August 26, 2026 • 22 mins
The incredible business decisions Dolly Parton made early in her career, behind the scenes and against all odds - that truly paid off and will for years to come.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for the Mervy, Sam & Jody After the
Show podcast. We are so glad that you're here. Be
sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Also, if you
haven't done so, so you can follow us there. All
the places, like Jody likes to say. You know, the
world is abuzz, obviously, with the passing of Dolly Parton.
Thought she would live to be 100. Yeah, I mean,
it's interesting how some celebrities have an impact. I was
(00:23):
going to say more so than, you know, others. But
I don't know that anybody's like Dolly. I really don't.
I mean, we already... You've seen everywhere, and it's true.
There's nobody that doesn't like her. She's never been a
controversial figure. So those are all impressive things about her.
But what I wanted to do today in this podcast
is talk about the business accomplishments, which are just, to me,
(00:45):
so ridiculously impressive.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And things that most people don't know or realize that
Murphy digs into.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And I'm going to give you three big ones here, too,
that are, you know, probably the three biggest things that
contributed to her growth and her success. But it all
comes from, I've got to believe, the story when you
know the coat of many colors and her upbringing and
when she left to go to Nashville and strike it
on her own, she always had the independent spirit. I
(01:12):
think any story you've ever heard about Dolly is even
as a child, Dolly did her own thing. And that
is the way that she lived her entire life, but
she did it respectfully. She never threw it in anybody's
face That she was doing her own thing.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
She was always sure of what she wanted.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
My favorite part of that, quickly, is that she left
her hometown the day after she graduated from high school
to move to Nashville to become who she became. Yeah.
So the day after you graduate, no senior trip. Like
just go straight to work.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
That's funny and crazy. That was in like 60, I
can't remember.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Could you imagine doing that?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
No.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
It was in 1964. I think it's when she graduated
from high school.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
That makes sense. Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And so the first big thing that she did, and
she was only 22 years old. No, she was 21
actually when she did this. She knew writing my songs,
keeping my songs, and owning my songs were going to
be She wanted total control over anything that she wrote.
And there were so few artists that did that at
that time because they would succumb to the money in
(02:18):
the front. Record deal. Record deal, right, exactly. The company
fronts you all this money. It's like, okay, sure, you
can have the writing credits. And she resisted that. And
so she formed a publishing company with her uncle at
the age of 21. So smart. And she had already
had some success by that point in her career and
in her life. And so what that all led to
(02:43):
was one of the biggest, most decisive, you know, no's
in her world where she wrote the song I Will
Always Love You, you know, which she owned. Whitney Houston then,
of course, redid it when The Bodyguard, the movie, was
made in the early 90s, won a Grammy. I still
think it's crazy that Dolly was the one that presented
(03:03):
that Grammy Award to Whitney Houston. That's wild. But that
song wound up netting her, earning for her $ 10 million
in royalties. Just the song and the royalties and the
airplay and all that, you know, and the usage in
the movie, all of those things. And, you know, that's
a cool $ 10 million. And, of course, she's worth– now,
of course, there are people debating what she's worth. They say–
(03:25):
some people say she's worth at least $ 600 million. But,
you know, that single decision not to fall for the
fast check– Which.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You probably needed it.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Right. In 1967 is what made it for her. And
she almost lost the rights, by the way, to I
Will Always Love You, which she recorded in the early 70s.
It was a huge country hit. She actually hadn't even
crossed over to pop radio by that point.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
There was a lot of country music being played in
my house when I was growing up, and I remember
the first time I heard that song. It made me cry.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
I was a little girl who was very susceptible to it.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's a gut-wrenching song.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I listened to it where I knew it was I
Love You But I'm Leaving. I knew that it was
a goodbye song.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And it's not a romantic song. It's a goodbye song
to her partner, Porter Wagner. Partner meaning singing partner. And
I'm going to have to go back and learn more
because I know that my parents would watch the Porter
Wagner show.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I'm a stranger. Wasn't it called just, it was called
the Porter Wagner Show. It didn't have her name on
it at all. Yeah, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Now, their albums were Porter and Dolly. I mean, the album,
and they had a lot of successful singles together. So
they were a duo. And so it was the show
and it was the album of the albums. And she
decided she wanted to strike out on her own. It
was time to be Dolly, the solo career. She had
earned her keep. She wanted to have more creative freedom
than what she was getting by hanging out with Porter
(04:48):
Wagner and that group. The thing is, she actually loved
working with them. It was tempting for her not to
go because it was a comfort zone, but she wanted
more creative freedom. She wanted to push her own boundaries.
And when she left, he sued her. He didn't want
to let her out of the contract. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
That makes me angry.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It was seven years before they wound up settling. Oh, really? Yeah.
Which is a shame. I'm sure when you have a
successful duo and one splits— And one is more mature
in their career than the other, and he's at his peak,
and she's up and coming. You know, those kind of
(05:28):
feelings can happen. But she said after it was all
said and done, in her Dolly way, no ill will
feelings or anything. In fact, she was there when Porter Wagner,
either she was there when he passed or in his
final days. And they had mended their ways long since
before that. But she loved Porter.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
That's good, because wow.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah. And so I Will Always Love You was one
of these emotional connection songs. It's not about a failed relationship.
