Though I’m not a country music fan, I’ve been drawn into the excellent podcast called Dolly Parton’s America. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the life and work of this womanwho is an icon of music and screen, with fervent fans that cross generational, socioeconomic and political divides. Forbes called it the best podcast of 2019.
Last night I listened to the fifth episode, “Dollitics,” which explores the way Parton navigates–or, often, ducks–political issues and questions in a way that keeps her connected to a broad range of people. Watch that dynamic in this clip from the 2017 Emmys, where Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin are reunited on stage for the first time since their 1980 hit movie, 9 to 5. Parton is visibly uncomfortable with the scripted jokes read by her companions that are aimed at newly elected president Trump; she deflects and redirects the joke as if it is aimed at Dabney Coleman, who was their co-star in the film.
In their conversation about this in the podcast, she tells host Jad Abumrad what she really wanted to do in that moment was to suggest praying for the president.
Abumrad, admits to his cynicism about Parton’s apolitical stance. He views it as a business strategy to maintain as broad an audience as possible. He wonders whether she is in denial about the challenges facing our country, and leaving everyone else to sort them out–without using her considerable voice to make a difference in ways that matter.
But as his time with Parton continues, Abumrad mulls over that “pray for the president” comment. On reflection, things click for him in a different way:
Oh, I get it! She’s saying her stake in the sand is that she will not cast anybody out.
(around 38:00 in episode 5)
He recalls the way Parton defended her co-star Jane Fonda, who was reviled by many of her fans because of Fonda’s anti-war stance in the 70s. In every press conference and every interview in that time, Parton would make a point of saying, “there’s a sweet, gentle side” to Fonda; “she’s a very caring person.”
Abumrad also recounts the way Parton stands up for her early champion and co-worker Porter Wagner. (Their relationship and the start of Parton’s career is detailed in episode 2.) “This is a guy,” Abumrad says, “that’d be really easy to turn into a cardboard cutout of a misogynistic ass who held her back.” But when Abumrad asked questions that pushed for that depiction, Parton pushed back. “Weeellll,” she said, “it’s more complicated than that.” And she went into how one might see Wagner’s side of the story. “She just refused to flatten the guy,” Abumrad says, a little amazed.
He goes on:
And it seemed suddenly clear to me that, yes, while there is a business logic here, this is also a spiritual stance. This is an ethos that she has chosen. And it is undeniably one of the reasons that she can have the fan base that she has, because everybody feels safe at a Dolly Parton concert.
Those words felt like a gut punch to me. I’m always thinking about the church, and the way we receive people, and those words drove me to wonder (frankly, with unsatisfying results):
- Does everybody feel safe in our spaces, and at our gatherings?
- Do we refuse to “flatten” people?
- Do we go out of our way to help people see others graciously?
- Can we say that we (like Parton) “will not cast anybody out”?
That language of Dolly Parton’s “stake in the sand,” her “spiritual stance,” and her “ethos”: It makes me wonder what people would say of me, or of you, or of the churches (and other spaces) we lead. Could such a generous, expansive vision be seen through what we do and how we interact with one another?
And if not, shouldn’t it?
You know what I’m going to say. Loving God, and loving neighbor; that’s our basic job description. Does the bigger-than-life Dolly Parton do this as a public figure better than we ordinary Christians do, among people we know and love (or are supposed to)? Ouch!
There is room in the podcast–and in us–to wonder whether Parton makes the right bargain between her principled connection to all comers, on the one hand, and her use (or non-use) of her voice and celebrity to speak up against injustice, on the other. Without giving away Abumrad’s answer, I wonder if you’ll join me in wondering whether Dolly Parton’s example might inform all of us in balancing these considerations with winsome truth.
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