The Parton Paradox: a History of Race and Gender in the Career of Dolly Parton
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Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2017 The Parton Paradox: A History of Race and Gender in the Career of Dolly Parton Lindsey L. Hammers Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Popular Culture Commons, Cultural History Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, History of Gender Commons, Music Performance Commons, Social History Commons, Television Commons, United States History Commons, Women's History Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Hammers, Lindsey L. "The Parton Paradox: A History of Race and Gender in the Career of Dolly Parton." Master's thesis, Georgia Southern University, 2017. This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PARTON PARADOX: A HISTORY OF RACE AND GENDER IN THE CAREER OF DOLLY PARTON by LINDSEY HAMMERS (Under the Direction of Christina Abreu) ABSTRACT With a career that has spanned over five decades, country music artist Dolly Parton has continually redefined her image and her music to remain relevant. By incorporating the musical and lyrical stylings of disco and other popular music genres into her songs, Parton moved beyond music’s color line to increase her popularity as an artist. This thesis shows how Parton established a distinct career that catered to different audiences as she traversed the musical color line and repackaged what feminism looked like to country music fans during the Women’s Movement of the 1960s. Placing Parton’s actions in conversation with music’s color line demonstrates how she embraced racial and musical diversity, not just within her music, but also on her television shows of the late 1970s and 1980s. This analysis also examines Parton’s career in relation to the Women’s Movement by looking at the ways in which she used her position and popularity as a country and crossover entertainer to chip away at the traditional structure of country music. Parton presented herself as a more palatable feminist to country music fans and used her image as the genre’s buxom blonde to distract her audience from her messages of gender equality. Through this combination, Parton challenged traditional racial, cultural, and gender boundaries within country music but at other times and for different reasons she conformed to them. INDEX WORDS: Dolly Parton, Country Music, Musical Color Line, Disco, Pop, Race, Gender, Feminism, Antifeminism, The Women’s Movement. THE PARTON PARADOX: A HISTORY OF RACE AND GENDER IN THE CAREER OF DOLLY PARTON by LINDSEY HAMMERS B.S., Campbellsville University, 2012 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree MASTER OF HISTORY STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2017 LINDSEY HAMMERS All Rights Reserved 1 THE PARTON PARADOX: A HISTORY OF RACE AND GENDER IN THE CAREER OF DOLLY PARTON by LINDSEY HAMMERS Major Professor: Christina Abreu Committee: Michelle Haberland Eric Hall Electronic Version Approved: May 2017 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have happened without the continual support of my parents, Debbie and Doug Hammers, who have always encouraged me to be better. I would also like to thank Charity Powell, Natalie Buckley, Dr. Jackie Sandifer, Kelli Bacon, and Brittany Sealey for the laughs and their perceived interest in hearing my endless chatter about Dolly Parton and country music. Their willingness to help with commas, titles, and sentences that did not meet my satisfaction undoubtedly made this thesis better. I am also grateful for the funding I received from Georgia Southern University’s Department of History that allowed me to travel to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, where I was welcomed by Print Collection Librarian Kathleen Campbell and hosted by my friend Hillary Anderson. I would also like to thank my aunt Becky Dunn who served as my research assistant and my uncle Steve Dunn who nurtured my love for history as a young child and did not blink twice when I crawled into a muddy cave for historical purposes. I must also thank the focus of my work: Dolly Parton. Even though we have never met (although I hope one day we do), she has assured me that there is nothing wrong with big hair, big dreams, big sleeves, and a big personality. For that I will always love and be grateful for her. Lastly, I am indebted to Dr. Christina Abreu who spent countless hours editing this thesis and served as my advisor, sounding board, critic, encourager, source of wisdom, and sarcastic match. Her skills as an educator and historian are exceptional and her contribution to this work is beyond measure. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................ 2 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 4 DOLLY PARTON: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY .................................................................................. 9 TIMELINE ............................................................................................................................. 10 THE GROWTH OF A GENRE .................................................................................................. 12 HISTORIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 18 CHAPTER TWO: DISCO DOLLY CROSSES AND COMPLICATES MUSIC’S COLOR LINE ....................................................................................................................................... 23 COUNTRY MUSICIANS REACT .............................................................................................. 27 EXCEPTIONS AND NOT BLACKNESS TRIUMPH ..................................................................... 31 DOLLY PARTON’S GENRE BENDING .................................................................................... 35 AFRICAN AMERICANS CONNECTING WITH PARTON ............................................................ 40 PARTON’S TROUBLES IN SOUTH AFRICA ............................................................................. 44 PARTON’S IMAGE IN THE BLACK PRESS............................................................................... 49 DOLLY AGAIN ...................................................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER THREE: PALATABLE PARTON: REPACKAGING FEMINISM .................. 59 BRIEF BACKGROUND ON COUNTRY MUSIC ......................................................................... 62 COUNTRY MUSIC MEETS THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT ......................................................... 64 THEMES IN PARTON’S MUSIC .............................................................................................. 71 IMAGE AS AGENCY .............................................................................................................. 80 PROBLEMATIC PAIRINGS...................................................................................................... 92 THE PARADOX DISPLAYED IN MOVIE ROLES ...................................................................... 97 CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................... 108 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 113 4 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION On the night of November 2, 2016, an unexpected lineup would take the stage at the 50th Country Music Association Awards: Beyoncé and Dolly Parton. Beyoncé would be joined by the Dixie Chicks to perform “Daddy Lessons,” a new song off her album, Lemonade. On its own, Beyoncé’s pairing with the Dixie Chicks was controversial (if not entirely unpopular) given that the all-girl band fell from country music royalty in 2003 after Natalie Maines, the group’s lead singer, spoke ill of then President George W. Bush at an event in London.1 But the performance was not wholly out of place: “Daddy Lessons” is a very country-sounding tune with “yee-haws” and its share of brass instruments, harmonica, percussion, and, on this night, a banjo, mandolin, and fiddle, all country music’s staple instruments. With this song and performance Beyoncé dipped into the genre of country, and some country fans did not appreciate her presence. Negative reactions to Beyoncé’s performance from country music entertainers and country music fans demonstrate that the musical color line and racialization of musical genres were still firmly in place.2 Other pop stars have shared the stage with country acts and generated less controversy. For example, when Justin Timberlake performed with Chris Stapleton at the 1 “Dixie Chicks Pulled from Air After Bashing Bush,” CNN, March 14, 2003; ABC News, “Dixie Chicks Speak Out on ‘Primetime,’” ABC News, April 24, 2003; Greg Mitchell, “Ten Years Ago Today a Dixie Chick Dared to Hit Bush on War—and a Hate Campaign Began,” The Nation, March 10, 2013; Andrew Leahey, “Flashback: The Dixie Chicks Are Ashamed of