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America’s collective heart broke on Tuesday with the news of Dolly Parton’s death. The country-legend was 80 years old and passed away after a brief battle with cancer, according to her family.
The country superstar came to Philadelphia multiple times throughout her life for performances, interviews and more. Here are some of the ways in which Parton made an impact on our city.
August 28, 1985: Real Love Tour
Parton came to the Philadelphia Spectrum to perform on August 28, 1985. She sang as part of a lineup with Kenny Rogers and Mac Davis, with Sawyer Brown as the opening act.
By this point in her career, Parton was well beyond her status as “the girl singer” on “The Porter Wagoner Show.” She was a bonafide star in her own right. She had already written greats like “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You” and starred in the film “9 to 5.”
Back then, tickets for the concert cost around $15 to $17.50 — about $50 today. On the tour, she and Rogers performed duets like “Islands in the Stream” “We’ve Got Tonight” and “Real Love.”
“We flirted with each other for thirty years and it was much more electric. I think once you consummate a relationship like that it loses something,” Rogers told Dan Rather in 2014 for AXS TV. “And she and I both believe that theory.”
“So we did some massive flirting in front of the nation, but there was never anything more than that.”
January 23, 2001: World Cafe interview
Dolly Parton appeared on an episode of World Cafe in 2001. Former host David Dye interviewed her about her childhood, her 38th album “Little Sparrow” and different inspirations for her most popular hits.
“This is the kinda music I think, if I can sing at all, I sing the best, ’cause it’s the music of my soul, of my childhood and of my heart,” she said of her beloved bluegrass music.
“I had to get rich so I could afford to sing like I’m poor again,” she joked.
Parton talked about her undying love of songwriting and music.
“If you’re a real writer and you’re a real singer and you love your music first of all, you will do that no matter what. So I just really always, if there’s not a place for me, I will make one.”
November 18, 2004: Hello, I’m Dolly Tour
Parton returned to the Spectrum, then renamed the Wachovia Spectrum, in 2004 for her Hello, I’m Dolly Tour.
In the early 2000s, Parton could be regarded as more of a pop-culture curiosity — the fake hair, the fake nails, the fake you-know-whats — than as one of the greatest American songwriters of all time.
However, this was an image she was keen to lean into. The Inquirer’s Dan Deluca reported that she made jokes during the stop, noting “If I was to pull a Janet Jackson tonight, I’d take out everybody in the first three rows” — a current reference for that year’s Super Bowl halftime show fiasco.
Still, the tour — which was an embrace of her many styles — reminded audiences of her undeniable musical prowess.
“Some liked the country, some liked the pop, some liked the big production, some loved the bluegrass and the more simple sound,” Parton said of this era, per the Washington Post. “So I decided to combine all the things that I’ve done through the years.”
August 20, 2005: The Vintage Tour
Parton’s bug for live performances persisted and she was back again the very next year. On the Vintage Tour, Dolly did her classic hits, but also continued to experiment with covers. She sang songs of artists she admired, classics like “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
“The expansiveness and joy of her stage personality and the genuine warmth she brings to the down-home recollections peppered through the show make Parton an irresistible performer,” Variety’s David Rooney wrote of the tour.
“What’s most singular is her gift for being all things to all people — connecting equally with the die-hard country fans and the massive crowd of gay boys who had resurrected their Madonna Western-wear to come see a camp icon.”
November 21, 2007: 92.5 XTU appearance
In 2007, Dolly came to Philly and appeared on 92.5 XTU, Philadelphia’s country music station. She talked with the station for 30 minutes, ahead of her scheduled appearance at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York the next morning.
According to a long-running fan site, the star spoke about her role as Miley Cyrus’ godmother and her inability to sing “I Will Love You” during Porter Wagoner’s funeral.
June 15, 2016: Pure & Simple Tour
A decade ago, Parton would perform her last-ever Philadelphia concert at the Mann Center for her Pure & Simple Tour.
“I saw Parton play live in concert during her Pure & Simple Tour in October 2016, a month before the most divisive election in American collective memory, and a year before I began reporting a podcast on her life called ‘Dolly Parton’s America,’” journalist Shima Oliaee wrote for Time Magazine.
“On the television and in the news, hatred from both sides of the American political aisle had never seemed more grotesque, but at Parton’s show, we all sang together,” Oliaee said. “Parton visited more than 60 cities that summer and fall. Looking back, I can’t help but wonder if she knew it would be something of a healing tour, the last of its kind she would do.”
Parton ended the concert with “Hello God,” a song about a world in need of almighty help and protection.
“This old world has gone to pieces,” she sang. “Can we fix it, is there time?”
The Philadelphia stop took place just days after the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando. WHYY’s Eric Walter wrote about his experience attending the concert at the time.
“The city skyline spread out before me, University City’s glass towers glowing with rainbow colors, I was surrounded by old and young; walking and wheeling; queer and straight; male and female; beige, white, and brown; religious, atheist, and agnostic; Democrat and Republican. What a cross-section of America! Not even everyone there was a country music fan. And we made it for two whole hours without argument, without protest, without cutting each other down.”
May 5, 2022: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library interview
In her final visit to our area, WHYY’s Mark Eichmann interviewed Parton in 2022 about her Imagination Library Program at the Wilmington Library on May 5, 2022. Illiteracy was an issue close to Parton’s heart, as her father Lee couldn’t read or write.
“This one is so personal to me, I have to say, this means more to me than almost anything in my whole career,” Parton told WHYY News. “I’m just so proud of how it’s come along through the years and we’re just doing wonderful things with it and wonderful people like here in Delaware that’s helping us out.”
The program later expanded to include bilingual books. Parton’s Imagination Library is currently mailing free monthly books to nearly 800 children in West Philadelphia — as well as 3,500 children in Montgomery County, according to the Inquirer.
“I’m proud, you know, that my songwriting and my singing and all that has been good, but I have to also say, this is right up there in the top three of anything I’ve ever done,” Parton told WHYY News. “I want this whole thing, my legacy, to really always say that I started this program and that it was a good program and that it was for the children and to help bring families together.”