It is about the breakup, separating from Porter Wagner, the show,
and the rest of that band, you know, together, because
she enjoyed working with them. That's why she said, I
will always love you. But, you know, if I stay—
It works, though.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It works for everything.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Go back and listen to the lyrics now, and you'll
see that that's a, you know, here's why I have
to go. I love you, but I got to go.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
And so the reason that she almost lost it again
about five years later is because Elvis Presley wanted to
record a version of that song.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I guess he never did because we've never heard it.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
No, he didn't. And the reason that he didn't is
because Colonel Tom Parker, his manager, was the one who said,
that's great, Dolly. We want half of the writing credits.
Tom Parker, I mean, he knew the benefit, right? But
he knew that that was a way. But what they
were trying to do, that's the whole, but this is
the king of rock and roll. It's Elvis. He did
that for everybody.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
If the king wanted to record your song, Colonel Tom
was like, you've got to give us 50%. And a
lot of people did. Dolly didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Does that kind of stuff happen today in the music business?
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Because that's complex.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Completely jacked up.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I'm sorry. Well, it is, but you have to look
at it differently. You have to look at it in
a different time lens and sense. Elvis Presley was the
king of rock and roll. And if you were going
to have an opportunity to record with the king or
if he was going to record your song, you know,
you were going to be in elevated status all of
a sudden out of the blue. And so it's just
(07:20):
a negotiation point.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
You know. I'm sorry. It just sounds like she's being bullied.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
That's all. The thing is, though, when Murphy said that,
it instantly in my head made me start singing Elvis.
My Elvis voice started singing that song.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
He'd be talking it, too.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And it's like, that would be an Elvis song.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
No wonder he wanted it. Right.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
So she said no. And she's said many times, say
no to that. She didn't necessarily question herself. She was
heartbroken that she told Elvis Presley no. She didn't want
to tell Elvis Presley no.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
I'm sure he wasn't used to hearing no.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
It's a good thing that she didn't and stuck to
her ground. But again, this is about her focus and
understanding how to separate. She knew business and she knew
how to grow. And she knew that if her brand
was her, well, she needed full control of her brand. Otherwise,
somebody else would be making money off of it. And
I think that she was a real pioneer, especially as
(08:19):
a female in that time period, you know, doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
You better believe she was told a million different ways
how she could and could not do things. That's what,
in the time period, not only was she clear about,
she was confident about what she had to offer, but
she probably had to fight early on, just like you said.
We know that her record company had her doing writing
pop songs at first, and she had to fight to
(08:44):
write country songs.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And then she had to fight to get away from Porter. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So they settled that in 1979, to give you the timeline.
So as we're progressing now, she's had multiple pop hits. Now,
Here You Come Again has become a hit in 77,
and now she's on the pop charts, and then 9
to 5 comes along.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
The movie and the song and then the Burt Reynolds
partnership with the best little whorehouse in Texas. I mean,
she was just knocking it out of the park in
the early 80s, transitioning into so many different areas of
her career.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Late 80s, Steel Magnolias was my favorite Dolly Parton role
where she played Truvy. So fantastic. And she taught everybody
on the set of that movie a lesson. You know that, right?
You've heard about the Julia Roberts story. Julia Roberts was
new to acting. She was the new girl in Hollywood.
And they were all sitting on a porch, you know,
(09:36):
on a really hot day. And Julia Roberts was just
complaining about being hot. Can you believe how hot this is?
I want to go inside. And Dolly's like, I always
wanted this success and I'm not going to complain. I
asked God for this and I got it, so I'm
not going to complain. And Julia was like, okay. That's
a story that she's told before.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
And that is Dolly. I mean, I think that's the
essence of Dolly. That's not just her talking. She believed that.
That's really how she lived. So number one is I
will always love you and that little thing. Number two
was how Dollywood came to be. And this is, to me,
also brilliant. For one thing, she always paid back the
(10:16):
success that she had and gave to others. She's always,
as you know, the state of Tennessee being home, the
book program that she initiated decades ago. She has been
unwavering in her support for Tennessee. But one of the
investments that she wanted to make was in that park,
Silver Dollar City.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Silver Dollar City.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And so this is, again, business brilliance. She didn't buy
the whole park, and it's not a pure vanity play.
She went in halfsies. And so she's still to this day,
by the way, she's only a 50% owner of Dollywood.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
It doesn't seem like that. It seems like it's all her. Yeah.
Because I guess they understand this is the brand that
will sell it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And I don't know why I'm not remembering the name
of the family. It will come to me. I mean,
they're a well-known family.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
They needed a partner?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The Hirschen family. That's who it is. Hirschen Family Entertainment.
But here's the brilliance in that. She knew, starting from
the ground up, She was a singer and a songwriter
and an actress. She's not a theme park operator.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So she knew that she could market and she could represent,
but she needed somebody that really had the know-how and
the smarts. So you're not building something from the ground up.
