Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music

by Leigh H. Edwards

Overview

Dolly Parton is instantly recognizable for her iconic style and persona, but how did she create her enduring image? Dolly crafted her exaggerated appearance and stage personality by combining two opposing stereotypes—the innocent mountain girl and the voluptuous sex symbol. Emerging through her lyrics, personal stories, stage presence, and visual imagery, these wildly different gender tropes form a central part of Dolly's media image and portrayal of herself as a star and celebrity. By developing a multilayered image and persona, Dolly both critiques representations of femininity in country music and attracts a diverse fan base ranging from country and pop music fans to feminists and gay rights advocates. In Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music, Leigh H. Edwards explores Dolly's roles as musician, actor, author, philanthropist, and entrepreneur to show how Dolly's gender subversion highlights the challenges that can be found even in the most seemingly traditional form of American popular music. As Dolly depicts herself as simultaneously "real" and "fake," she offers new perspectives on country music's claims of authenticity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253031556
Publisher:	Indiana University Press (Ips)
Publication date:	01/06/2018
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Leigh H. Edwards is Professor of English at Florida State University. She is the author of Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity and The Triumph of Reality TV: The Revolution in American Television.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Dolly Mythology
1. "Backwoods Barbie": Dolly Parton's Gender Performance
2. My Tennessee Mountain Home: Early Parton and Authenticity Narratives
3. Parton's Crossover and Film Stardom: The "Hillbilly Mae West"
4. Hungry Again: Reclaiming Country Authenticity Narratives
5. "Digital Dolly" and New Media Fandoms
Conclusion: Brand Evolution and Dollywood
Works Cited
Index

What People are Saying About This

"

Leigh H. Edwards's tremendous book brings our understanding of Dolly Parton's career and significance to a new level. Anyone who wants to understand Parton's contributions, not just to country music, but to American culture in general, should read Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music.

"

Travis D. Stimeling

Leigh H. Edwards takes a close look at Dolly Parton's songwriting, recordings, acting, and public persona and convincingly demonstrates that Parton is not only a powerful Appalachian musician but also a remarkably engaged artist who uses her many talents to engage with issues of gender, sexuality, and class.

Kristine M. McCusker

Leigh H. Edwards's tremendous book brings our understanding of Dolly Parton's career and significance to a new level. Anyone who wants to understand Parton's contributions, not just to country music, but to American culture in general, should read Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music.

The Political Force of Musical Beauty - Barry Shank

In this compelling analysis, Leigh Edwards shows us how Dolly Parton, the masterful manipulator of media images and country authenticity, artistically melds elements from her biography with fantasies of success into a career that spans decades, crosses genres, and inspires millions of fans. Read this book to learn how Parton manages to be simultaneously fake and real, ordinary and extraordinary, normal and outrageous. A model of interdisciplinary scholarship.

Editorial Reviews

Deftly introduces the public and private Dolly Parton in this well-researched study of a cultural phenomenon.

AudioFile

With her generous, comprehensive examination of Parton's image and career, Edwards makes a valuable contribution to studies of celebrity, gender, music, media, and popular culture that should be useful to scholars working in any of these areas.

Celebrity Studies - Jennifer Lynn Jones

"The new book Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music investigates the character behind the chart-topping musician we've come to know and love."

Shondaland

Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music is a timely full-length monograph on a figure who has endured on the national and international scene for more than one-half century. Fittingly, this study is authored by a leading scholar of contemporary popular culture. The keyword in Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music is 'transgression,' for Professor Edwards demonstrates the terms by which, over decades, Parton's personae both conform to well-established patterns of identity and simultaneously subvert them.

