Dolly Parton

Thursday actually turned into something of a country day for there was a wonderful article about the even more wonderful Dolly Parton in The Daily Telegraph.

How Ridiculous is a great fan of Miss P and had the great honour of seeing her at the Hammersmith Apollo when she appeared there a few years ago.

HR has fond memories of her rendition of 'Jolene' and the change of words to 'I cannot compete with you drag queen...'

Marvellous stuff - as was the aforementioned article. It was published to mark Dolly's 60th birthday and the release of her new album 'Those Were The Days', which sees her record with Mary Hopkin. Hooray!

Here are some extracts from the article.

'At recent gigs she's chuckled that were she to 'do a Janet Jackson', her DD-cups would take out the first four rows.'

'Long Island up-and-comer Mindy Smith recalls covering Jolene for a tribute album. Parton actually came to the studio. 'Her presence is just anointed!' she says, laughing. 'I was curled up behind her in the foetal position while she heard my vocals. Then she turned around and said, 'Well, honey, you're gonna make me rich!''

'Fabulous' doesn't do her justice, as one reviewer once wrote of Dame Shirley Bassey.