Country roads take Dolly Parton home
As a brand, Dolly Parton is as internationally recognizable as the golden arches. But unlike
With her latest release, "Backwoods Barbie," the Smoky Mountain diva is trying to change that. Parton, who plays at the Opera House Monday night, has recorded an album she hopes will help her score a few new hits to add to a stunning repertoire that includes "Jolene," "9 to 5," "Here You Come Again," and "I Will Always Love You," among many others.
The title song lays bare Parton's sanguinity about the seeming disconnect between her rhinestone image and her down-home artistry. "I'm just a backwoods Barbie in a push-up bra and heels/ I might look artificial, but where it counts I'm real," she sings in that still-angelic coo for 3 minutes and 15 seconds of pure, bittersweet country perfection.
"I patterned my look after the town tramp not realizing that she was just trash," says Parton on the phone from her Tennessee home, bright and bustling at 8 a.m. "I think people do know now that I'm a serious songwriter and singer and artist, and it's all worked as a good little package through the years."
Indeed, for four decades Parton, 62, has combined her songwriting and marketing skills to reach tremendous heights as a musician, actress, and entrepreneur. She has sold more than 100 million records, won countless awards, opened successful theme parks, and inspired legions of drag queens with her signature busty, big-haired look. Next spring she hits Broadway, scoring a musical adaptation of the film "9 to 5."
But right now, Parton is laser-focused on "Barbie." She wrote most of the tracks, mixed up classic and new country, and sought outside help to jockey back in the crosshairs of contemporary country radio. It is being billed as Parton's first mainstream country album since 1991's "Eagle When She Flies" - her last million seller - after successful and critically acclaimed forays into bluegrass, gospel, and patriotic music.
In addition to the title track, "Barbie" offers other potential radio hits including current single "Jesus & Gravity." "I just loved it, and it's got one of those sweet feelings when you hear it," Parton says of the anthem of uplift she performed recently on "American Idol."
"Jesus" fits neatly into the evergreen Nashville themes of faith, positivity, and dream-chasing, much like Martina McBride's "Anyway" and Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance."
"That's what we were aiming for," confirms "Barbie" coproducer and Parton guitarist Kent Wells. "Trying to make it something that would tease radio and fit squarely in the format without having the whole album cater to that. I was trying to bring a little more of a pop vibe to it, which typically is a no-no with iconic artists like that. The trend is to strip them down and do the Rick Rubin-Johnny Cash vibe, so it's kind of a risky deal, but that's what she wanted to do."
"When new country came in, a lot of the older artists wouldn't get played on the radio," says Parton. "I decided I was going to make an effort, put some money behind it, hire some electric musicians, and actually do some mainstream country songs. I'll be curious to see if it pays off. A lot of the radio stations are already playing it."
And a lot of others aren't. The song currently sits at No. 57 on the country singles chart after four weeks in release. It is by no means over, but it is not on a rocket ride to the top, either. Even though the "Idol" performance goosed "Barbie" sales, now nearing 100,000 (and those of her back catalog, thanks to the contestants' performances), it didn't do much for the song.
What it did do, however, was remind a younger generation of Parton the artist versus Parton the celebrity. Bill Werde, executive editor of Billboard magazine, says "Barbie" not only doubled its previous week's sales figure, but that the sales "had a disproportionate digital slant."
Werde says, "What it tells me is that she can be very compelling to this new generation. I think for Dolly it's really a question of getting herself out there. This is why the tour will be the telling point on this."
Mike Brophey, program director for Boston's country outlet WKLB-FM (102.5), says age bias isn't to blame for radio's reluctance to play Parton.
"It's an era bias and there's a big difference, I think. Dolly is very charismatic. Everybody likes her and wants to see her succeed," he says. But since Parton's voice can put listeners in the mind of an earlier era, playing "Jesus," Brophey says, "takes the station in another direction for three or four minutes. That sounds like no big deal, but in programming a country radio station today it is."
That doesn't mean it couldn't happen, says Ed Salamon, executive director of Country Radio Broadcasters, citing recent hits ("I Can't Unlove You") by former Parton duet partner Kenny Rogers: "I think when an artist of such iconic status releases material, radio is going to pay attention to it. That said, having a hit record is a difficult thing. There are just so many variables that go into that that it's a challenge for anyone."
It's a challenge that Wells believes Parton is up for. "The 'character' of Dolly is one thing, but just as a sheer musical force, she's hard to match," he says. "She's got the vibrance and energy of a 20-year-old; she never has an off day."
Parton doesn't expend a lot of that energy analyzing her longevity. She's simply determined to keep the ride going.
"I've been around for 40 years and never let up," she says. "People remember me from the Dollywood theme park and the movies and seem to be on my side, so I figured the rest is up to me."
Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com.
