September 28, 2025 • 5 mins
The one and only Dolly Parton joins Jonesy & Amanda for an exclusive chat!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jonesy and Amanda jam nace Well. A new book, Pump
Up the Jam Twenty Years of Jonesy and Amanda, is
on sale now in all good bookstores.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Full of all the kinds of stories we've covered, the
behind the scenes stuff of some of the interviews, the incidents,
the stuff that happens in the studio.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And when I say all good bookstores, I mean.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Book topia, which is great, brilliant and twenty years what
a show? Do you know many words were used on
this show during those twenty years and how many we
got right? They're two separate questions.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
And boy did we catch up with some big, big names.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Dolly Parton for example. Dolly Parton one of the biggest
names in the world and one of the nicest people
you could hope to meet. Our next guest is the
most honored and revered country music star of all time.
She has both set and broken dozens of music records
over her career. She's dripping in Grammy's, She's won hearts
all over the world because she's an incredibly good human.
(00:52):
I can't believe this is actually happening. I'm a little overwhelmed.
Dolly Parton, Hello, Well, hello to you.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Thanks for having me, Thanks for all those nice things
you said.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, your book is extraordinary. It is called Storyteller, My
life in lyrics. I know that you're a prolific songwriter,
but looking through these songs and the stories that go
with them, you say you can write a song anywhere, anytime.
What's the strangest place you've been when inspiration has hit.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, I've been in some pretty strange plane. I never
had that ash before. Probably in the bathroom of an airplane.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
But I often.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Write on airplanes. But it's like, if it hits me,
the idea, here's for me, And you say, where can
I You know, I've got something to write down. I
got to get back to my seat. But I write
in the bathtub, I write anywhere. I cook a lot,
and I write a lot in my kitchen. But there's
no place that's out of reach for me to write
a song.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
You say you wrote you think you wrote Joline and
I Will Always Love You on the same day. What
a hell of a day.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That's a day. No, I don't know if it's the
same day or the same week, but it was on
the same and they were back to back. I actually
recorded both those songs though in the same album Jolene
and on the Joline album. I Will Always Love You
was also on that album, and so so it was
a good week for me or a good night because
it was we found it on the same cassette, those
(02:17):
two songs, and I thought that was amazing myself. I
had no idea that I had written at the same
time with this.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Many of the songs, the early kind of folk and
country songs, had a real darkness to them, and I
know that you've tapped into a lot of You were
the one of the first female songwriters to tap into
the to the darkness of real emotion. It's amazing that
you were able to do that and still sustain such
a career that it wasn't seen as a downer. Really well,
(02:44):
I think a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Of my a lot of my stories actually come from
the old world songs from Maryland, England, Scotland and all
those songs that used to tell stories and all the ballads.
So there's a lot of that kind of darkness in
my songs. But it's more I think back to the book.
I'm reading like a song teller. I'm reading like telling
stories and I'm singing them. But that's how they used
(03:06):
to carry messages and how they used to carry stories
years ago before they had television and radio. They were
just singing these balladeers. Would you write and sing these
songs and travel around? But I think people just kind
of hear that in my DNA, I think, and they
kind of just kind of relate to that. But I
write a lot of happy songs. Some of my saddest
(03:28):
songs I've written when I was happiest, and vice versa.
So as a songwriter, you just write what comes out
of you. We were just talking about you the other day.
I didn't realize that Island's in the Stream, which was
written by the GiB Brothers, but that was originally for
Marvin Gay. Oh, I didn't even know that. You didn't
know that. I did not know that. All I know
(03:49):
about that song was years ago. I was living in
a little apartment up above in LA and Kenny had
a studio called Line's Share, I think it was the
name of the studio. It was just right down further
hill and so Barry they couldn't get the song wasn't
coming together, And so Barry said to Kenny, do you
happen to know Dolly Parton? And Kenny said, well.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, I know her.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
You know, I've worked with her. He said, you know
how to get in touch with her? And Kenny said, well,
I can call my manager. See, so they called me.
They thought I was in Nashville, and so they said
they called me and they said, hey, Kenny wants to
talk to you. And so he said, well who are you? Said,
we got a song that we we're likely to do,
so could we send you a cassette? I said, I said,
(04:32):
are you here in la and he said, yeah, I'm
a line share. I said, well, I'm just uphill. I said,
can I just come on down? So seriously, it went
that easy, and so I went down to the studio
soon as I got, you know, cleaned up a little bit,
and I walked in and I just heard the song
of Time and Too. I went out and started singing
it and it clicked and everybody said, that's it. Barry said,
(04:55):
that's it. That's what I heard, and that's what I
wanted it to be, and boy, it just turned out great.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Just apologize to you because that is our duet.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Whenever we do karaoke, Amanda and I do karaoke, we
always do islands in the stream.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It's never a good reception.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It's a great karaoke. So Amanda plays Kenny's part and
I play your part. But can I hear a little
bit of it?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
No, I don't think we've had enough to drug commission.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I was trying to say with somebody else on a
zoom call and I was having to sing the harm
and I said, we need to stop this. We're ruined
our career. So exactly, let's don't go there.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, Dolly, it's a treat to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Make sure you get the book now.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's in the song teller My Life and the lyrics
Dolly parton, thank you man, what a privilege. Thank you, Dolly,
Jonesy and Amanda jam nace Well. A new book, Pump
Up the Jam Twenty Years of Jonesy and Amanda, is
on sale now in all good bookstores.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Full of all the kinds of stories we've covered, the
behind the scenes stuff of some of the interviews, the incidents,
the stuff that happens in the studio.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And when I say all good bookstores, I mean.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Book topia, which is great, brilliant and twenty years what
a show? Do you know many words were used on
this show during those twenty years and how many we
got right? They're two separate questions.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
And boy did we catch up with some big, big names.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Dolly Parton for example. Dolly Parton one of the biggest
names in the world and one of the nicest people
you could hope to meet. Our next guest is the
most honored and revered country music star of all time.
