In honor of Parton’s 79th birthday on Jan. 19, in addition to this week’s feature on Oregon’s Imagination Library, music writer Ron Hartman shares some little-known facts about the philanthropist and artist …
Dolly Parton was on tour with Porter Wagoner in 1972. At the time, she was young and not well known, and she was feeling sick as they were getting ready to perform a Valentine’s Day concert at the Lane County Fairgrounds.
After she played “Coat of Many Colors,” the crowd gave her a standing ovation.
“I cried like a baby,” Parton said. “I almost couldn’t go into the next song I was so touched by it. Then, I got another standing ovation when I left the stage. I went back a couple of times for encores. I was so touched by their kindness that I went straight to the bus, as sick as I still was, and wrote the song, ‘Eugene Oregon.’ To this day, it is one of my favorite songs, and I will remember Eugene, Oregon, for the rest of my life.”
Parton parcels
• She was born on Jan. 19. 1946, in a one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, Tenn., the fourth of 12 children. The doctor who delivered Dolly was paid with a sack of cornmeal.
• Dolly and Miley Cyrus are distant cousins. They are close, and Dolly says Miley is “like a daughter or a sister to me.”
• Carl Dean, Dolly’s husband since 1966, was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and also has high blood pressure and a weak heart. Dolly has stopped touring and isn’t traveling far from home so she can be with her husband.
• Dolly has recorded 25 No. 1 singles, including “9 to 5” and “Island in the Stream,” and 41 top-10 country albums. She also did a rock-n-roll album in 2023 called “Rockstar.” She has composed over 5,000 songs throughout her career. She holds the record for the most No. 1 hits (25) by a female country artist.