Goodbye, Dolly
Goodbye, Dolly
She is the woman behind 3,000 songs. She wrote two of the world’s best-known songs, “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” on the same day. She helped thousands upon thousands of kids fall in love with books. She also taught us that it cost a lot of money to look that cheap. And on August 25, 2026, we said goodbye to Dolly Parton following a brief battle with cancer.
A career full of highlights
Trying to squeeze a lifetime of accomplishments into a short blog post wouldn’t do Dolly justice at all, though we’ll try.
Coming from humble beginnings as one of 12 children growing up in a two-room Appalachian cabin in rural Tennessee, she wrote her first song, “Puppy Love,” at the age of 10. Making frequent trips to Nashville, by any means that she could, she found early success as a songwriter for other artists, later releasing singles and albums of her own, the first being 1967’s Hello, I’m Dolly.
After appearing for a few years on the Porter Wagoner Show, during which time she wrote and released “Jolene” to great success, as well as several duets with Wagoner, Dolly hit the ground running in 1974 with her solo career, recording dozens of albums and several chart-topping hits.
Music wasn’t the only thing.
Beyond the music, Dolly Parton also found success in film, including 1980’s 9 to 5 (you’re welcome for the earworm) and 1989’s Steel Magnolias, among others. Wanting to share her Smoky Mountain heritage, she opened Dollywood in 1986, an Appalachian-themed amusement park that attracts over 4 million people a year.
Her biggest legacy, however, may be the Imagination Library. Through her Dollywood Foundation, children enrolled in the library receive one free book per month from birth until their fifth birthday. In all, over 100 million free books have been sent to children in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.
With those nails?!
Another thing that we can say about Dolly is that she could play a mean guitar!
Even with those fingernails, she was quite adept on the instrument, particularly her Travis-picking-inspired approach with her right hand. Playing in standard tuning with open-position chords, or occasionally in open tunings, she relied on a capo to keep the song in the right key. In this performance clip of her song “Coat of Many Colors,” the song is in C major, though placing a capo on the third fret allows her to play that song using the chords of A major:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KpD2nPSHGo
In this clip from The Tonight Show, where she performs “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind,” placing a capo again on the third fret allows her to play the song in Eb major using standard open chords in C major.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJEpoLeISCo
(The nails also add a nice percussive element!)
There won’t be another one like her.
Dolly Parton was the epitome of kindness. For many, she was the ray of sunshine that they needed on a cloudy day. While her music will certainly not be forgotten, the biggest thing I saw people talking about online was the generosity and kindness she showed others. Even though she was five feet tall, she was truly larger than life.
-----
Kevin Daoust is a guitarist, guitar educator and writer based in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. When not tracking guitars for artists around the world or writing music-related articles online, he can be seen on stage with Accordion-Funk legends Hey, Wow, the acoustic duo Chanté et Kev, rock n’ rollers Travelling South, and as a hired-gun guitarist across Quebec and Ontario. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Guitar Performance from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
