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By Melinda Newman
Special to MSN Music
Soon Dolly Parton will be able to breathe easier.
Literally. On tour in support of her album "Backwoods Barbie," she is acutely
aware that her skintight stage outfits are very unforgiving.
She's already counting down the days until the tour's November end, when she
can put on her "loose clothes."
In the meantime, there's work to be done. While touring, she's also reworking
material for "9 to 5," the musical of the 1980 movie in which she played perpetually
sexually-harassed assistant Doralee Rhodes. The play opened in Los Angeles in
September and moves to Broadway in April. She's also writing a musical about the
Smoky Mountains for Dollywood, her theme park in Tennessee.
Such is the portfolio of pop enterprises in play for this enduring country
icon who crossed over to pop celebrity when mainstream success was still
perceived to be far removed from Nashville's Music Row. More recently, Parton
spent much of the past decade revisiting her roots in a series of critically
acclaimed albums that sidestepped "modern country" polish to tap into bluegrass'
high-and-lonesome sound. Now, however, she's playing to country's own
mainstream, today one of pop's strongest segments.
So it's no wonder the only time she has to talk is early in the morning.
Parton reminds the reporter she's taking a 10-minute break, which would indicate
she's already been at work for hours. She's unfailingly polite, funny, gracious
and cordial, but is clear that time is tight. Like a true Steel Magnolia.
MSN MUSIC: You're once again on tour. Is playing live still enjoyable
for you?
Dolly Parton: It will never change ... there's nothing like it. It's like an
adrenaline rush. It's like something you're addicted to if you're a true gypsy,
which I am. But I just love that excitement that I feel from the crowd and that
they get from me and it's just kind of like we feed off of each other. It's kind
of like walking a tightrope.
Do you have a ritual for when you get offstage?
Yeah, I go eat everything I can hold, that I couldn't eat before the show
because it would make my belly all big. You know how it goes with girls, I don't
want to put on my clothes and feel full. The first thing I do is get out of show
clothes and spread out on the bed and eat everything I can get my hands on.
You're tiny. There's no room for anything extra.
That's true. You know what, I have to really watch it though because I'm so
little. (Story Continues On Next Page...) |
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