Hello, she's Dolly

The real deal comes to Texas

"I love you, Dolly!"

"I love you too, honey. But I thought I told you to wait out in the truck."

— Dolly Parton at a San Francisco concert, 2003

Dolly Parton

Meet Dolly Parton. She's one honky-tonk angel that can rope 'em in better than any prize-winning cattle rustler. Sailing the Gulf of Honky Tonkin, you're destined to find Dolly Parton at the helm of a striking and stalwart ship of a career. She's a woman capable of coaxing your heart into tender territory with "Coat of Many Colors," and just when you think she's all about butterflies and buttons, she'll smack you like the back of a wayward 18-wheeler mudflap with something like "Travelin' Man."

It's easy to see her work ethic hasn't faltered since the early rocking chair days of her Appalachian upbringing. Rummaging through Parton's discography can bring back a blush of memories for any country fan growing up in the '70s and '80s.

The platinum blonde seems keen on the secrets to longevity in a business that burns up rising stars like kindling. How many musicians can say they've got a successful theme park named after them? Yes, ma'am, that guitar-pickin' momma packs in the tourists at her Tennessee theme park appropriately christened Dollywood. Over the years, the 58-year-old singer/songwriter/actress/sass-talker has collected a coruscated treasure chest of accolades. Over the last five years, she's immersed herself in the deep roots of bluegrass, grabbing the International Bluegrass Music Association's Album of the Year as well as a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 1999.

For classic country-music fans, this will be a chance to catch a glimpse of an old flame and maybe take a sentimental trip down an old Texas road.

And for all the other music fans who liken the C&W guitar sound to an upturned turnip wagon, well, Dolly's got some parting words for you. "If you talk bad about country music, it's like talking bad about my momma. Them's fightin' words." — Michelle Valdez