Dolly Parton Shared Why Her Tour With Willie Nelson Was a Struggle

In the 1970s, Dolly Parton joined Willie Nelson on tour. She was working on her solo career and trying to lean to perform with a new band. Parton appealed to a broad audience at the time, but Nelson’s fans were not always among them. She struggled for the crowd’s attention and later admitted that she wasn’t sure why she had been on the tour.

Dolly Parton had a difficult time on tour with Willie Nelson 

As she profiled Parton, writer Alanna Nash attended one of her shows in Waco, Texas. She was touring the state with Nelson.

“You’ll be able to tell who they’ve come to see as soon as they walk through the door,” reporter Steve Ray told Nash, per her book Dolly. “If the guys have long hair and wear dungarees and flannel shirts — that progressive country look — then they’ve come to see Willie. If they’re rednecks with flattops who bring women who wear short skirts or tight pants, then they’ve come to see Dolly.”

Parton took the stage before Nelson and quickly discovered that most of the crowd was there to see him. As she sang, people talked over her and shouted his name.

“It’s beginning to show in her speaking voice now and in her eyes when she turns around and gives the band direction,” Nash wrote. “A combination of anger and fear. The crowd is far from hers. In some ways, it’s ‘Where’s Norma Jean?’”

It didn’t help that there were major issues with the sound system. Still, Parton was diplomatic about the experience. 

“I don’t really know how the tour came about,” Parton later said, adding, “I just know that I thought it would be a good idea to do some things with some people like that, ’cause I have quite a following in what they call: ‘underground,’ and I especially like Willie. I found it to be an experience. Now, Willie’s people treated me great. We had some problems with a few things — not with each other — but, like the night you were in Waco we had some sound problems and all that. And the crowd was different. Different for me even than they were for Willie, but they accepted us both very well.”

Dolly Parton’s band agreed it had been a mistake to pair her with Willie Nelson on tour

When reflecting on Parton’s tour with Nelson, her backup singer Mary Field admitted it hadn’t been her favorite experience. Guitarist Don Roth agreed. He said it had been “dumb” to pair her with Nelson, and that Parton’s label didn’t take the tour very seriously.

“It got better because we started demanding sound crew,” he said. “The sound got to where it was mediocre — all the way up to mediocre. But that first night, it was absurd. But the rest of the tour went about the same, as far as the crowd. We did only twenty or thirty minutes in front of Willie. We took our money and ran. I don’t know why we were there. Oh, yes I do. RCA wanted a throwaway tour for Dolly to polish up the new band. They didn’t know the new band was all professionals and didn’t need polishing. RCA thought, ‘Give ’em a chance to get out and work with a big sound system’ that we’d never had.”

She considers the other musician a good friend

While the tour may not have been a great experience for Parton, it didn’t affect her relationship with Nelson. They had known each other since they were working as songwriters in the 1960s. 

“Willie and I came to town about the same time,” Parton said, per CMT. “Back in 1964, ’65, ’66, we both were writing for Combine Music … And we used to hang out a lot together, different people. Even Kristofferson back in those days! We all knew each other, and we used to sit around and write different songs.”

Parton and Nelson have collaborated over the years and continue to have a good relationship.