So she bought 50% in. She didn't have to own
the whole thing. And like I said, still doesn't own right.
And the Herschen family still has their hope. And the
rest of that is history. Here it is 40 years later.
And it is an ever-growing theme park that still has
(11:45):
a new ride attraction every couple of years and continues
to grow.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Oh, it's the biggest selling ticket in the state of Tennessee,
and it's the biggest employer in that area. And if
you work there, one of her foundations will pay your
tuition to go to school as long as you're still
working there and help you make it happen.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
You telling that 50% story, that's the same kind of
deal she has with the new truck stops that she's doing.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
The Tennessean truck stop.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
She partners.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
She partnered with those people, put her name on it.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
They own it.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Well, I guess it's probably a 50-50 deal.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Well, and so that's really where this is going. When
she saw that that worked, and you've never been to
Dollywood or Pigeon Forge, right?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I've been to Pigeon Forge, but back when it was
Silver Dollar City.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Okay. So today, if you go into Pigeon Forge, that
strip is very different. But what she then is she
expanded that model to what was called the Stampede, and
then it became Dolly's Stampede. and Pirate's Voyage in the
Hatfield-McCoy Comedy Barn. She basically took her franchise and she
did the same thing. I'll give you, I'll invest 50%, 50%, 50%.
(12:48):
And she became half owners. The people who know how
to run it continue to own their stake. She just
is a business partner.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It's smart. So those are different venues.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
But she doesn't have to learn new businesses, really.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
They're different venues in Dollywood, completely separate.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Right, yeah. And so she continued to do that same
model before the truck stops. It's the Duncan Hines thing
and all that kind of stuff. But now, of course,
those aren't 50-50 deals. She just knows how to expand
and become a business partner for percentages, and that's a
licensing deal. But basically everything that she wanted to expand into,
(13:25):
she became an investor. She became an active participant in.
She lent her name to, which I think is probably
another reason that she knew that she wanted her image
to always be her image because it's not just her
true to the core. It is her brand. And so
everything that she's associated with then takes on that very happy,
that very positive, that very, it's going to be a
(13:46):
good experience. I mean, you look at a box of
Duncan Hines, you know, Dolly Pancakes. You're going to start smiling.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Well, it's like a seal of approval.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
You can buy those instead. It is.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
You see Dolly's face on anything and it's like, oh, this.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Is going to be good. And it's not just the
same old either. I mean, maybe she had a clause
with them about that, but it's not, no joke. I
think I made the Dolly pancakes one time and Murphy
was like, these are the best pancakes we've ever had.
What is going on? They really are good.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah. And, you know, the other things that she really
protected with, anytime she went into one of these brand arrangements,
there is something that has a charitable value.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Angle.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
More than just the books and all that. I mean,
it's charitable. She's always been charitable, but she believes that
each of the businesses should be, or any of the
arrangements that she has, has some kind of a, you know,
charitable component.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
So, I mean, to me, I'm just, this has got
to be a business book. If it doesn't exist already,
now that she has passed, you know, I think, again,
it's not only a testament to somebody being a business,
real super business smarts, And or aligning yourself with people
who can help you make those kinds of decisions, because
(14:54):
those things don't happen in a vacuum. You don't read
your way or Google your way into that sort of greatness.
You get out, you shake hands, you meet people, you network,
you do all those things that she, you know, did.
And she was consistent in her personality, you know, the
whole time. And this is one of my favorite quotes here, because,
(15:16):
and I don't know who where this quote came from
or who interviewed her, but you've heard it before, Jodi.
She says, I'm not offended by dumb blonde jokes because
I know I'm not dumb. And I also know I'm
not blind.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, she knew how to land a joke.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
She did.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
That's the best one, too. That might be the best one.
When you talked about her philanthropy, this is the list
I came across this morning, and this is what we
know of. I think that the longer we go along
in life, we're going to hear that she was doing
even more The Imagination Library. We know that in 1998
she formed that, and it's legendary. Like, you know, kids
(15:55):
get books in the mail, period, from the time. Yeah,
for free. And then there's also the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary
at Dollywood, which is one of my favorite places at Dollywood.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
You know that.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
If you can't find me where it's Dollywood, go to
the Eagles. It's a 30,000-square-foot, you know, American Eagle Foundation
there where you can learn about it, but you can
see them. They're there. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
A protected environment.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
It's so crazy good. The Dolly Parton Scholarship, she does
$ 15, 000 college scholarships for the county there, Sevier County, for
high school seniors each year. She has given money to
anytime there was, you remember the middle Tennessee flooding recently,
Hurricane Helene relief in eastern Tennessee. She gave money during COVID.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yeah, she gave money to Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
She did. Yeah. Um, and she announced that, and we
talked about this earlier, that Dollywood company covers 100% of
tuition fees and books for its employees. And she donates.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah. And we were on a bus. We were on a,
I don't remember why we were on a bus one year.