Cecelia Tichi

"With her generous, comprehensive examination of Parton's image and career, Edwards makes a valuable contribution to studies of celebrity, gender, music, media, and popular culture that should be useful to scholars working in any of these areas."—Jennifer Lynn Jones, Celebrity Studies

"In this compelling analysis, Leigh Edwards shows us how Dolly Parton, the masterful manipulator of media images and country authenticity, artistically melds elements from her biography with fantasies of success into a career that spans decades, crosses genres, and inspires millions of fans. Read this book to learn how Parton manages to be simultaneously fake and real, ordinary and extraordinary, normal and outrageous. A model of interdisciplinary scholarship."—Barry Shank, author of, The Political Force of Musical Beauty

"Leigh H. Edwards's tremendous book brings our understanding of Dolly Parton's career and significance to a new level. Anyone who wants to understand Parton's contributions, not just to country music, but to American culture in general, should read Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music."—Kristine M. McCusker, author of Lonesome Cowgirls and Honky Tonk Angels

"Leigh H. Edwards takes a close look at Dolly Parton's songwriting, recordings, acting, and public persona and convincingly demonstrates that Parton is not only a powerful Appalachian musician but also a remarkably engaged artist who uses her many talents to engage with issues of gender, sexuality, and class."—Travis D. Stimeling, author of Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks

"Astellar exploration of how Parton deftly balanced traditional country aesthetics with her willingness to rebel against those same trappings by completely owning her image and how she performed her femininity. Thanks to thorough research that digs into Parton's personal statements across her autobiography, social media outlets, and interviews in a variety of mediums, the reader is presented with a woman completely in control of who she is, her art, and how people interact with her."—Adam P. Newton, BeardedGentlemenMusic.com

"The new book Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music investigates the character behind the chart-topping musician we've come to know and love."—Shondaland

"Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music is a timely full-length monograph on a figure who has endured on the national and international scene for more than one-half century. Fittingly, this study is authored by a leading scholar of contemporary popular culture. The keyword in Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music is 'transgression,' for Professor Edwards demonstrates the terms by which, over decades, Parton's personae both conform to well-established patterns of identity and simultaneously subvert them."—Cecelia Tichi, Journal of Popular Music Studies

"The book moves seamlessly from the mythology of Dolly Parton and the crafting of her gender persona to the singer's performance within different types of frameworks through Hollywood, crossover markets, and the digital stage. Edwards has allowed us to look deeper into how that combination of femininity has been a platform of change for both Parton and our perception of her persona, while opening the door for exploration of how Parton's influence may help craft the careers of future performers."—The Journal of Popular Culture

"The book is full of solid arguments for the worthiness of Parton as a scholarly subject, including the complexities and juxtapositions of her life as a media figure with an enduring career."—Music Reference Services Quarterly

"Overall, Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music examines Parton's trailblazing career in the male-dominated world of country music through the lens of gender themes and identity, including the expansion of her media empire of music, movies, theme park, and numerous other efforts."—Communication Booknotes Quarterly

"Deftly introduces the public and private Dolly Parton in this well-researched study of a cultural phenomenon."—AudioFile

From the Publisher

A stellar exploration of how Parton deftly balanced traditional country aesthetics with her willingness to rebel against those same trappings by completely owning her image and how she performed her femininity. Thanks to thorough research that digs into Parton's personal statements across her autobiography, social media outlets, and interviews in a variety of mediums, the reader is presented with a woman completely in control of who she is, her art, and how people interact with her.

BeardedGentlemenMusic.com - Adam P. Newton

The book is full of solid arguments for the worthiness of Parton as a scholarly subject, including the complexities and juxtapositions of her life as a media figure with an enduring career.

Music Reference Services Quarterly

Overall, Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music examines Parton's trailblazing career in the male-dominated world of country music through the lens of gender themes and identity, including the expansion of her media empire of music, movies, theme park, and numerous other efforts.

Communication Booknotes Quarterly

The book moves seamlessly from the mythology of Dolly Parton and the crafting of her gender persona to the singer's performance within different types of frameworks through Hollywood, crossover markets, and the digital stage. Edwards has allowed us to look deeper into how that combination of femininity has been a platform of change for both Parton and our perception of her persona, while opening the door for exploration of how Parton's influence may help craft the careers of future performers.

The Journal of Popular Culture