Dolly Parton leans on her faith after losing husband of nearly 60 years
'I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I'm going to see him again someday. And I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things that we've built together,' said Parton. 'You just kind of have to learn to kind of make new plans — but that's the hardest part.'
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honoree reflected on her marriage of nearly 60 years while promoting her new single-serve Southern-inspired frozen meals, following her popular Duncan Hines baking mixes via a collaboration with US-based Conagra Brands. Dean, who avoided the spotlight and inspired her timeless hit 'Jolene,' as well as her 2023 'Rockstar' album, died in March at 82.
'I really feel his presence,' said the 10-time Grammy winner. 'I just try to go on, because I know I have to. And he was ill for quite a while, and part of me was at peace that he was at peace and not suffering anymore. But that still doesn't make up for the loss and the loneliness of it.'
The 79-year-old recording artist spoke with The Associated Press about her perspective on life without her husband, her entrepreneurial spirit and on why she's never embraced the title 'superstar.' The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
AP: It seems like the entire world was thinking of you following your loss. Has your perspective changed of what you hope to accomplish after losing your husband?
PARTON: No, I just think that I've always had dreams and I'm always working. My husband understood that. Carl knew that better than anybody and he was all about it. He was very proud of me. … So when I did lose him, I just thought, well, I'm going to take all of that energy, and I'm just going to put that back into other things, and I'll keep him ever-present in everything that I do.
AP: You have so many business ventures and philanthropic work. Where did your entrepreneurial acumen begin?
PARTON: I just think that if you're successful, if you are lucky enough to see your dreams come true, you need to make new dreams out of your other dreams. Because it's like a tree with lots of limbs and leaves, so every dream, you can kind of branch off — if you'll pardon the expression — and do other things. And I like the business end of things. I like seeing things happen, and I love making things happen. So, my mind just naturally works that way.
AP: You have your popular Duncan Hines cake mixes and now, your single-serve frozen meals. What other projects are you working on?
PARTON: I have a new book coming out ... this one is called 'Star of the Show,' which is actually a song I wrote years ago. But it's about my life on the road and my life on stage — all the behind the scenes and all the people that I've met, and all of the things that happen when you're traveling like that as I have for all of these years. So, that, and then I have my life story as a musical. It's called 'Dolly: An Original Musical.' And I've written a lot of original songs for it. Of course, it'll have the big hits that are woven into the story. And it's just about my life, from the time I was little until up through now.
It's going to be at the Fisher Center of Performing Arts at Belmont University (in Nashville). Then, once that has its run through the end of August, then we take it to New York to open on Broadway next year.
AP: How are you celebrating the 40th anniversary of your Dollywood theme park?
PARTON: One of the things they did for the 40th anniversary was put a big sign up on the hill there above Dollywood that says 'Dollywood' like the Hollywood sign. … Years ago, when I thought, 'Well, someday I'm going to have my own theme park and I'm gonna change that H to a D and have Dollywood.' So, they finally, after 40 years, put that sign up, even though I've talked about it for years. So, we've got a lot of wonderful things planned for the whole season that's celebrating the 40th anniversary. It seems just like a few years back, but it's like everything else: I was with Carl for 60 years, and Dollywood's 40 years old. And that's just hard to believe because I'm only 27. (laughs)
AP: Have you accepted that you're the Dolly Parton, global superstar?
PARTON: I don't think about my life in terms of 'superstar.' I'm just a workin' girl. I always say — and it's the truth — that I am a workhorse that looks like a show horse. But I gotta keep it all up and I enjoy all of it. … My husband always said, 'If anybody was ever born to be a star, it's you.' Because he sees me loving to do all the things and playing and stuff — it's play time for me. But I take it very serious.
