Dolly Parton

About

Dolly Parton is an American musician, singer, actor, humanitarian and businesswoman. Known mostly for her country music, she has composed more than 3,000 songs, 25 number one hits and 25 gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums. She has also appeared in several films including 9 to 5 and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Online History

Dolly Parton launched her website on September 29, 1998.^[1] Later the site would feature links to other Parton properties, such as her theme park Dollywood and a musical based on film 9 to 5.

On May 15th, 2008, Parton launched a Twitter ^[2] account (tweet below). That day, the account tweeted, "Welcome to Dolly Parton's official Twitter page!"

Dolly Parton's America Podcast

On October 15th, 2019, Jad Abumrad, the creator and host of the Radiolab podcast, launched the NPR podcast Dolly Parton's America (trailer below).^[7] They describe the show, "In this intensely divided moment, one of the few things everyone still seems to agree on is Dolly Parton--but why? That simple question leads to a deeply personal, historical, and musical rethinking of one of America's great icons. Join us for a 9-episode journey into the Dollyverse."

Dolly Parton's Heartstrings Netflix Series

On November 5th, 2019, Netflix released the trailer for a television series based on eight Dolly Parton songs entitled Dolly Parton's Heartstrings. In the description for the show, Netflix writes, "Eight Dolly songs. Eight Dolly stories. Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings is an anthology series that showcases the stories, memories, and inspirations behind her most beloved songs." Within three days, the trailer received more than 128,000 views (shown below).

Reputation

Parton's accomplishments as an artist and a humanitarian is frequently the subject of admiration online. On February 28th, 2018, Redditor^[6] HNP4PH posted in the /r/todayilearned subreddit, "TIL Dolly Parton gave each family who lost its primary residence in the 2016 TN fires $1,000 a month for five months. When she arrived to help dole out the final payments, she brought the nearly 900 families an unexpected bonus – another $5,000 each for a total of $10,000." The post received more than 70,000 points (91% upvoted) and 1,500 comments in less than two years.

On July 27th, 2019, Redditor^[3] Hades_XC posted a photograph of Dolly Parton reading to several children. The photo is captioned, "Dolly Parton has a program that will mail your child a free age-appropriate book once a month from birth to age 5. No obligation, no catch, she just wants to make sure that every child has books." The meme includes a reaction from the Marvel character Thor saying, "That's what heroes do." The post recieved more than 8,500 points (95% upvoted) and 60 comments in less than one year (shown below, left).

On October 30th, Redditor^[5] MistressBurnTheWitch posted a photograph of Parton and her husband Carl Dean in the /r/OldSchoolCool subreddit. Within two weeks, the post received more than 52,000 points (95% upvoted) and 1,400 comments (shown below, center).

Later that year, Redditor^[4] SAT0725 posted about the program Parton's Imagination Library in the /r/books subreddit. the post received more than 28,000 points (91% upvoted) and 620 comments in two days.

Related Memes

"Jolene"

Jolene is a 1973 song by Dolly Parton. The story of a woman confronting a woman named "Jolene," whom the song's narrator believes is attempting to begin a romantic relationship with her husband. The song has inspired a number of memes, including jokes and remix videos.

On February 20th, 2010, YouTuber Tom Berry published a video of a vinyl record copy of "Jolene" being played at 33 rotations per minute (rpm). The record, however, is meant to be played at a faster speed of 45 rpms. The post received more than 8.9 million views in less than 10 years (shown below).

Dolly Parton Challenge

Dolly Parton Challenge, also known as the hashtag #DollyPartonChallenge and LinkedIn / Facebook / Instagram / Tinder Profile Pictures, refers to a series of four-panel images in which people share what could be their profile pictures for different social media accounts. The images, which became popular on Instagram after singer Dolly Parton posted four examples of profile pictures in January 2020, typically compare the differences in LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Tinder.

Search Interest

External References