Dolly Parton: An American great and a great American

Dolly Parton performs during a college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs on November 18, 2023, at Neyland Stadium, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images God bless the superb Dolly Parton, who passed away Tuesday in Nashville, the Music City. To call her the Queen of Country is both true and not. The genius who wrote “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” on the same day was certainly a country music icon. But Parton transcended genre, and a one-room cabin in Tennessee, to become an icon for all Americans. In 1980, she starred in the hit comedy “9 to 5,” while her theme song for the film hit No. 1 simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, adult contemporary and country charts. She was as big as her hair. We dare you to find anyone who