___
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Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Staff Picks: A historical fiction podcast, and a drummer gone too soon
This week in Staff Picks, TV Editor Tim Lowery lauds The Ponys' Nathan Jerde and Staff Writer William Hughes goes along for the ride when Mike Duncan's Revolutions swerves into fiction. Tim Lowery: The Ponys' Nathan Jerde One of my favorite drummers to watch back in the day—and by that, I specifically mean 2007 to 2010—was Nathan Jerde of The Ponys. Jerde passed away in May, prompting a few texts with friends and a lot of memories from that period in my life, of seeing the Chicago garage-rock outfit play that city's best venue, the Empty Bottle, on Halloween, all dressed as pro wrestlers (and surrounded by bright tape fashioned to look like the ropes of a ring); hit a big stage on a lovely summer day at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park (following Deerhunter, if I'm not mistaken); and then perform in Brooklyn shortly after I had moved to there and was and feeling a tad homesick. Jerde had a way of keeping his head down a lot as he played, popping it up, his hair slicked with sweat, every so often—during less busy or fill-heavy parts, say, or when the band was kicking into a new song. He always looked in the zone and was one of those drummers from that era (like The Walkmen's Matt Barrick) that was just so infectious and fun to witness, the kind that made you want to give the instrument a go. He was also a key, propulsive ingredient to a truly great band that also included frontman-guitarist Jered Gummere, bassist Melissa Elias, and guitarist Ian Adams (who was replaced by Brian Case, the future leader of Disappears, when he left). The Ponys came out with some killer seven inches and three LPs: Laced With Romance, the most exciting sounding and punchy of the bunch; Celebration Castle, an occasionally moodier but still frenetic release that was recorded by Steve Albini in four days; and Turn The Lights Out, which marked the band's move from the fantastic garage-rock label In The Red to indie stalwart Matador and feels a bit wider in scope, with a few new tricks thrown in. Honestly, if you don't know this band and would like to hear what made their alchemy special, just play these records all the way through. But if I had to pick a track from each album that highlights Jerde's skills, I'd go with (in chronological order): 'Little Friends' (those snare hits!), 'Shadow Box' (those returns to the hi-hat!), 'Small Talk' (that beat that helps keep a four-minute-plus song that's only three chords from ever getting boring!). But my favorite drumming from him—and my favorite Ponys song, period—isn't on any of their LPs: 'I Wanna Fuck You' (the narrative is sweeter than the title implies), which you can listen to above. I love the drum fills on this track—and go back to it often. In May, the outfit wrote the following to break the sad news: 'Nathan was an amazing drummer and possessed savant-like art skills. Nathan loved goofing around and had the sweetest of hearts. We traveled the world together. We ate amazing meals together and we met lifelong friends together. We fought like brothers sometimes, but we had so much fucking fun together. Nathan, we will miss you so much!' R.I.P. William Hughes: Mike Duncan's 'The Martian Revolution' I'll confess to being extremely skeptical when Mike Duncan—creator, writer, and star of my favorite history podcast, Revolutions—announced that he was taking the show into the world of speculative fiction. After all, part of what I love about Duncan's work is the way he blends the relatable and the reliable; he'd be the first to encourage his listeners to check their own sources, and draw their own conclusions, about the tumultuous, highly contested arcs of history that he covers in long-form, entertaining, only occasionally depressing detail. (Ranging from the English Revolution of the 1640s through the Russian Revolution of the 20th century; if you, like me, were only familiar with the French Revolution as a series of cultural signifiers—or of the Haitian Revolution as a name and not much else—you could have much worse primers than Duncan's highly approachable, meticulously researched prose.) I trust Duncan, as both a historian and a storyteller. Hearing that he was taking the show into the realm of fiction, with a season covering a fictitious political revolution on Mars, though? It worried me enough that I spent months putting the new season of the show off. So it is with the zeal of the fresh convert that I arrive here to tell you Duncan's 'The Martian Revolution'—which he has now completed, having delivered it serially from October of last year up through this recent June—is some of my favorite 'historical' fiction I've imbibed in some time. Drawing on years of researching the ways humanity tends to blow up its own political orders—and, perhaps, pulling from just a smidge of other influences—Duncan crafts a story about distant colonists going into revolt against an oppressive Earth regime that feels genuinely authentic to the currents of history. (Also: Exciting, funny, and sad. Pour one out for Mabel Dore.) Once I got over my reservations and began to binge, I got caught up on 'The Martian Revolution' quickly—and then got to enjoy each week of cliffhangers as Duncan, surprisingly great at delivering a deadpan, slightly fictionalized version of his regular authorial voice, spooled out his story with the same attention to detail he'd previously devoted to actual facts. It's kind of shocking how easy the show was to accept as semi-fact, even discounting occasional meta flourishes. (Duncan is quick to handwave that his entire narrative hinges on Mars producing a scientifically insane super-fuel that makes its continual mining absolutely vital to human society—just one of many ways the show adapts well-observed historical forces to the stars.) And the whole thing is shot through with the same slightly weary irony that has made Revolutions regular listening for me for years: An acknowledgement that we do these things to ourselves—and likely will continue to, from now into the far future. More from A.V. Club The biggest news (so far) from San Diego Comic-Con 2025 What's on TV this week—Chief Of War and Eyes Of Wakanda R.I.P. Tom Lehrer, mathematician and musical satirist Solve the daily Crossword