We had to park really far out when we went
to visit a Dollywood and we're driving. They brought us
right up to the.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, we weren't smart enough to buy the parking passes.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I don't know what was going on. We were on
a bus. But the bus driver was like, well, tell
us about Dolly. Have you ever met her? And they
were like, yeah. She was like, yeah, I met her,
and I'm here because of her. Meaning my life, she
had hit rough times, and she needed a job, and
she needed to change her life. So she had that
job so she could go to school, and Dolly was
paying for her to go to school is basically what
she was saying.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Remember that?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I was like, oh.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, and you'll hear them refer to her as Miss Dolly.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Miss Dolly.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And so I think, I mean, any of these things,
any of these business arrangements, who's going to tell Dolly
Parton no? If she says that she wants to be
philanthropic and, you know, give and those things, then she
does them. I just, I'm smitten by that because I just,
it's the two part for me. Jodi, you know that
because of you and I and our relationship and our daughters,
(17:57):
I love, you know, that strong, you know, female success mindset.
story and the independence thing and really being able to
be true to who you are in your dreams. And
that doesn't mean stepping on anybody ever. If you look
at what Dolly accomplished, she never made a big deal
about any of those things. But I'm sure she faced them,
especially in the 60s and the 70s as a woman
(18:19):
trying to do, you know, those things. But you never
heard her, you know, bad mouth, rude or whatever. She
just stayed focused and did her thing. And I'm wondering
if that's part of the reason she's not polarizing. There's
nobody that dislikes Dolly, because there's really nothing that's dislikable
about her.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
She just understood. She was the biggest celebrity, I guess,
ever to just really understand acceptance.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You know, they say if you were in the room
with her, and I wish I would have been. I
never was. But that you felt seen and welcomed and important,
even though she was oftentimes the most important person in
the room. She didn't make you feel that way. Yeah. Yeah,
that's just who she was. I mean, it's just something
that's—I can't remember. It's been a long time since we've
(19:07):
had the loss of somebody that we all really, truly
grieve together. That's what feels like what's happening this week.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Because we all are sad about losing Dolly Parton. And
the first person I was worried about was our youngest, Phoebe. Mm-hmm.
Because she loved Dolly Parton from the time she discovered her,
which was when she was a young girl.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Phoebe's the one who plays music and plays guitar and
sings and all this. And Phoebe's the one that said, please,
can we stay at the Dollymore Resort or whatever?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
The Dreammore.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Dreammore Resort. One of the times we went to Dollywood,
we stayed at the Dollywood Resort. And it was like
when we got there, I think Phoebe was emotional because
when you walk in, there's a picture of Dollywood. butterflies
everywhere and it's just wonderful and it's and Phoebe was
like oh my god we're really here and she was
a little girl and she had brought her guitar it
(19:58):
was so.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Cute well and you know they do fireworks you know
every night at the park during the summertime just like
and they've got the and I'm sure they still do
it it's been a few years since the last time
we went there with the girls yeah it's been a
minute But they've got the purple butterfly-shaped firework that goes
off that's just for Dolly.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, it's very cool.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
And there was a statement today from Dollywood that today, yes,
it's Wednesday. It's the day after we all learned that
we lost her, but of course we're open, as she
would have wanted. Her deal was the show must go on.
So Dollywood is open today. In her spirit, we're open.
Show must go on. And one other thing I wanted
to mention is is that CBS is airing a special tonight,
(20:39):
Dolly Parton and American Icon. That's happening tonight, and then
it will stream on Paramount +. They've got somebody on
location at Dollywood also. CMT is doing a special sometime soon.
And then later this week, you're going to be able
to watch on repeat Still Magnolias on CMT, apparently. So
I think there's more to come, you know, for us
(21:01):
all to sort of just... engulf ourselves.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
But you celebrate. I mean, even this, you can't help
but smile. It doesn't replace her.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Do you have a favorite Ali song?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
That's really difficult. I mean, I always liked Here You
Come Again just because I think that's a great song.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Me too.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Maybe that's because my introduction, I wasn't really as familiar.
So one of my grandparents would watch the Porter Wagner
show and all that. So I remember... Well, I was
too young to actually know when they were singing together. But,
you know, so I just knew of that collaboration because
of that. Never heard that. So it was actually later
(21:44):
that I heard Jolene, which came out before. And I
Will Always Love You, which came out before Here You
Come Again. But that was really my introduction.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
And, you know, 9 to 5 kind of wound up
getting overplayed over the years. But that's a happy little song.
And she was... So great.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
That was her first movie.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Islands in the Stream.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Is that your favorite?
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
No. Oh, do you have a favorite Dolly song?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
I don't know the title, but it's that, why you
come in here looking like that?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Looking like that, mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Outlaw boots and your pink Dolly jeans. That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
That's a good one, too. Yeah. I like Here You
Come Again, but, I mean, as a woman, you got
to shout out for Jolene forever.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
You do, but. Anyway, thank you for the business lesson
from Dolly. Not everybody knows that story about it.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
No, and most of it I didn't actually even know.
