‘She Was One of Us’: To Tennesseans, Dolly Parton’s Death Hits Home

The country music star kept her home state at the forefront of her music and work. “She aspired Tennesseans to be better,” one resident said. Before she became a country music icon, Dolly Parton belonged to Tennessee. Her rise to fame started, of course, with her music: an album cover featuring the view from an eastern Tennessee porch, songs about the humble lessons of her impoverished childhood, the performances at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. But even as her star power took her all over the world, she made a point to keep coming home in different ways. She donated millions of dollars to disaster relief after devastating fires in East Tennessee and crucial vaccine research at Vanderbilt University.

Missing media or need the complete publisher report? Open The New York Times ↗