Music Monday: Dolly Rocks

I’m still not over it. I’ll probably never be over it. When I watch other incredibly famous musicians rejoice in sharing a stage with Dolly Parton, like during her Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction, I’m reminded that we’re far from alone in our sorrow and our loss. Which in a way is a comfort. Plus, hot damn, could that lady write a song. Happy Monday, kittens.

We Will Always Love Dolly

Gosh, the world seems just a little less bright. A little less fun. A little less kind. And a lot less Dolly. It certainly wouldn’t be hyperbole to call Dolly Parton one of the most beloved stars of our time – possibly the most. And it wasn’t just the rhinestones and the wigs and the twang. It wasn’t just the songs and the smarts and the sass. Lots of celebrities entertain and inspire people with their talent and drive and passion. But Dolly was beloved not just because of the joy she brought, but for the love she gave.

Dolly didn’t take herself seriously. But she took being kind to others extremely seriously. Her literal rags-to-riches story embodies the American Dream through her seven decade career. Yet she is one of those all-too-rare superstars who realize that with great fortune comes great responsibility. And that responsibility is to not just give back, but also care about everyone – especially those who have less than you. Which is why she will always be one of my original crushes.

She is also a reminder that the richest and most powerful among us don’t have to be like this. The tech oligarchy. The billionaire class. We don’t ask nearly enough of them. They don’t have to relentlessly exploit. They don’t have to hoard the riches and resources. They could give more freely and dictate less. And through it all they could remain otherworldly rich, and have every last comfort in the world still. But they don’t.

Thank goodness Dolly did. She has given away more than 332 million free books to children through her Imagination Library. She embraced her LGBTQ+ fans from the start. She sang about women’s rights in the height of the women’s rights movement. Hell, she helped fund the freaking Moderna COVID vaccine. And she did so many other things – large and small – that objectively made a difference in people’s lives.

Supremely talented. Uproariously funny. And unendingly empathetic. An American original, and truly the best of us. May she continue to be a beacon for the people and the country we aspire to be. Rest now, sweet lady, on a beautiful bed of plush cotton with Carl. I will always love Dolly, and the world was a better place for Dolly loving us. Thank you for making our lives brighter.

My Weekend (RIP) Crush

When I posted Dolly and Sabrina’s collab to kickstart the week, I of course had no idea that one of our greatest living legends would suffer such a heavy loss that same day. Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, passed away at age 82 Monday. Famously publicity shy, he had been a constant companion for Dolly for decades – while being nearly invisible to us. But he clearly was everything to her, so I wish Dolly and her family love during this difficult time. May joy and happiness return to your hearts soon, and may his memory remain a blessing for her always. Happy weekend, all.

Music Monday: Sabrina & Dolly Edition

Speaking of genres I don’t listen to as much, county (particularly contemporary country) sits atop the list. Of course I have my exceptions: Kacey Musgrave, The Chicks, Willie and, of course, Dolly Parton. So when Sabrina Carpenter (a.k.a. The Unfortunately Straightest Pop Girlie Around, Despite Her Best Efforts) rereleased her hit “Please Please Please” minus her ex-Barry Keoghan and with Dolly, well, I was just tickled pink. Or, uh, I think pink. The video is in black and white. But doesn’t it feel pink? I mean, what else would you wear to bury a (soon-to-be) dead ex-boyfriend’s body? Happy Monday, kittens.

p.s. Please please please tell me they also recorded an explicit version with Dolly that keeps in the “motherfucker” because, well, you know why.

Music Monday: Dolly & Linda

I love the ageless Dolly Parton. I love the seemingly equally ageless Linda Perry. And together on a cover of “What’s Up?” I mean, what’s not to love? Except the brutal fact that this cover is 30 years old. THIRTY. 4 Non-Blondes released that hit in 1993. I know, I can feel that one in my knees. In fact, it makes me feel as ancient as a fossil on the Dorset coast with dreams of being dug up by Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan (deep “Ammonite” cut anyone?) Anyway. Still a good song though. Happy Monday, kittens.

Music Monday: Miley & Dolly Edition

I know all the queer girlies are still squeeing over that Miley/Fletcher big gay collab during NYE. And while it was certainly hella gay and hella fabulous, my favorite performance from that night was Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton together. Their duet on a medley of “Wrecking Ball” and “I Will Always Love You” was a powerful reminder that art has no age limit. Go forth and create beautiful things this year. Happy Monday, kittens.

Music Monday: Dolly Does Elvis

Here is Dolly Parton performing “All Shook Up” as a female Elvis Presley back in 1983. No other notes. Just enjoy. Happy Monday, kittens.

Music Monday: Jolene Edition

Now, we try to be all about the ladies always at Surrenders. But a few worthy fellows find their way in, and you’ve gotta agree that Lil Nas X’s rendition of “Jolene” by The Great Dolly Parton is pretty darn great as well. I love everything about Lil Nas X, how he lives rent-free in every conservative homophobes nightmares while living his own life as fabulously authentic as he can. Plus, Dolly herself gave it her enthusiastic blessing. And, you know, it’s a good cover. Happy Monday, kittens.

