a stop on Dolly Parton's last Americana artists such as Lucinda tour, I sat, amazed, at the Williams, The Nitty Gritty Dirt people who filed in next to Band, Old Crow Medicine Show.Jim me. To my left, a young, gay Lauderdale and Ralph Stanley. African-American couple compared Before Parton and I discuss her Parton and Diana Ross. To my Oscar-nominated tune, she can't right, a middle-aged Caucasian resist a self-deprecating joke. "I did biker-chick and her mother vented not have a sex change," she hollers their disappointment over a recent before belting out a high-pitched Neil Young concert (apparently, he squeal. "Thank God!" didn't perform enough of his older Parton says while writing the song hits). And behind me, a grey-haired she drew inspiration from the expe­ -•:\ Southern grandmother discussed .. . riences of a close transsexual friend ···••I... the nuances of her Thanksgiving (affectionately calJing him "A Boy ...... turkey breast and glazed ham. amed Sue"), but the song's refresh­ ...... � . . :.. Onstage, Parton expertly hovered ing African beats and delicate blue­ ...... between credible tuncsmith and grass flourishes drive lyrics less ··········. guilty pleasure, but helping create focused on the film's specifics and solidarity between so many different more on the universal feelings of types of people-if only for a night being an outsider. Like at a time-might be her greatest Transamerica's heroine, Parton has career achievement. Never mind felt like one since her childhood. Charley Pride and Cowboy Troy, ♦ diversity has never been one of I WILL ALWAYS country music's strong suits, yet this LOVE ... DIFFERENCES petite woman with a larger-than-life Parton's individuality took hold persona has found a way to relate to when, as a young girl, she first spied almost everyone. a local woman with piled peroxide­ It should come, then, as no sur­ blonde hair and flashy clothes. prise that director Duncan Tucker Although enamored with the asked her to write and perform the woman's beauty, she was naive theme song for his feat ure-film about her reputation. "Momma debut, Transamerica, the story of a said, 'Aww, she's just trash,'" Parton pre-operative t.ranssexual woman and remembers. "I said 'Well that's her son bonding on a cross-country what I'm gonna be when I grow up, trip. Parton's "Travelin' Thru" I'm gonna be trash." Dolly adopted anchors a gutsy soundtrack featuring the look, which came to accessorize