I’ve never been much of a country music fan, but I’ve always been a Dolly fan. Great songwriter, philanthropist, and seemed like a genuinely nice person. RIP, Dolly, you were one of the greats.

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jihadjihad 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Her vocals were exceptional, too. One of my favorite videos I've randomly come across on YouTube is "Jolene" slowed down to 33 RPM [0]. The comments are hilarious as well, but the clarity of her vocals and the vibrato that carries through to a slower tempo is really something special to hear.

0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doz1QJ7LwjA

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PaulHoule 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

She's one of those crossover performers, such as Kenny Rogers and Taylor Swift who escape Country music as a genre and get mass appeal. Whenever I comment about a Dolly Parton song playing in a public place I hear things like "She's a national treasure!"

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kevin_thibedeau 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Rogers crossed over into country.

	▲	mikestew 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		My ex-wife was a big Kenny "The Country Version" Rogers fan. I chuckle to myself every time I watch The Big Lebowski and hear Rogers singing his psychedelic "Just Checked In" and wonder what the ex would think of his origins.

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jimmySixDOF 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Her cover of Stairway to Heaven is definitely crossover at its best

	▲	pseudosavant 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Definitely my favorite version of that song!
	▲	tomcam 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Oh. You weren't kidding! It's good. They avoid all the traps, like not trying to outdo Jimmy Page's guitar solo.

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bluesounddirect 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Then you will love "The chipmunks at 16 speed"

https://chipmunkson16speed.bandcamp.com/album/vol-1

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alyandon 2 hours ago | parent [-]

For a second I misread that as "The chipmunks at 16X speed" and was seriously confused.

	▲	bluesounddirect an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I know what you mean, 16rpm makes more sense .

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chimbles 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sometime she changed the RPMs herself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJEpoLeISCo

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sollewitt 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The guitar is also immaculate slowed down and that was her too. I always thought it was some hotshot Nashville session musician. One of the best guitar licks of all time.

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Joeboy 3 hours ago | parent [-]

She was certainly a fine guitarist, but Wikipedia says you were right first time, it was a session player called Chip Young.

	▲	jihadjihad a minute ago \| parent [-]
		Dolly wrote the lick herself, and when she was in the studio with the session players, they wanted her to show them how to play it [0]. She ended up having Chip Young lay it down on the record since her long fingernails made it difficult to get consistently right. This is also why if you watch videos of her playing guitar she plays in open tunings [1]. 0: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/31/dolly-parton-r... 1: https://www.guitarworld.com/features/how-does-dolly-parton-p...

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slim an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

first time I hear that song and to my ear, the song was recorded at that speed, then sped up in production.

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markdown 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Made famous by the show The Blacklist

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shevy-java 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Agreed. The climbing voice in Jolene was my favourite of her vocal range. She was a pretty good singer too; not as good as e. g. Ariana Grande in her own prime (before chasing bulimia) but quite good nonetheless.

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4d4m 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

She was a loving wife to her husband and a great entrepreneur in addition to being a prolific artist. It's hard to find someone so well rounded at so many things before even adding that most of the jobs she created were/are considered positive contributions to society, evenly spread between entertainment, hospitality, foodservice, and adjacent industries. I think I heard she was directly responsible for about 20k total jobs which is INSANE.

What a positive legacy to leave - good example for others.

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tombert 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Same.

I don't really like country music, but Dolly always seemed somewhat down-to-earth and pretty decent.

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CGMthrowaway 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Thankfully we have Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, the White Stripes, etc for you

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johnnyanmac 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I wouldn't ever say I was a fan per se. But she was always the go-to example of "this is what billionaires should be doing with their money". So I respected the hell out of her.

Of course, she also proves the very point of there being no ethical billionaire, being "only" worth some 450 million instead. Likely because she gave so much of her wealth back to her communities instead. RIP Dolly, indeed.

	▲	4d4m 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Completely agree johnnuanmac. Seems like a role model for being a good person while maintaining extreme goals and working toward the impossible.