World celebrated country music icon, the late Dolly Parton. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official X handle of Dolly Parton]It was in late spring of 1964, just a day after graduating from high school, that a diminutive farm girl packed her belongings and bade farewell to the life she had known in the Smoky Mountains of rural Tennessee. Her destination? Nashville, the undisputed Mecca of country music. She left behind the two-bedroom cottage where she had lived with her parents and eleven siblings, carrying little more than a dream and the audacious belief that she could make something of herself.
Like most people who dare to pursue improbable dreams, Dolly Parton wandered through a period of uncertainty, chasing fame and fortune while occasionally wondering whether she had made the right choice. Then, three years later, her fortunes changed dramatically. Country music star Porter Wagoner invited the twenty one year old Dolly to become the “girl singer” on his immensely popular, nationally syndicated television program, The Porter Wagoner Show.
Wagoner had been searching for someone to replace his female vocalist, Norma Jean, who had left the program after marrying and moving away. He recognized something in Dolly that others had not yet fully appreciated and gave the young singer what was, at that stage of her career, an invaluable gift: a national platform. Dolly repaid his confidence with exceptional songwriting, musicianship, charisma, and a full stage presence. Together, they became one of the most consequential partnerships in country music.
