NBC Presents “Dolly Parton: A Celebration of Her 50 Years as a Member of the Grand Ole Opry”
by Mark Gabrish Conlan • Copyright © 2019 by Mark Gabrish Conlan • All rights reserved Last night NBC-TV put on a two-hour music special featuring country legend Dolly Parton celebrating her 50 th anniversary as an official member of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, which was excellent when Parton herself was on stage but less so when they dredged up a long series of guest artists. I would have preferred it if the guests had sung with Parton instead of just being trotted out either to cover a Parton song or do their own schtick — but Parton’s own voice has held up beautifully and so have her looks. In terms of defying the visible signs of aging she’s the white Tina Turner, and of course she’s had incomparably better luck in the man department (married to the same guy for 53 years). I was a bit put out by her print-the-legend version of the history of women in country music, naming Kitty Wells’ “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels” as the first country song in whi