"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb and I also know I'm not blonde." ~ Dolly Parton

I love Dolly Parton. I love that I share my birthday with her. I do not know much about country music and mostly only familiar with the hugely popular 'Jolene' and 'I will always you'... but what I love is less the music and more the person. I have watched many of her interviews because it's hard not to listen when she's talking. The thing that strikes me most is her mix of wit and vulnerability, her openness, her honesty, her ability to not take herself too seriously, her humility, her intelligence which people do not seem to expect from the way she presents herself... in every interview where she's asked about her appearance, her wigs, her makeup, getup etc, it's clear that she sees them simply as her artistic tools, the things she has fun playing with... in one interview she admits she might even look 'ridiculous'... said in an honest self-deprecating, self-aware, and self-assured way... someone who knows exactly who she is and who is real under all the glam... it's almost as if other people do not know how to reconcile the image and reality, because they are too lost in the surface, but one can tell that Dolly isn't. There's another interview about her being asked if the Whitney Houston version of her own song 'I will always love you' is a better rendition. And she doesn't even blink before saying it of course is: Whitney took it to another level. That's so disarming of her! Though she cannot resist the witty: 'she can take the credit, I am taking the cash'! Love it! It's inspiring to hear her talk about her childhood in the back of beyond, growing up poor, 12 siblings, religious upbringing,... It's as if through all that fame and success, she kept in touch with the core of her... protected her talent and her values in the thick of the world. Chose to be herself right till the end. They don't make 'em like her anymore.