Dolly Parton’s Ex Revealed What It Was Like to Date Her
Before Dolly Parton met her current husband, Carl Dean, she had a handful of boyfriends. She had many admirers, even in her years before fame. One of Parton’s ex-boyfriends said she was an incredibly positive person to date.
Dolly Parton’s ex described her personality when they dated
When Parton and her Uncle Bill tried to get her music career off the ground, they traveled to radio stations in their local area. At one of them, she met Bobby Denton, with whom she would go on a few dates.
“I remember one time we did a swimming party and show at Whittle Springs and Dolly and Bill came out,” Denton recalled in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “When they did ‘What’d I Say,’ Dolly hit the high notes fine, but Bill sang flatter than a pancake. After that I got to be friends with her, and we had a few dates.”
Though Parton had a laser focus on her career, she was a fun, carefree person outside her music. She was so high-spirited that Denton said he struggled to take her to the movies.
“She’s got the craziest laugh in the world, and at that time, she was doing a lot of homespun humor — clichés, you know, like Tennessee Ernie Ford, stuff you don’t hear much anymore, like, ‘Don’t that beat the bugs a bitin’?’ She’d just do this in normal conversation,” he said, adding, “She was always happy. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen her mad.”
Dolly Parton’s ex said she always made it clear that music was her priority
While Parton cut loose on dates, she made it clear to her boyfriends that her music career came first. She wouldn’t let a relationship get in the way of her dreams.
“And she was basically very mature,” Denton said. “Lived the music business, you know, because she knew what she wanted to do.”
Denton said that Parton had always had a sense of direction in her career, even as a high school student.
“I’d say that she knew from the first day she went in the business where she was going,” he said. “I think she’s had this whole course charted, even this recent image change, which was a big gamble. She used to say, ‘I’ve got to try to make it. That’s what I’m living for.’ It really bothered her if she heard someone say they didn’t like her record, or if people didn’t like her. She went out of her way to be liked.”
Her family said she didn’t date often
Parton herself said she left two boyfriends in Sevierville when she moved to Nashville, but her family said she didn’t date often. As Denton noticed, she was more focused on her music.
“[She] didn’t want them very often. It wasn’t that the boys weren’t after her,” her parents said. “Dolly just wouldn’t take time away from her music. She’d break a date in a minute if a singing job came along.”