Boston Globe
8 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Tom Lehrer, song satirist and Harvard mathematician, has died
A Harvard prodigy (he had earned a math degree from the institution at age 18), Lehrer soon turned his very sharp mind to old traditions and current events. His songs included 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,' 'The Old Dope Peddler' (set to a tune reminiscent of 'The Old Lamplighter'), 'Be Prepared' (in which he mocked the Boy Scouts) and 'The Vatican Rag,' in which Lehrer, an atheist, poked at the rites and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. (Sample lyrics: 'Get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries. Bow your head with great respect, and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect.') Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Accompanying himself on piano, he performed the songs in a colorful style reminiscent of such musical heroes as Gilbert and Sullivan and Stephen Sondheim, the latter a lifelong friend. Lehrer was often likened to such contemporaries as Allen Sherman and Stan Freberg for his comic riffs on culture and politics and he was cited by Randy Newman and 'Weird Al' Jankovic among others as an influence. Advertisement He mocked the forms of music he didn't like (modern folk songs, rock 'n' roll and modern jazz), laughed at the threat of nuclear annihilation and denounced discrimination. Advertisement But he attacked in such an erudite, even polite, manner that almost no one objected. 'Tom Lehrer is the most brilliant song satirist ever recorded,' musicologist Barry Hansen once said. Hansen co-produced the 2000 boxed set of Lehrer's songs, 'The Remains of Tom Lehrer,' and had featured Lehrer's music for decades on his syndicated 'Dr. Demento' radio show. Lehrer's body of work was actually quite small, amounting to about three dozen songs. 'When I got a funny idea for a song, I wrote it. And if I didn't, I didn't,' Lehrer told The Associated Press in 2000 during a rare interview. 'I wasn't like a real writer who would sit down and put a piece of paper in the typewriter. And when I quit writing, I just quit. ... It wasn't like I had writer's block.' He'd gotten into performing accidentally when he began to compose songs in the early 1950s to amuse his friends. Soon he was performing them at coffeehouses around Cambridge, Massachusetts, while he remained at Harvard to teach and obtain a master's degree in math. He cut his first record in 1953, 'Songs by Tom Lehrer,' which included 'I Wanna Go Back to Dixie,' lampooning the attitudes of the Old South, and the 'Fight Fiercely, Harvard,' suggesting how a prissy Harvard blueblood might sing a football fight song. After a two-year stint in the Army, Lehrer began to perform concerts of his material in venues around the world. In 1959, he released another LP called 'More of Tom Lehrer' and a live recording called 'An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer,' nominated for a Grammy for best comedy performance (musical) in 1960. Advertisement But around the same time, he largely quit touring and returned to teaching math, though he did some writing and performing on the side. Lehrer said he was never comfortable appearing in public. 'I enjoyed it up to a point,' he told The AP in 2000. 'But to me, going out and performing the concert every night when it was all available on record would be like a novelist going out and reading his novel every night.' He did produce a political satire song each week for the 1964 television show 'That Was the Week That Was,' a groundbreaking topical comedy show that anticipated 'Saturday Night Live' a decade later. He released the songs the following year in an album titled 'That Was the Year That Was.' The material included 'Who's Next?' that ponders which government will be the next to get the nuclear bomb ... perhaps Alabama? (He didn't need to tell his listeners that it was a bastion of segregation at the time.) 'Pollution' takes a look at the then-new concept that perhaps rivers and lakes should be cleaned up. He also wrote songs for the 1970s educational children's show 'The Electric Company.' He told AP in 2000 that hearing from people who had benefited from them gave him far more satisfaction than praise for any of his satirical works. His songs were revived in the 1980 musical revue 'Tomfoolery' and he made a rare public appearance in London in 1998 at a celebration honoring that musical's producer, Cameron Mackintosh. Advertisement Lehrer was born in 1928, in New York City, the son of a successful necktie designer. He recalled an idyllic childhood on Manhattan's Upper West Side that included attending Broadway shows with his family and walking through Central Park day or night. After skipping two grades in school, he entered Harvard at 15 and, after receiving his master's degree, he spent several years unsuccessfully pursuing a doctorate. 'I spent many, many years satisfying all the requirements, as many years as possible, and I started on the thesis,' he once said. 'But I just wanted to be a grad student, it's a wonderful life. That's what I wanted to be, and unfortunately, you can't be a Ph.D. and a grad student at the same time.' He began to teach part-time at Santa Cruz in the 1970s, mainly to escape the harsh New England winters. From time to time, he acknowledged, a student would enroll in one of his classes based on knowledge of his songs. 'But it's a real math class,' he said at the time. 'I don't do any funny theorems. So those people go away pretty quickly.' Former Associated Press writer John Rogers contributed to this story. Rogers retired from The AP in 2021.
