{"id":19762,"date":"2019-10-30T09:07:41","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T15:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1813907"},"modified":"2019-10-30T09:07:41","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T15:07:41","slug":"that-time-chet-atkins-told-dolly-parton-to-tone-it-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/that-time-chet-atkins-told-dolly-parton-to-tone-it-down\/","title":{"rendered":"That Time Chet Atkins Told Dolly Parton to \u201cTone It Down\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Alison Bonaguro<\/a><\/span>
\n6m ago<\/span>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

Dolly Parton is never dull. <\/p>\n

That much, we all already knew. But in the brand new Elle<\/em>, in a story<\/a> inside the November issue, Parton shows even more of her true colors. And they are brilliant. <\/p>\n

And one of the best stories within the story is about a time when Chet Atkins told her that she was just kind of a lot. <\/p>\n

He\u2019d said, according to her, \u201cDolly, you need to tone it down. You\u2019re wearing too much makeup. You need to have a little more taste. People are never going to take you serious(ly) as a songwriter and singer. I know you\u2019re great at that, but people are just going to look at you like it\u2019s all about the body.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018You know what? I can\u2019t separate the two. This is who I am.\u2019 I not only didn\u2019t tone it down,\u201d Parton recalled, \u201cI figured if my work was truly good enough, people would eventually recognize that. It was about me knowing who I was, being happy with me, and feeling comfortable in the way I presented myself. If I was happy, I could make other people happy. That\u2019s how I\u2019ve always looked at it: that I look totally artificial, but I am totally real, as a writer, as a professional, as a human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that, she added, \u201cA rhinestone shines just as good as a diamond.\u201d She\u2019s absolutely right about that and so many other truths she\u2019s learned about herself and the world she\u2019s living in. Parton will always be eternally quotable. <\/p>\n

Listen to these gems:<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not a raving natural beauty, I just wanted to be pretty. I wanted to be striking. I wanted to be colorful. I wanted to be seen. When I went to Nashville, I always overdid it. When they say, \u2018Less is more,\u2019 I say, \u2018That\u2019s BS. More is more.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, that\u2019s still one of the funniest things, when people say that I am a fashion icon. I just always thought people thought I was so gaudy. I am! I\u2019m flashy, and I\u2019m flamboyant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHad I not been a girl, I definitely would have been a drag queen. I like all that flamboyance. I love all that sparkle, and shine, and color.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t always wear (wigs) in my daily life, but I always still pouf up my hair. I still like to have that flashy hair. When I\u2019m around home, I wear my little scrunchies, but I always put on some makeup and fix my own hair as cute as I can fix it. Wigs are just so handy. I\u2019m so busy, and I have so many choices. I never have a bad hair day, and that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Her stance on wigs has me playing this 1993 Confederate Railroad song over and over again.)<\/p>\n

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