I'm really, I just, I'm impressed.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Missed any part of the show? Get it all on
the Murphy, Sam & Jodi podcast.
It's time for the Mervy, Sam & Jody After the
Show podcast. We are so glad that you're here. Be
sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Also, if you
haven't done so, so you can follow us there. All
the places, like Jody likes to say. You know, the
world is abuzz, obviously, with the passing of Dolly Parton.
Thought she would live to be 100. Yeah, I mean,
it's interesting how some celebrities have an impact. I was
(00:23):
going to say more so than, you know, others. But
I don't know that anybody's like Dolly. I really don't.
I mean, we already... You've seen everywhere, and it's true.
There's nobody that doesn't like her. She's never been a
controversial figure. So those are all impressive things about her.
But what I wanted to do today in this podcast
is talk about the business accomplishments, which are just, to me,
(00:45):
so ridiculously impressive.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And things that most people don't know or realize that
Murphy digs into.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And I'm going to give you three big ones here, too,
that are, you know, probably the three biggest things that
contributed to her growth and her success. But it all
comes from, I've got to believe, the story when you
know the coat of many colors and her upbringing and
when she left to go to Nashville and strike it
on her own, she always had the independent spirit. I
(01:12):
think any story you've ever heard about Dolly is even
as a child, Dolly did her own thing. And that
is the way that she lived her entire life, but
she did it respectfully. She never threw it in anybody's
face That she was doing her own thing.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
She was always sure of what she wanted.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
My favorite part of that, quickly, is that she left
her hometown the day after she graduated from high school
to move to Nashville to become who she became. Yeah.
So the day after you graduate, no senior trip. Like
just go straight to work.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
That's funny and crazy. That was in like 60, I
can't remember.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Could you imagine doing that?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
No.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
It was in 1964. I think it's when she graduated
from high school.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
That makes sense. Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And so the first big thing that she did, and
she was only 22 years old. No, she was 21
actually when she did this. She knew writing my songs,
keeping my songs, and owning my songs were going to
be She wanted total control over anything that she wrote.
And there were so few artists that did that at
that time because they would succumb to the money in
(02:18):
the front. Record deal. Record deal, right, exactly. The company
fronts you all this money. It's like, okay, sure, you
can have the writing credits. And she resisted that. And
so she formed a publishing company with her uncle at
the age of 21. So smart. And she had already
had some success by that point in her career and
in her life. And so what that all led to
(02:43):
was one of the biggest, most decisive, you know, no's
in her world where she wrote the song I Will
Always Love You, you know, which she owned. Whitney Houston then,
of course, redid it when The Bodyguard, the movie, was
made in the early 90s, won a Grammy. I still
think it's crazy that Dolly was the one that presented
(03:03):
that Grammy Award to Whitney Houston. That's wild. But that
song wound up netting her, earning for her $ 10 million
in royalties. Just the song and the royalties and the
airplay and all that, you know, and the usage in
the movie, all of those things. And, you know, that's
a cool $ 10 million. And, of course, she's worth– now,
of course, there are people debating what she's worth. They say–
(03:25):
some people say she's worth at least $ 600 million. But,
you know, that single decision not to fall for the
fast check– Which.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You probably needed it.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Right. In 1967 is what made it for her. And
she almost lost the rights, by the way, to I
Will Always Love You, which she recorded in the early 70s.
It was a huge country hit. She actually hadn't even
crossed over to pop radio by that point.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
There was a lot of country music being played in
my house when I was growing up, and I remember
the first time I heard that song. It made me cry.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
I was a little girl who was very susceptible to it.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's a gut-wrenching song.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I listened to it where I knew it was I
Love You But I'm Leaving. I knew that it was
a goodbye song.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And it's not a romantic song. It's a goodbye song
to her partner, Porter Wagner. Partner meaning singing partner. And
I'm going to have to go back and learn more
because I know that my parents would watch the Porter
Wagner show.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I'm a stranger. Wasn't it called just, it was called
the Porter Wagner Show. It didn't have her name on
it at all. Yeah, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Now, their albums were Porter and Dolly. I mean, the album,
and they had a lot of successful singles together. So
they were a duo. And so it was the show
and it was the album of the albums. And she
decided she wanted to strike out on her own. It
was time to be Dolly, the solo career. She had
earned her keep. She wanted to have more creative freedom
than what she was getting by hanging out with Porter
(04:48):
Wagner and that group. The thing is, she actually loved
working with them. It was tempting for her not to
go because it was a comfort zone, but she wanted
more creative freedom. She wanted to push her own boundaries.
And when she left, he sued her. He didn't want
to let her out of the contract. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
That makes me angry.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It was seven years before they wound up settling. Oh, really? Yeah.
Which is a shame. I'm sure when you have a
successful duo and one splits— And one is more mature
in their career than the other, and he's at his peak,
and she's up and coming. You know, those kind of
(05:28):
feelings can happen. But she said after it was all
said and done, in her Dolly way, no ill will
feelings or anything. In fact, she was there when Porter Wagner,
either she was there when he passed or in his
final days. And they had mended their ways long since
before that. But she loved Porter.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
That's good, because wow.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah. And so I Will Always Love You was one
of these emotional connection songs. It's not about a failed relationship.
