Legendary singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and author Dolly Parton may have left the Great Smoky Mountains the minute she graduated high school, but she’s never forgotten where she came from nor stopped giving back to the community in which she was raised. Recently, the busy icon sat down with National Geographic Travel’s Amy Alipio for an interview about her “Tennessee Mountain Home” and what makes its natural beauty so special.
Country music star Dolly Parton meets a fan with a Dolly doll in September, 1977
(Photograph by Jodi Cobb, Nat Geo Image Collection)
What’s Happening:
- The worlds of Dolly Parton and National Geographic collide, not for the first time, in a new article titled “What Dolly Parton wants us to know about the Smoky Mountains.”
- The country music superstar’s hit song from 1972, “My Tennessee Mountain Home,” recently became a Tennessee state song, all about the artist’s humble beginnings in Sevierville, TN.
- “My Tennessee Mountain Home” is one of many songs Dolly Parton has written about the Great Smoky Mounains, with other tracks including “Blue Smoke,” “Early Morning Breeze,” “Appalachian Memories” (also performed as “Smoky Mountain Memories”), and “Tennessee Homesick Blues.” Her Trio hit “Wildflowers” is also about her upbringing and departure from the place she loves so dearly.
- The article celebrates not only Dolly Parton’s love of nature and the Great Smoky Mountains, but also the philanthropic work she does alongside Dollywood to be a steward for the environment, with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park serving as the most biodiverse in the U.S. national park system. Highlights include:
- The American Eagle Foundation, which rescues and rehabilitates injured and orphaned bald eagles, owls, vultures, and other birds, with birds unfit to be reintroduced into the wild serving as educational ambassadors at Dollywood.
- How lyrics to Dolly Parton’s songs serve as a guide to the natural wonders of the region and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
- Why the butterfly has become symbolic of who Dolly Parton is as a person.
- Click here to read the full article.
View of the sunset across the mountain ridges from atop Clingman’s Dome in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee
(Raymond Gehman, Nat Geo Image Collection)
Dolly Parton Quotes from Her National Geographic Interview:
- Dolly on the Environment: “We should pay more attention to how we're treating our mountains, how we're treating our world, how we're just treating everything. We're just mistreating Mother Nature. That's like being ugly to your mama, you know? That’s like being disrespectful, you know? Seriously. So, I really think we all need to pay closer attention to taking better care of the things that God gave us freely and that we’re so freely messing up. We need to rethink that and do better.”
- Dolly on the Smokies: “The Smokies are my home. I was born in a little one-room shack on the banks of the Little Pigeon River, right up here in the Smoky Mountains. But it's the people. I wrote a song once called “These Are My People.”…These are my people; this is my home. So, it’s just home. But, not only that, I just think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. We’ve got the most radiant flowers. We’ve got the biggest assortment of trees in all of North America. And that's why it's so beautiful in the fall, and in the summer, and in the spring. But the Smokies just have a heart of their own.”
- Dolly on Butterflies: “But when I was little, I was scared of bugs, and things that bit and stung — you know, I didn't like that. But I realized early that butterflies were just these beautiful little creatures, with all this color, and they just kind of lightly went along, didn't bother anybody. They were just beautiful to look at, and I knew that they were harmless. And I got caught in them. And when I was little, they used to always say I would wander off, chasing butterflies into the woods. Someone would have to come find me. It was a heartache for my mom, in that respect… But I just always kind of related to them, because I felt like they meant well; they were harmless; and they were colorful —and kind of like I like to think that I am. And so I just took that on as I started collecting butterflies when I was little. And then I just used that as my symbol, even like the W in the Dollywood. That’s a butterfly. And even my logo, my brand, has the butterfly at the end; it’s D-O-L-L-Y and then the Y goes up and the butterfly is perched on the corner. It just always seemed like my thing.”