Dolly Parton: 50 Years At The Opry

It’s been a huge year or two for Dolly Parton – a range of celebratory docos, biopics and biographical stories including a brilliant podcast series. Dolly is always there. And for many of us she’s one of music’s true superstar but every now and then she and her crew do a brilliant job of taking all of that wisdom and work to the mainstream. And 2019 was one of those years.

Among the celebrations this charming concert with doco-interview segments paying tribute to Parton’s 50 years at the Opry; back in 1969 she made her first appearance on the legendry stage and show – The Grand Ole Opry. One of country music’s queens was born.

And this tribute concert has Parton sharing the stage with contemporaries (Emmylou Harris) as well as handing it over to the next generation (Margo Price).

There are some wonderful performances from Hank Williams Jr – even if it means putting up with the likes of Toby Keith.

You get some sense of the history of the place, too, in Dolly’s fond reminiscences and in the beautiful set we see today.

She remains a brilliant singer with a charisma that is so obvious as to be palpable – but of course the real magic, the real majesty, is in the songs. One of our greatest songwriters. And an absolute treasure. So this is a very fine celebration. And, yes, it’s been on TV and various on-demand services but for those with the old-school DVD player and for those that like to ‘have’; to ‘collect’, to ‘own’ – it’s available now on DVD. I’ve certainly enjoyed watching it again (and again).
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