It is about the breakup, separating from Porter Wagner, the show,
and the rest of that band, you know, together, because
she enjoyed working with them. That's why she said, I
will always love you. But, you know, if I stay—
It works, though.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It works for everything.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Go back and listen to the lyrics now, and you'll
see that that's a, you know, here's why I have
to go. I love you, but I got to go.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
And so the reason that she almost lost it again
about five years later is because Elvis Presley wanted to
record a version of that song.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I guess he never did because we've never heard it.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
No, he didn't. And the reason that he didn't is
because Colonel Tom Parker, his manager, was the one who said,
that's great, Dolly. We want half of the writing credits.
Tom Parker, I mean, he knew the benefit, right? But
he knew that that was a way. But what they
were trying to do, that's the whole, but this is
the king of rock and roll. It's Elvis. He did
that for everybody.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
If the king wanted to record your song, Colonel Tom
was like, you've got to give us 50%. And a
lot of people did. Dolly didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Does that kind of stuff happen today in the music business?
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Because that's complex.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Completely jacked up.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I'm sorry. Well, it is, but you have to look
at it differently. You have to look at it in
a different time lens and sense. Elvis Presley was the
king of rock and roll. And if you were going
to have an opportunity to record with the king or
if he was going to record your song, you know,
you were going to be in elevated status all of
a sudden out of the blue. And so it's just
(07:20):
a negotiation point.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
You know. I'm sorry. It just sounds like she's being bullied.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
That's all. The thing is, though, when Murphy said that,
it instantly in my head made me start singing Elvis.
My Elvis voice started singing that song.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
He'd be talking it, too.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And it's like, that would be an Elvis song.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
No wonder he wanted it. Right.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
So she said no. And she's said many times, say
no to that. She didn't necessarily question herself. She was
heartbroken that she told Elvis Presley no. She didn't want
to tell Elvis Presley no.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
I'm sure he wasn't used to hearing no.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
It's a good thing that she didn't and stuck to
her ground. But again, this is about her focus and
understanding how to separate. She knew business and she knew
how to grow. And she knew that if her brand
was her, well, she needed full control of her brand. Otherwise,
somebody else would be making money off of it. And
I think that she was a real pioneer, especially as
(08:19):
a female in that time period, you know, doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
You better believe she was told a million different ways
how she could and could not do things. That's what,
in the time period, not only was she clear about,
she was confident about what she had to offer, but
she probably had to fight early on, just like you said.
We know that her record company had her doing writing
pop songs at first, and she had to fight to
(08:44):
write country songs.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And then she had to fight to get away from Porter. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So they settled that in 1979, to give you the timeline.
So as we're progressing now, she's had multiple pop hits. Now,
Here You Come Again has become a hit in 77,
and now she's on the pop charts, and then 9
to 5 comes along.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
The movie and the song and then the Burt Reynolds
partnership with the best little whorehouse in Texas. I mean,
she was just knocking it out of the park in
the early 80s, transitioning into so many different areas of
her career.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Late 80s, Steel Magnolias was my favorite Dolly Parton role
where she played Truvy. So fantastic. And she taught everybody
on the set of that movie a lesson. You know that, right?
You've heard about the Julia Roberts story. Julia Roberts was
new to acting. She was the new girl in Hollywood.
And they were all sitting on a porch, you know,
(09:36):
on a really hot day. And Julia Roberts was just
complaining about being hot. Can you believe how hot this is?
I want to go inside. And Dolly's like, I always
wanted this success and I'm not going to complain. I
asked God for this and I got it, so I'm
not going to complain. And Julia was like, okay. That's
a story that she's told before.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
And that is Dolly. I mean, I think that's the
essence of Dolly. That's not just her talking. She believed that.
That's really how she lived. So number one is I
will always love you and that little thing. Number two
was how Dollywood came to be. And this is, to me,
also brilliant. For one thing, she always paid back the
(10:16):
success that she had and gave to others. She's always,
as you know, the state of Tennessee being home, the
book program that she initiated decades ago. She has been
unwavering in her support for Tennessee. But one of the
investments that she wanted to make was in that park,
Silver Dollar City.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Silver Dollar City.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And so this is, again, business brilliance. She didn't buy
the whole park, and it's not a pure vanity play.
She went in halfsies. And so she's still to this day,
by the way, she's only a 50% owner of Dollywood.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
It doesn't seem like that. It seems like it's all her. Yeah.
Because I guess they understand this is the brand that
will sell it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And I don't know why I'm not remembering the name
of the family. It will come to me. I mean,
they're a well-known family.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
They needed a partner?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The Hirschen family. That's who it is. Hirschen Family Entertainment.
But here's the brilliance in that. She knew, starting from
the ground up, She was a singer and a songwriter
and an actress. She's not a theme park operator.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So she knew that she could market and she could represent,
but she needed somebody that really had the know-how and
the smarts. So you're not building something from the ground up.