She has both set and broken dozens of music records
over her career. She's dripping in Grammy's, She's won hearts
all over the world because she's an incredibly good human.
(00:52):
I can't believe this is actually happening. I'm a little overwhelmed.
Dolly Parton, Hello, Well, hello to you.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Thanks for having me, Thanks for all those nice things
you said.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, your book is extraordinary. It is called Storyteller, My
life in lyrics. I know that you're a prolific songwriter,
but looking through these songs and the stories that go
with them, you say you can write a song anywhere, anytime.
What's the strangest place you've been when inspiration has hit.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, I've been in some pretty strange plane. I never
had that ash before. Probably in the bathroom of an airplane.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
But I often.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Write on airplanes. But it's like, if it hits me,
the idea, here's for me, And you say, where can
I You know, I've got something to write down. I
got to get back to my seat. But I write
in the bathtub, I write anywhere. I cook a lot,
and I write a lot in my kitchen. But there's
no place that's out of reach for me to write
a song.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
You say you wrote you think you wrote Joline and
I Will Always Love You on the same day. What
a hell of a day.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That's a day. No, I don't know if it's the
same day or the same week, but it was on
the same and they were back to back. I actually
recorded both those songs though in the same album Jolene
and on the Joline album. I Will Always Love You
was also on that album, and so so it was
a good week for me or a good night because
it was we found it on the same cassette, those
(02:17):
two songs, and I thought that was amazing myself. I
had no idea that I had written at the same
time with this.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Many of the songs, the early kind of folk and
country songs, had a real darkness to them, and I
know that you've tapped into a lot of You were
the one of the first female songwriters to tap into
the to the darkness of real emotion. It's amazing that
you were able to do that and still sustain such
a career that it wasn't seen as a downer. Really well,
(02:44):
I think a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Of my a lot of my stories actually come from
the old world songs from Maryland, England, Scotland and all
those songs that used to tell stories and all the ballads.
So there's a lot of that kind of darkness in
my songs. But it's more I think back to the book.
I'm reading like a song teller. I'm reading like telling
stories and I'm singing them. But that's how they used
(03:06):
to carry messages and how they used to carry stories
years ago before they had television and radio. They were
just singing these balladeers. Would you write and sing these
songs and travel around? But I think people just kind
of hear that in my DNA, I think, and they
kind of just kind of relate to that. But I
write a lot of happy songs. Some of my saddest
(03:28):
songs I've written when I was happiest, and vice versa.
So as a songwriter, you just write what comes out
of you. We were just talking about you the other day.
I didn't realize that Island's in the Stream, which was
written by the GiB Brothers, but that was originally for
Marvin Gay. Oh, I didn't even know that. You didn't
know that. I did not know that. All I know
(03:49):
about that song was years ago. I was living in
a little apartment up above in LA and Kenny had
a studio called Line's Share, I think it was the
name of the studio. It was just right down further
hill and so Barry they couldn't get the song wasn't
coming together, And so Barry said to Kenny, do you
happen to know Dolly Parton? And Kenny said, well.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, I know her.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
You know, I've worked with her. He said, you know
how to get in touch with her? And Kenny said, well,
I can call my manager. See, so they called me.
They thought I was in Nashville, and so they said
they called me and they said, hey, Kenny wants to
talk to you. And so he said, well who are you? Said,
we got a song that we we're likely to do,
so could we send you a cassette? I said, I said,
(04:32):
are you here in la and he said, yeah, I'm
a line share. I said, well, I'm just uphill. I said,
can I just come on down? So seriously, it went
that easy, and so I went down to the studio
soon as I got, you know, cleaned up a little bit,
and I walked in and I just heard the song
of Time and Too. I went out and started singing
it and it clicked and everybody said, that's it. Barry said,
(04:55):
that's it. That's what I heard, and that's what I
wanted it to be, and boy, it just turned out great.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Just apologize to you because that is our duet.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Whenever we do karaoke, Amanda and I do karaoke, we
always do islands in the stream.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It's never a good reception.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It's a great karaoke. So Amanda plays Kenny's part and
I play your part. But can I hear a little
bit of it?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
No, I don't think we've had enough to drug commission.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I was trying to say with somebody else on a
zoom call and I was having to sing the harm
and I said, we need to stop this. We're ruined
our career. So exactly, let's don't go there.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, Dolly, it's a treat to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Make sure you get the book now.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's in the song teller My Life and the lyrics
Dolly parton, thank you man, what a privilege. Thank you, Dolly,
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