{"id":7415,"date":"2026-08-25T23:38:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T23:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7415"},"modified":"2026-08-25T23:38:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T23:38:51","slug":"dolly-parton-an-american-great-and-a-great-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7415","title":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton: An American great and a great American"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

God bless the superb Dolly Parton, who passed away Tuesday in Nashville, the Music City.<\/p>\n

Read more Dolly Parton dead live updates: Reba, Julia Roberts and more honor Dolly Parton\u2019s legacy: \u2018She\u2019s gonna have a blast in heaven\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

To call her the Queen of Country is both true and not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The genius who wrote \u201cJolene\u201d and \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d on the same day was certainly a country music icon. <\/p>\n

But Parton transcended genre, and a one-room cabin in Tennessee, to become an icon for all Americans.<\/p>\n

In 1980, she starred in the hit comedy \u201c9 to 5,\u201d while her theme song for the film hit No. 1 simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, adult contemporary\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>country charts. <\/p>\n

She was as big as her hair.<\/p>\n

We dare you to find anyone who didn\u2019t like Dolly. <\/p>\n

She never had a bad word to say about anyone, and her sly wit mostly took aim\u00a0at her own flashy persona.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a lot of money to look this cheap,\u201d she quipped, and later said that quote would likely go on her tombstone.<\/p>\n

Parton\u2019s genius as a self-created icon paved the way for generations of female artists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Inside Miley Cyrus\u2019 close bond with godmother Dolly Parton: \u2018The most loved person on the planet\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Madonna, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus (her goddaughter) all plainly owe some performative debt to Dolly.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

She advanced and supported the cause of women \u2014 and the cause of\u00a0decency\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 by being who she was.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dolly grew up dirt poor, and never forgot where she came from: Her Dollywood Foundation may be\u00a0the\u00a0<\/em>model for making a difference in a community \u2014 and through it, in the world, as the Imagination Library, inspired by her father\u2019s illiteracy, has mailed out over 300 million books to children (one a month from birth until they start school) and also gone global via partnerships.<\/p>\n

She led a private personal life built around her love for her husband of 59 years, Nashville contractor Carl Dean, who shunned spotlights but kept the home fires burning for his beloved wife.<\/p>\n

Their marriage, vibrant until Carl\u2019s death in 2025, is a model for celebrity couples . . . heck, for\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0couples.<\/p>\n

She was one of a kind, a great American and an American great; the heavenly choir just got a major upgrade.<\/p>\n

Read more The \u2018trashy\u2019 Dolly Parton joke that she said would probably wind up on her tombstone<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The heavenly choir just got a major upgrade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nDolly Parton: An American great and a great American - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7415\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dolly Parton: An American great and a great American - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The heavenly choir just got a major upgrade.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7415\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-25T23:38:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=7415#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=7415\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"headline\":\"Dolly Parton: An American great and a great American\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-25T23:38:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=7415\"},\"wordCount\":409,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=7415#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/38441bdb3a6d11f1c5cbf466adb46774.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=7415#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=7415\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=7415\",\"name\":\"Dolly Parton: An American great and a great American - 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