Dolly Parton returns to the Ryman
Dolly Parton doesn't often play Nashville. On Friday and Saturday, though, she took the stage for two sold-out concerts at the Ryman Auditorium, where, in her younger days, she often performed on the Grand Ole Opry. Though Parton has a home in Nashville, they were her first concerts in the city in more than a dozen years. "Usually, when I'm in Nashville," she said Saturday, "I just like to go home and lay around."
"It's just sacred ground to me," Parton said of the Ryman, during a press conference before the concert. "It's like going home. It feels like your family; it feels like your mama and your daddy and your whole family's just surrounding you. I just have a feeling in here that I don't get anywhere else."
Billed as "Dolly Parton: Pure and Simple," the benefit for the Opry Trust Fund presented Parton in an intimate setting, rarely backed by more than a piano, a guitar and bass or three singers. Parton accompanied herself on dulcimer for Tennessee Mountain Home, on autoharp for Coat of Many Colors and on piano for The Grass Is Blue. Her full band joined her near the end of the night for a string of '70s and '80s country-pop hits that included Two Doors Down, Here You Come Again, Islands in the Stream, 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You.
Parton spent as much time between songs telling stories and cracking jokes as she did singing. That's okay, though, because her personality is as much a part of her appeal as her singing or songwriting. "I don't do that many charity shows," she said at one point. "Usually, I save my money for myself. I need the money. You would not believe how much it costs to make a person look this cheap. I've been saying that line for years and year, and people always laugh like it's a big joke. but it's the biggest truth I ever told."
Before Parton sang Little Sparrow, a song in the style of an ancient Appalachian ballad, she warned the audience that it was slow, sad and quiet. "I realize that there's a lot of folks that still smoke or have problems with your lungs or whatever, so if you feel the need to cough or sneeze or hark or whatever you need to do, you just do it," she said "I'll just keep on singing. … You just do what you do, and I'll do what I do, okay?" Hardly any of the 2,400 in attendance made the slightest sound as she sang the mostly a cappella number, but the performance earned Parton one of her three standing ovations.
Music City's stars peppered the audience both nights. Naomi and Ashley Judd, Alison Krauss and Big & Rich's John Rich attended Parton's Friday concert. On Saturday, Nashville creator Callie Khouri and husband T Bone Burnett were spotted in the audience, along with Nashville stars Connie Britton and Clare Bowen; Parton's fellow Opry stars Reba McEntire, Bill Anderson and Jeannie Seely; country singer T.G. Sheppard; and rockabilly singer Imelda May.
The set list for Parton's Saturday night concert follows:
- Light of a Clear Blue Morning (intro)
- Backwoods Barie
- Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That
- Jolene
- Precious Memories
- Tennessee Mountain Home
- Coat of Many Colors
- Smoky Mountain Memories
- Applejack
- The Seeker
- The Grass Is Blue
- Blue Smoke
- PMS Blues
- Do I Ever Cross Your Mind
- Little Sparrow
- Baby I'm Burnin'/This Girl Is on Fire (Alicia Keys cover)
- Two Doors Down
- Here You Come Again
- Islands in the Stream
- 9 to 5
- I Will Always Love You