Dolly Parton Will Always Be Grateful to a ‘Handsome’ Country Legend

Dolly Parton took a major step in the direction of being a country singer when she appeared onstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Parton was still a child, but she had a sizable ambition and an aversion to the word “no.” She set her mind to appearing on the stage and made persistent attempts at getting there. Unfortunately, she was too young to sing at the Opry. It took some assistance from another performer to get her in front of the audience.

Dolly Parton shared how one country singer helped her at the start of her career

After Parton and her Uncle Bill decided she should perform at the Grand Ole Opry, they made their way to the historic venue. Once they arrived, full of ambition, manager Ott Devine informed the singer that she was too young to perform.

“Ott Devine said that I was too young, but now I know it was just rules — you can’t just walk in and be on the Grand Ole Opry,” she said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “But I didn’t give up that easy. And my uncle and me kept talkin’ to everybody backstage, worryin’ ’em to death, I’m sure.”

Neither Parton nor Devine were willing to back down. Eventually, musician Jimmy C. Newman told Parton she could have his spot and helped her sneak onto the stage.

“But finally, Jimmy C. Newman gave me his spot. He had done one spot and he had a second comin’ up,” Parton said. “I don’t know why he did it — out of the goodness of his heart, I suppose, but it’s somethin’ I’ll always remember and thank him for because I feel like he played a part in my career to some degree.”

His involvement in the opportunity was made sweeter by the fact that she found him handsome.

“He was a dark, handsome Cajun from the same area as Ed Shuler and his son Johnny,” she wrote in her book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “I was still carrying a torch for Johnny, and in my romantic mind I thought surely my sweet, dark-eyed lover boy had somehow sent this nice man to help me out, even if only in a spiritual sense.”

Another country legend played a role in Dolly Parton’s Grand Ole Opry appearance

After Newman helped Parton get onstage, one of her longtime heroes introduced her to the crowd.

“When my time came to sing, none other than Johnny Cash introduced me,” she wrote. “‘We’ve got a little girl here from up in East Tennessee,’ he said. ‘Her daddy’s listening to the radio at home, and she’s gonna be in real trouble if she doesn’t sing tonight, so let’s bring her out here!’”

She would harbor a crush on Cash for years after this.

She said her uncle played a major role in her success

While Parton always felt grateful to Newman, she believed that her Uncle Bill helped her career more than practically any other person. They wrote together and he worked to promote her to anyone who would listen.

“Whatever Uncle Bill was or wasn’t, there was no doubt he believed in me, or at least that something could be made of or from me. He was always on the case. He would knock on doors wearing his best smile and sell me as if I were a vacuum cleaner,” she wrote, adding, “He would approach people with sparkly boots getting out of Cadillacs and talk me up in every possible way.”