Why Dolly Parton Refused to Tour With Several ‘Big Male Stars’
For many years, Dolly Parton spent a good deal of her time on tour. She traveled with many musicians, but there were a few she did not want to join her on the road. According to a talent agent, there were a few major male stars who Parton did not want to be around. Here’s why.
Dolly Parton didn’t want to tour with certain people
For much of Parton’s career, she has dealt with rumors about affairs between herself and various other celebrities. People paired her with Porter Wagoner, Burt Reynolds, Sylvester Stallone, and others. Her former boyfriend, Bobby Denton, said there was little truth to these rumors.
“Oh, I don’t think anybody ever really believed that gossip,” Denton said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “You know people start wild, vicious rumors, and the people who knew Dolly didn’t believe it. Any time two people travel together on the road, you’re gonna get talk. That’s the way it has always been.”
Nashville talent agent Charlene Bray agreed with Denton. While she said rumors about Parton and Wagoner were persistent, Parton wanted a professional relationship with him. When she sensed that people wanted more than a professional relationship, she limited the time she spent with them.
“Dolly, I think, wanted it to be strictly a professional relationship,” Bray said. “I know some tours, too, with some big male stars in country music, that Dolly would not work. They made it clear they wanted to have more of a relationship than just a business relationship, and Dolly would not work shows with them.”
Dolly Parton said she wouldn’t date someone on tour with her
According to Parton, she never would have started a relationship with someone in the music industry. While she may have harbored crushes on other stars, she didn’t think it would be a good idea to start up a relationship with them.
“If I was gonna run with anybody, I wouldn’t dare run with anybody in the music business because it’s like a family,” she said. “I mean, that would be like running with your kinfolks or something. People have had me married to Porter and Charley Pride and everybody in the business. It’s not true, and I’m a better person than that.”
Her guitarist said she was too ‘moral’ to have an affair with another musician
According to Parton’s guitarist, Don Roth, Parton would never have had an affair, despite what the rumors said. She was dedicated to her relationship with her husband and wouldn’t do anything to break his trust. It would go against her sense of morality.
“[S]he’s totally loyal to Carl Dean,” Roth said. “Maybe not totally loyal in the sense that a Southern Baptist would say you should be loyal, but totally loyal in her own mind … But I would say Dolly’s an extremely moral person. Extremely honest, to the point of it almost being an obsession.”
Still, she leans into the rumors if she thinks it will help bring attention to her various projects.