So she bought 50% in. She didn't have to own
the whole thing. And like I said, still doesn't own right.
And the Herschen family still has their hope. And the
rest of that is history. Here it is 40 years later.
And it is an ever-growing theme park that still has
(11:45):
a new ride attraction every couple of years and continues
to grow.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Oh, it's the biggest selling ticket in the state of Tennessee,
and it's the biggest employer in that area. And if
you work there, one of her foundations will pay your
tuition to go to school as long as you're still
working there and help you make it happen.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
You telling that 50% story, that's the same kind of
deal she has with the new truck stops that she's doing.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
The Tennessean truck stop.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
She partners.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
She partnered with those people, put her name on it.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
They own it.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Well, I guess it's probably a 50-50 deal.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Well, and so that's really where this is going. When
she saw that that worked, and you've never been to
Dollywood or Pigeon Forge, right?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I've been to Pigeon Forge, but back when it was
Silver Dollar City.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Okay. So today, if you go into Pigeon Forge, that
strip is very different. But what she then is she
expanded that model to what was called the Stampede, and
then it became Dolly's Stampede. and Pirate's Voyage in the
Hatfield-McCoy Comedy Barn. She basically took her franchise and she
did the same thing. I'll give you, I'll invest 50%, 50%, 50%.
(12:48):
And she became half owners. The people who know how
to run it continue to own their stake. She just
is a business partner.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It's smart. So those are different venues.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
But she doesn't have to learn new businesses, really.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
They're different venues in Dollywood, completely separate.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Right, yeah. And so she continued to do that same
model before the truck stops. It's the Duncan Hines thing
and all that kind of stuff. But now, of course,
those aren't 50-50 deals. She just knows how to expand
and become a business partner for percentages, and that's a
licensing deal. But basically everything that she wanted to expand into,
(13:25):
she became an investor. She became an active participant in.
She lent her name to, which I think is probably
another reason that she knew that she wanted her image
to always be her image because it's not just her
true to the core. It is her brand. And so
everything that she's associated with then takes on that very happy,
that very positive, that very, it's going to be a
(13:46):
good experience. I mean, you look at a box of
Duncan Hines, you know, Dolly Pancakes. You're going to start smiling.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Well, it's like a seal of approval.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
You can buy those instead. It is.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
You see Dolly's face on anything and it's like, oh, this.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Is going to be good. And it's not just the
same old either. I mean, maybe she had a clause
with them about that, but it's not, no joke. I
think I made the Dolly pancakes one time and Murphy
was like, these are the best pancakes we've ever had.
What is going on? They really are good.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah. And, you know, the other things that she really
protected with, anytime she went into one of these brand arrangements,
there is something that has a charitable value.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Angle.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
More than just the books and all that. I mean,
it's charitable. She's always been charitable, but she believes that
each of the businesses should be, or any of the
arrangements that she has, has some kind of a, you know,
charitable component.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
So, I mean, to me, I'm just, this has got
to be a business book. If it doesn't exist already,
now that she has passed, you know, I think, again,
it's not only a testament to somebody being a business,
real super business smarts, And or aligning yourself with people
who can help you make those kinds of decisions, because
(14:54):
those things don't happen in a vacuum. You don't read
your way or Google your way into that sort of greatness.
You get out, you shake hands, you meet people, you network,
you do all those things that she, you know, did.
And she was consistent in her personality, you know, the
whole time. And this is one of my favorite quotes here, because,
(15:16):
and I don't know who where this quote came from
or who interviewed her, but you've heard it before, Jodi.
She says, I'm not offended by dumb blonde jokes because
I know I'm not dumb. And I also know I'm
not blind.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, she knew how to land a joke.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
She did.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
That's the best one, too. That might be the best one.
When you talked about her philanthropy, this is the list
I came across this morning, and this is what we
know of. I think that the longer we go along
in life, we're going to hear that she was doing
even more The Imagination Library. We know that in 1998
she formed that, and it's legendary. Like, you know, kids
(15:55):
get books in the mail, period, from the time. Yeah,
for free. And then there's also the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary
at Dollywood, which is one of my favorite places at Dollywood.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
You know that.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
If you can't find me where it's Dollywood, go to
the Eagles. It's a 30,000-square-foot, you know, American Eagle Foundation
there where you can learn about it, but you can
see them. They're there. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
A protected environment.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
It's so crazy good. The Dolly Parton Scholarship, she does
$ 15, 000 college scholarships for the county there, Sevier County, for
high school seniors each year. She has given money to
anytime there was, you remember the middle Tennessee flooding recently,
Hurricane Helene relief in eastern Tennessee. She gave money during COVID.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yeah, she gave money to Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
She did. Yeah. Um, and she announced that, and we
talked about this earlier, that Dollywood company covers 100% of
tuition fees and books for its employees. And she donates.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah. And we were on a bus. We were on a,
I don't remember why we were on a bus one year.
