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I can come out of the closet to you now. I absolutely worship Dolly Parton. I feel clean now; thanks for letting me share. I spent so many years secretly loving her music. Before Cher, before Madonna, Parton's big chest and even bigger hair made her impossible to ignore.
Critics always yammer about how fixated they were the first time they saw Elvis or The Beatles. But did they ever see Parton? Did they ever try to perform in the glare of Porter Wagoner's coat of many rhinestones? And could they make you actually want to buy detergent just because it came with a pretty towel in the box?

Sure it's cool to say you like Elvis, even though he was 10 times more kitschy than Parton. But it's just never been cool, if you're under 65, to say that you love Dolly Parton. I think that is changing with her renewed emphasis on bluegrass. Her Oscar-nominated song, "Travelin' Thru" from "TransAmerica," shows that she's more than just a punchline or a ditzy Ellie Mae.
She is the lady of the full-court Gothic press; her songs burst with death, sex, damnation and ghosts. But then, what would you expect from a woman who confessed in her autobiography that she's driven by three obsessions: God, sex and music? Parton, who's reaching her full potential in middle age, knows a little something about all three subjects.

Parton's pop and mainstream country songs often have obscured what a tremendous vocal talent she is. Her sense of phrasing and intonation is impeccable. She allows her voice to waver just inside the meter, never letting it spill over in some scale-climbing exercise.
To explain her technique, it's helpful to consider a comparison between Parton and a more widely popular singer. If you've heard Parton's version of her song "I Will Always Love You,' and also heard Whitney Houston's jet-engine melisma blasting the same lyrics, Parton's artistry is clear.

Parton's vocals aren't about catharsis; they're about desperately trying to keep from falling apart. Her trembling, sometimes softly spoken lyrics are devastating in their concentrated feeling. For an example, listen to "Down From Dover," Parton's self-penned song about a pregnant girl abandoned by her boyfriend. Only Parton can take this theme and make modern ears, so accustomed to teen pregnancy, hear the anguish in lines like: "He wouldn't leave me here like this/He wouldn't make me go through this alone/He'll be coming down from Dover." The narrator's naive optimism makes the emotional impact all the more powerful.
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