Vacation Vixen: 9 to 5 Gender Fuck Edition

I don’t even think I need to write anything here. In fact I will stop now.

Music Monday: Moderna Edition

It’s my blog and I’ll post about Dolly Parton as many times as I want to during the pandemic if I want to. But, really, how could I not as Dolly got a dose of her own medicine last week as she received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine she helped to fund. Also, come on, how great is her vaccination outfit? She’s just so darn…great. She’s great. Happy Monday, kittens.

p.s. I will happily delete all vaccine misinformation because while you are absolutely allowed to believe whatever you want to believe in your personal life, you absolutely do not have the right to spout that utter bullshit crazytalk on my personal blog. So, you know, buy-bye.

Music Monday: Always Working It

Look, Dolly Parton can do no wrong. Whether she’s helping get us out of this endless pandemic (I call the Moderna vaccine The Dolly and you can’t stop me) or turning down that Trump medal (TWICE!) or waiting to get her vaccination because she doesn’t want to jump the line (but seriously, Dolly, get your jab), she’s what I think can universally be considered a Good Egg. So, to be clear, she can do whatever the hell she wants with whatever the heck she wants, including her iconic working woman’s anthem “9 to 5.” I don’t begrudge her getting beaucoup upon beaucoup de bucks to use that song for a Super Bowl ad. She’s proven herself to be the real deal when it comes to her charities and philanthropy, so I have no doubt she’ll put it to righteous use.

I just wish the company, and its message, were worthy of her reworking perfection. Again, I don’t blame Dolly, but Squarespace’s “5 to 9” ad is the antithesis of a working person’s anthem. It’s buying into the capitalist brainwashing that says only through hard, relentless and indeed - as the song suggests - endless work can we achieve greater rewards. Let me be clear, hard work doesn’t always mean more rewards. All too often, the hard work of the masses only benefits the rarified few. There’s a reason billionaires gained $3.9 trillion during the pandemic while workers lost $3.7 trillion during the pandemic. We shouldn’t have to work 9 to 5, and then form 5 to 9 again to have a good life. Sure, follow your passions and do what makes you happy. But we shouldn’t have to keep working, working, working to be happy. We need work that makes us happy, and a society that values our work and our lives.

But, as I was saying, that’s not Dolly’s fault. So I think I’ll just press play on the original, with a little help from some kickass female friends to start this week off right instead. Happy Monday, kittens.

Music Monday: Dolly Redux

As I’ve already gone on and on about the absolute national treasure that is Dolly Parton, but suffice to say she deserves all that love and so much more. Not only did she make that $1 million donation to aid in coronavirus vaccine research way back in April, that charitable act has paved the way for one of the most promising (to the tune of some 95% effective) vaccines against the virus. So, yeah, if Dolly ends up saving us all from COVID-19 I hereby declare that all remaining confederate statues be torn down and replaced with statues of Ms. Parton. I mean, let’s salute the real heroes in this country for a change. Happy last Monday of November, kittens. One more month of this infernal year. May it do as little harm, and bring about as much good (thanks in no small part to Dolly) as possible.

p.s. For a song about a global pandemic, this is actually incredibly catchy and rather moving. So, you know, Dolly forever.

Christmas (Again) in November

Look, at least I waited until November to post holiday content. First "Happiest Season" and now Dolly does Christmas. I guess the movie gods are trying to help make up for the past four years of nothing but bah-humbug. And we could all use a little extra Christmas spirit right about now. (Or, of course, whatever holiday you celebrate that gives you the warm and fuzzies and possibly presents.) And Christmas plus Dolly Parton? Well, who knows maybe 2020 will have a strong finish after all. So, yeah, we deserve an early Christmas this year. And that’s a good thing.

Music Monday: Dolly Edition

National treasure Dolly Parton continues to cement her status as one of the very few truly universally beloved living celebrities (see also: Betty White, Tom Hanks and The Rock). Last week she came out in support of Black Lives Matter, of course, because it’s the right thing to do. In her Billboard profile, not only did Dolly support BLM, she supported it while saying, “Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!” 

She was also ahead of the curve when it came to renaming/removing racist artifacts from the Civil War era. Two years ago she renamed her Dollywood attraction the Dixie Stampede to Dolly Parton’s Stampede. Why?

“When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede.’ As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”

Goddamn, I love that lady. So here’s one of her best, “Jolene,” performed at a time when we could still stand shoulder-to-shoulder together in a seemingly endless crowd of humanity without worrying about how horribly this presidential administration has botched a global pandemic that has already killed some 170,000 Americans and counting. Plus, it’s just a great song. Happy Monday, kittens.

Music Monday

Whether you’re working 9-to-five at home or back in the office or at your essential workplace, there are so many universal truths about that working life – especially for women. So to further indulge the Dolly Parton vibe I’ve been feeling throughout all of this – and to honor the fact that the research she has funded is yielding some very promising results in the fight against COID-19 – here’s some more of my country favorite. Happy Monday, kittens.