We had to park really far out when we went
to visit a Dollywood and we're driving. They brought us
right up to the.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, we weren't smart enough to buy the parking passes.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I don't know what was going on. We were on
a bus. But the bus driver was like, well, tell
us about Dolly. Have you ever met her? And they
were like, yeah. She was like, yeah, I met her,
and I'm here because of her. Meaning my life, she
had hit rough times, and she needed a job, and
she needed to change her life. So she had that
job so she could go to school, and Dolly was
paying for her to go to school is basically what
she was saying.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Remember that?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I was like, oh.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, and you'll hear them refer to her as Miss Dolly.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Miss Dolly.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And so I think, I mean, any of these things,
any of these business arrangements, who's going to tell Dolly
Parton no? If she says that she wants to be
philanthropic and, you know, give and those things, then she
does them. I just, I'm smitten by that because I just,
it's the two part for me. Jodi, you know that
because of you and I and our relationship and our daughters,
(17:57):
I love, you know, that strong, you know, female success mindset.
story and the independence thing and really being able to
be true to who you are in your dreams. And
that doesn't mean stepping on anybody ever. If you look
at what Dolly accomplished, she never made a big deal
about any of those things. But I'm sure she faced them,
especially in the 60s and the 70s as a woman
(18:19):
trying to do, you know, those things. But you never
heard her, you know, bad mouth, rude or whatever. She
just stayed focused and did her thing. And I'm wondering
if that's part of the reason she's not polarizing. There's
nobody that dislikes Dolly, because there's really nothing that's dislikable
about her.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
She just understood. She was the biggest celebrity, I guess,
ever to just really understand acceptance.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You know, they say if you were in the room
with her, and I wish I would have been. I
never was. But that you felt seen and welcomed and important,
even though she was oftentimes the most important person in
the room. She didn't make you feel that way. Yeah. Yeah,
that's just who she was. I mean, it's just something
that's—I can't remember. It's been a long time since we've
(19:07):
had the loss of somebody that we all really, truly
grieve together. That's what feels like what's happening this week.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Because we all are sad about losing Dolly Parton. And
the first person I was worried about was our youngest, Phoebe. Mm-hmm.
Because she loved Dolly Parton from the time she discovered her,
which was when she was a young girl.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Phoebe's the one who plays music and plays guitar and
sings and all this. And Phoebe's the one that said, please,
can we stay at the Dollymore Resort or whatever?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
The Dreammore.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Dreammore Resort. One of the times we went to Dollywood,
we stayed at the Dollywood Resort. And it was like
when we got there, I think Phoebe was emotional because
when you walk in, there's a picture of Dollywood. butterflies
everywhere and it's just wonderful and it's and Phoebe was
like oh my god we're really here and she was
a little girl and she had brought her guitar it
(19:58):
was so.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Cute well and you know they do fireworks you know
every night at the park during the summertime just like
and they've got the and I'm sure they still do
it it's been a few years since the last time
we went there with the girls yeah it's been a
minute But they've got the purple butterfly-shaped firework that goes
off that's just for Dolly.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, it's very cool.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
And there was a statement today from Dollywood that today, yes,
it's Wednesday. It's the day after we all learned that
we lost her, but of course we're open, as she
would have wanted. Her deal was the show must go on.
So Dollywood is open today. In her spirit, we're open.
Show must go on. And one other thing I wanted
to mention is is that CBS is airing a special tonight,
(20:39):
Dolly Parton and American Icon. That's happening tonight, and then
it will stream on Paramount +. They've got somebody on
location at Dollywood also. CMT is doing a special sometime soon.
And then later this week, you're going to be able
to watch on repeat Still Magnolias on CMT, apparently. So
I think there's more to come, you know, for us
(21:01):
all to sort of just... engulf ourselves.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
But you celebrate. I mean, even this, you can't help
but smile. It doesn't replace her.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Do you have a favorite Ali song?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
That's really difficult. I mean, I always liked Here You
Come Again just because I think that's a great song.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Me too.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Maybe that's because my introduction, I wasn't really as familiar.
So one of my grandparents would watch the Porter Wagner
show and all that. So I remember... Well, I was
too young to actually know when they were singing together. But,
you know, so I just knew of that collaboration because
of that. Never heard that. So it was actually later
(21:44):
that I heard Jolene, which came out before. And I
Will Always Love You, which came out before Here You
Come Again. But that was really my introduction.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
And, you know, 9 to 5 kind of wound up
getting overplayed over the years. But that's a happy little song.
And she was... So great.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
That was her first movie.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Islands in the Stream.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Is that your favorite?
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
No. Oh, do you have a favorite Dolly song?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
I don't know the title, but it's that, why you
come in here looking like that?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Looking like that, mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Outlaw boots and your pink Dolly jeans. That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
That's a good one, too. Yeah. I like Here You
Come Again, but, I mean, as a woman, you got
to shout out for Jolene forever.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
You do, but. Anyway, thank you for the business lesson
from Dolly. Not everybody knows that story about it.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
No, and most of it I didn't actually even know.
I'm really, I just, I'm impressed.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Missed any part of the show? Get it all on
the Murphy, Sam & Jodi podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!