San Francisco Chronicle
8 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Tom Lehrer, song satirist and mathematician, dies at 97
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tom Lehrer, the popular and erudite song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, has died. He was 97. Longtime friend David Herder said Lehrer died Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He did not specify a cause of death. Lehrer had remained on the math faculty of the University of California at Santa Cruz well into his late 70s. In 2020, he even turned away from his own copyright, granting the public permission to use his lyrics in any format without any fee in return. A Harvard prodigy (he had earned a math degree from the institution at age 18), Lehrer soon turned his very sharp mind to old traditions and current events. His songs included "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "The Old Dope Peddler" (set to a tune reminiscent of "The Old Lamplighter"), "Be Prepared" (in which he mocked the Boy Scouts) and "The Vatican Rag," in which Lehrer, an atheist, poked at the rites and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. (Sample lyrics: 'Get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries. Bow your head with great respect, and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect.') Accompanying himself on piano, he performed the songs in a colorful style reminiscent of such musical heroes as Gilbert and Sullivan and Stephen Sondheim, the latter a lifelong friend. Lehrer was often likened to such contemporaries as Allen Sherman and Stan Freberg for his comic riffs on culture and politics and he was cited by Randy Newman and 'Weird Al' Jankovic among others as an influence. He mocked the forms of music he didn't like (modern folk songs, rock 'n' roll and modern jazz), laughed at the threat of nuclear annihilation and denounced discrimination. But he attacked in such an erudite, even polite, manner that almost no one objected. "Tom Lehrer is the most brilliant song satirist ever recorded," musicologist Barry Hansen once said. Hansen co-produced the 2000 boxed set of Lehrer's songs, "The Remains of Tom Lehrer," and had featured Lehrer's music for decades on his syndicated "Dr. Demento" radio show. Lehrer's body of work was actually quite small, amounting to about three dozen songs. "When I got a funny idea for a song, I wrote it. And if I didn't, I didn't," Lehrer told The Associated Press in 2000 during a rare interview. "I wasn't like a real writer who would sit down and put a piece of paper in the typewriter. And when I quit writing, I just quit. ... It wasn't like I had writer's block." He'd gotten into performing accidentally when he began to compose songs in the early 1950s to amuse his friends. Soon he was performing them at coffeehouses around Cambridge, Massachusetts, while he remained at Harvard to teach and obtain a master's degree in math. He cut his first record in 1953, "Songs by Tom Lehrer," which included "I Wanna Go Back to Dixie," lampooning the attitudes of the Old South, and the "Fight Fiercely, Harvard," suggesting how a prissy Harvard blueblood might sing a football fight song. After a two-year stint in the Army, Lehrer began to perform concerts of his material in venues around the world. In 1959, he released another LP called "More of Tom Lehrer" and a live recording called "An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer," nominated for a Grammy for best comedy performance (musical) in 1960. But around the same time, he largely quit touring and returned to teaching math, though he did some writing and performing on the side. Lehrer said he was never comfortable appearing in public. "I enjoyed it up to a point," he told The AP in 2000. "But to me, going out and performing the concert every night when it was all available on record would be like a novelist going out and reading his novel every night." He did produce a political satire song each week for the 1964 television show "That Was the Week That Was," a groundbreaking topical comedy show that anticipated "Saturday Night Live" a decade later. He released the songs the following year in an album titled "That Was the Year That Was.' The material included "Who's Next?" that ponders which government will be the next to get the nuclear bomb ... perhaps Alabama? (He didn't need to tell his listeners that it was a bastion of segregation at the time.) "Pollution" takes a look at the then-new concept that perhaps rivers and lakes should be cleaned up. He also wrote songs for the 1970s educational children's show "The Electric Company." He told AP in 2000 that hearing from people who had benefited from them gave him far more satisfaction than praise for any of his satirical works. His songs were revived in the 1980 musical revue "Tomfoolery" and he made a rare public appearance in London in 1998 at a celebration honoring that musical's producer, Cameron Mackintosh. Lehrer was born in 1928, in New York City, the son of a successful necktie designer. He recalled an idyllic childhood on Manhattan's Upper West Side that included attending Broadway shows with his family and walking through Central Park day or night. After skipping two grades in school, he entered Harvard at 15 and, after receiving his master's degree, he spent several years unsuccessfully pursuing a doctorate. "I spent many, many years satisfying all the requirements, as many years as possible, and I started on the thesis," he once said. "But I just wanted to be a grad student, it's a wonderful life. That's what I wanted to be, and unfortunately, you can't be a Ph.D. and a grad student at the same time." From time to time, he acknowledged, a student would enroll in one of his classes based on knowledge of his songs. "But it's a real math class," he said at the time. "I don't do any funny theorems. So those people go away pretty quickly." ___ Former Associated Press writer John Rogers contributed to this story. Rogers retired from The AP in 2021.