My Weekend Crush

We have, at best, a handful of universally beloved living celebrities. Your Tom Hanks. Your The Rocks. Your Betty Whites. And, of course, your Dolly Parton. I mean, who doesn’t love Dolly Parton? Her music. Her feistiness. Her advocacy. Her philanthropy. Her everything makes her a true American original and one of the, again, handful of country artists I adore and could listen to on repeat forever.

And, even if her distinct twang and even more distinct vibrato aren’t your cup of moonshine, you’ve got to admire her charitable work. Like, for instance, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The free program mails a book once a month to any child who asks from the day they are born until they turn 5 years old. Started in 1995, the charity flew under the media radar until the Library of Congress celebrated her giving away the program’s 100th million book two years ago. Yes, 100 million books given away for free by Dolly Parton. It is now one of the largest literacy programs in the world.



There’s also how she has responded to the global pandemic, by donating $1 million to coronavirus research at her home state's Vanderbilt University. How many billionaires are in Trump’s cabinet and how much have they donated? Yeah, thought so. But she’s not just putting money behind the fight of COVID-19, she’s also putting her heart into it. Last month she started reading bedtime stories to all of us once a week. Yes, you can have Dolly Parton read you to sleep. What an empathetic way to reach out to each other during this frightening, crazy, stressful and unprecedented time. “The Little Engine That Could” was her inaugural read which is pretty perfect, given everything.



And, if all that wasn’t enough, it was recently revealed that Dolly Parton’s production company Sandollar Entertainment was an executive producer on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Yes, you read that right. Dolly the Vampire Slayer! She is an uncredited producer, and was co-creator and owner of the production company that was involved both with the movie (meh) and the series (yay). So Dolly is a member of the Buffyverse. Like, hello, mind blown.

So, yeah, Dolly Parton. A great musician, a great entertainer, a great celebrity, a great philanthropist, and in generally just a great human being. The world could use a lot more like her. Happy safe and healthy weekend, all.

P.s. Please enjoy Dolly being Dolly singing “Here You Come Again” above, which is low-key my favorite song of her enormously impressive catalogue.

Heaven Sent

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Brandi Carlile (@brandicarlile) on Jul 29, 2019 at 8:21pm PDT

Yes, OK, fine – apparently it’s Music Week here at Surrenders. But I could not let you miss Brandi Carlile and Dolly Parton singing together. Can you think of a more heaven sent (or whatever kind of non-denominational afterlife or non-life or analogies for the great unknown you prefer) duet? I mean how can you not always love this? Also, love the duds, ladies.

p.s. As if that was not sublime enough, here is Brandi’s supergroup – The Highwomen (that being Brandi, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires) – singing in the dressing room with Dolly. Wait, did I say singing? I mean harmonizing straight from whatever represents heaven to you.

Take a minute to watch this magic...@DollyParton, @brandicarlile, @MarenMorris, and the High Women, singing "Eagle When She Flies."

Via @RealLindaPerry's Instagram

Breathtaking... pic.twitter.com/55XqAgJZL1

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) July 28, 2019

Good Fucking Morning

Welcome, new week. Here is a reminder to please not fuck with us. Or, as you can see, we will fuck with you right back. Happy fucking Monday, kittens.

My Weekend Crush

There are so many reasons to love Dolly Parton. Her music, her activism, her spunk. But perhaps the most lasting reason to love Dolly, for past and future generations, is her tireless work on behalf of her Imagination Library, which gives away free books to children. This week she donated her 100 millionth book at a special event at the U.S. Library of Congress. Think about it, 100 million books.

The issue of literacy has been one close to Dolly’s heart since childhood. She started the Imagination Library in 1995 to honor her father, the last Robert Lee Parton Sr., who never attended school or learned to read or write. But he was able to see his daughter become an international superstar and donate books to other children across the globe before his death in 2000.



Since then a whole new generation has gotten to know Dolly not as that singer with the oversized personality, and other stuff, but as simply “the book lady.”

In her signature self-deprecating way, she told The Washington Post:

“I never thought about being ‘the book lady.’ The painted lady, yes, the overexaggerated lady. That goes to show you can’t judge a book by its cover.... Of all the things I’ve done in my life — and it’s been a lot because I’ve been around — this is the most precious. Maybe we’ll be back for a billion.’”

When fires ravaged parts of Tenn in 2016, Dolly Parton gave $1k/month to every homeless family until they could get back on their feet. She has used her fame to spread a message of love/acceptance.

Today, she donated her 100 millionth book

Dolly Parton is an American treasure pic.twitter.com/Ad91pP1cgz

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 28, 2018

Yeah you will, Dolly, yeah you will. Happy weekend, all.

Vacation Vixen: Oprah, Carol Burnett, Dolly Parton & Julie Andrews

Name a more iconic quartet, I’ll wait. (And, obviously, I’m on vacation right now and will be for the next week and change. But, obviously, I’ll leave you Vacation Vixens to enjoy in my stead. Though, obviously, they can’t all be as mind-blowingly awesome as this one.)