Dolly parton

Saturday

Josie Cox

The Knicks are New York itself

Earlier this year, a poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts and the market research firm YouGov found that 70 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of Dolly Parton, with just 5 percent expressing an unfavorable opinion. That makes the blonde phenom America’s most broadly liked public figure. In other words: old or young, Democrat or Republican, woman or man, black or white – chances are, if you’re American, you like Dolly Parton. Until recently, I was convinced the Knicks were to New York what the 11-time Grammy winner is to the whole country: the last remaining bastion of common ground. Everyone, I thought, had at least a soft spot for the Knicks. But now, though, I’m reconsidering.

Thursday

Rod Liddle

Too bombastic to be country music: Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion reviewed

From our UK edition

Grade: B Country music has become the acceptable route through which American pop stars resuscitate their floundering careers: sales are down, kid – shove a fiddle in the next one. And a pedal steel. And git some of those country dudes to collaborate. Especially Dolly. But also Hank Williams Jnr, if you can. Makes them look hip, makes you look real down home. So it is with the agreeably slobbering rapper Post Malone, born in NYC, raised in LA but here sounding like he jes swung in from some roadhouse barstool outta Shreveport, with bourbon and country blood trickling down over his stupid tattoos. His career has hit a hiatus of late and so this is an attempted revival.

Tuesday

Erin Elmore

Exhausted, exhilarated and anxious about the massive year to come

When I was asked to write a diary for The Spectator, I was honored, yet afraid. I question whether I would have anything interesting to discuss or will I just have to share the perils of raising a ten-year-old boy? Then I realized that the holidays in Palm Beach make for a very busy time, plus I would be spending time with my liberal in-laws, which always makes for an elevated level of drama, to say the least.  The drama came early on Thanksgiving when I was required to board a plane to Boston at 6 a.m. The double masker next to me, who was also anxiously clutching the largest bag of masks I have ever seen, asked to be moved, as she was “afraid to sit next to an unsanitary dog.

Tuesday

Teresa Mull

Rock ’n’ roll Dolly Parton’s political wake-up call

You know something dire is happening in the world if Dolly Parton’s feathers are ruffled. Dolly, an American sweetheart known for her blonde, bouffant hair, downhome, sweet and simple honesty (and a couple other big things), has released some songs from her upcoming rock album, Rockstar. And golly Dolly, are they ever feisty. The fact that Dolly is releasing a rock ’n’ roll album at all points to a serious cultural reckoning. Dolly, now seventy-seven years old, is more known for such innocent hits as “Love Is like a Butterfly” and “Coat of Many Colors” than for having a black-leather edge associated with sex and drugs. Yet such are the times we live in.    At the ACM Awards a couple weeks ago, Dolly debuted “World on Fire” from Rockstar.

dolly parton

Thursday

Laura Freeman

The art of seizing the moment in photographic portraiture

From our UK edition

A Tatler photographer once told me that the secret to taking a good photo was the three Ts: tum, tits, teeth. Suck it in, push ’em out, show your pearly whites. Leaving aside David LaChapelle’s portrait of Pamela Anderson, there’s a shortage of Ts in Phillip Prodger’s Face Time. This looks likea coffee-table book but doesn’t bark like a coffee-table book. On first flick through, I found the pictures desultory, even depressing. I was expecting more of a Condé Nast vibe. Glossy and glossier. On second approach, taking text and pictures together, it became a more interesting beast. Prodger is a former head of photography at the National Portrait Gallery and the founding Curator of Photography at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

Thursday

Taki

The art of Dolly Parton’s bra

From our UK edition

New York I hope this is my last week in the Bagel. I plan to fly first to Switzerland and then on to London. There’s the annual Pugs Club lunch I cannot afford to miss, but now that Boris is married I don’t suppose he gives a damn about the poor little Greek boy and his club lunches. Incidentally, the little bird has answered my last week’s query about The Spectator bash: the sainted editor is waiting to hear what, yes you guessed it, the new bridegroom premier will allow this summer. Boris doesn’t seem to be able to make up his mind whether the magazine he headed for close to eight years should go two years without a party. Oh boy, it’s getting very confusing, and I for one have lost the trust I once had in science.

Tuesday

Stephen Arnell

10 films featuring Dolly Parton

From our UK edition

After the publication of Sarah Smarsh’s She Come By It Natural, the latest biography of the beloved songstress, here's a look at Dolly Parton’s career in the movies. Admittedly, Parton’s filmography can be described as patchy (at best), but there are enough hits, curiosities, and why-on-earth-did-she-do-it? duds to merit a retrospective. And who knows – some of those movies previously deemed as clunkers may be worth a second look. Possibly. Before launching into my film rundown, it’s worth mentioning the frequent use of Dolly’s songs in movies other than hers, often used in a contrapuntal fashion.

Wednesday

Esther Watson

A holly Dolly Christmas

Dolly Parton’s 47th studio album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, is a combination of Christmas classics and original songs. The 12-track album perfectly encapsulates what Christmas is about. Yes, it’s about Jesus and family and having compassion for those that have less than you, but it’s also about wine and presents and glitter. As ever, Dolly has read the room and delivered exactly what the world needs right now. A Holly Dolly Christmas is a welcome respite after a turbulent, unpredictable year. One thing that has remained the same in 2020 is that Dolly Parton has continued to be the gift that keeps giving.

dolly

Wednesday

Emily Ferguson

Morals and mortality

There is a moment in the first episode of Dolly Parton’s America when you think the sainted songstress may have made the worst mistake of her career. ‘Do you think of yourself as a feminist?’ asks host Jad Abumrad. ‘No, I do not,’ Dolly says. There is a pause as wide as the gap between those who have four-year degrees and those who don’t. After Dolly says she thinks feminism means hating men, Abumrad cuts to an interview with feminist, Heartland author and Dolly superfan Sarah Smarsh. They grasp for a reason why Dolly would think so non- progressively. The interview starts to feel like a wake.

dolly parton