undercover CEO did this. The coffee cup shattered against the lenolium floor, sending brown liquid splashing across Anna’s already stained apron. Her hands trembled as she knelt to pick up the pieces, her 35-year-old knees protesting against the cold tile.

Please don’t kick me. I’m already hurt, cried the waitress. Then undercover CEO did this. The coffee cup shattered against the lenolium floor, sending brown liquid splashing…