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You know, I'm not supposed to play favorites out loud,
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but I can't help it when I talk to Alanna Nash.
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She's one of my heroes in life, a great writer, journalist, biographer,
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Columbia University grad. So she's done a little bit of everything,
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and her work has appeared in you name it everywhere.
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Rolling Stone, I don't know. I read her all the time.
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I've read her all the time over my lifetime. Elena,
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welcome back to the electric radio. It's good to have
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you on.
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Listen, boy, I got to tell you, when Dolly Parton
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died on Tuesday, I got calls from every cable news channel, network,
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NBC as well, BBC, NBC. Somebody in Australia. And I
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turned them all down. You were the only interview I
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have done. And that's because I love you. I truly do.
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Oh, my goodness. That warms my heart. You have written
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about so many amazing people in your lifetime. And people do.
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They quote you and they come to you as a source.
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But one of the pictures that I love the most,
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and I'm just going to have to have you explain it,
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is you and Dolly Parton leaning up against this car.
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It must have been when you were, I guess, at her.
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home or somewhere? Please tell the story of that famous
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photo of you and Dolly.
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It's a funny photo. If you don't know the backstory,
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it looks a little odd, but yes, we are leaning
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against the hood of a Cadillac hearse. And we were,
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she had rented a house in Nashville. This is 1977
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because she thought there was something wrong with the well
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and uh... at her home in brettwood so she was
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living at on this place uh... on woodmont boulevard for
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a while and it was my first interview interview with
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her and after the uh... it was uh... two-day interview
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at her house during which time she made dinner for
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me and we played guitar together and just all kinds
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of like i can't believe it sorts of things and
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on the afternoon of the second day the photographer showed
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up his name was leonard camps where he was pretty
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famous out of new york got a great guy And
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after he finished his session with her, he said, let's
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all get pictures with Dolly outside. So, as he was
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loading the car. So, she and I leaned on the car,
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and she wanted us to do back-to-back chest comparisons. Leaning back-to-back.
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And I said, uh-uh, I'm not doing that. And so,
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in the picture, you can see she's laughing at me.
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I'm looking embarrassed and covering my chest.
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That is hilarious. Now, how in the world did you
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get access? I mean, I know you've interviewed a lot
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of rock stars, country stars, all this, but how did
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you get access to the, I think, the most private
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sanctuary in America, and that's Dolly Parton's house, because her
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husband hated publicity, notoriety, any kind of attention. So how
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in the world did you get invited to her home?
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Well, that's a good question, and no one has asked
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me that. And it was a very rare occasion. She
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didn't like to have oppressed people come to the house.
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But I had been promised a bus ride with her
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from Nashville all through Texas for a short tour she
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was doing there. And for some reason, I got bounced
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off the bus. I don't know. That didn't happen. But
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as a kind of consolation prize, they said, well, she'll
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let you come to the house. So that was just amazing,
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especially since I got to meet Carl both days. He
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came in and out. He kind of would bring his Pepsi.
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He was kind of a jokester. He asked me about
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where I went to school, graduate school, and I told
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him New York. Then he wanted to talk about New
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York politics, and I thought, he's pulling my leg. He's
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kind of making fun of me is what he's doing.
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It was great to be able to talk with Carl.
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And I think really one reason she allowed that is
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because there was a rumor that he
Load full transcript
didn't really exist,
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that she had invented him because he didn't go anyplace
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with her, you know, in public.
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Yeah, he didn't. I think he went to one thing
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she said in an interview. He went to. One performance
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and that was enough. He said, you live your life
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and I just want to be here. And didn't he
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also trick people who would come to the front gates
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or whatever and act like he was an employee out
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there just digging up bushes or whatever?
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Well, yes, because you could easily believe that because he
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worked outside all the time. And, you know, like when
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my father would do yard work with a bandana tied
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around his head, he didn't he didn't look like the
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person who lived there. but yeah carla what was a
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practical joker yet he really was it was interesting when
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she first brought him in he was out of the
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yard and that now this was february of seventy seven
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and it was cold in this little room where we
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were and she said i want carl to come in
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and fix the fire uh... we were listening to a
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test pressing of her new album which was uh... uh...
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gosh i can't remember the title right now i'm blanking
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at but She said, but I can't have the record
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on while he comes in. And I said, well, why
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is that? She said, well, he don't like my singing. What? Yes,
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he didn't like her voice. New Harvest First Gathering, that
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was the title of the album. So she said, yes,
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he just can't stand my voice. I remember she said,
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he loves me good and all, but he just can't
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stand my voice.
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Oh, my goodness.
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I know, it's funny, isn't it? So she went out
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and got him, and I heard him come up the stairs,
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and he said, well, I don't want to do no interview.
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And she said, well, you won't have to, Daddy. And
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he came in, and it was pretty awkward. I remember
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I stood up to shake his hand, and he wasn't
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having any of that. But he did fix the fire,
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but nobody was talking. So she offered him some of
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her hot chocolate, and he turned around and he went, nope.
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and fix the fire, and then he was gone. So
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I thought, well, I'll never see him again. But the
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next day he was pretty friendly. So I don't know
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about Carl, but he was delightful and kind of a puzzle.
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Well, maybe he thought because Dolly invited you a second
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day that you were okay then.
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Maybe. Maybe so. That's a good theory.
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How much was she able to reveal to you in
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the house? I mean, you said she's playing a test pressing.
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I mean, so clearly no one had heard that music yet.
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It was just something they had just pumped out. And
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so was she looking to see what you thought of it?
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I think she was because this was at a pivotal
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time in her career. This was a cover story for
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the magazine, Country Music Magazine, because she... So this album...
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The New Harvest First Gathering had a lot of that
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new kind of material on it. And I remember she
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did a cover of My Girl. Well, you know, you
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don't expect Dolly Parton to be singing that kind of music.
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Temptations.
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Yeah, temptations, exactly. So it was, and Nashville just kind
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of went crazy because they thought she was leaving everybody
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who had made her what she was and that she
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was a cornerstone of modern country music and she was defecting.
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And she just kept saying, you know, the whole point
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of this interview was to say, I'm not leaving anybody.
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You know, a country girl should be able to go
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to the city, but she's still a country girl. But
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she was seeking management in Los Angeles, and she had
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big dreams and big plans, as she said. And she
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wanted to do films, and she wanted to do whatever
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she could do. And that meant going outside of Nashville
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to do it. But
people were really upset about that.
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But she maintained control of her career all the way through,
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you know. People would try to push her around in
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interviews sometimes, and she wasn't having it.
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She wasn't having it. And I remember when Barbara Walters
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interviewed her, wow, she really came back at her in
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a polite way. I remember Barbara asked her where she
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was from, if it was kind of like dog patch. Oh, my.
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A pretty demeaning remark. But, you know, my mother was
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from the same little town in Tennessee, Sevierville in East Tennessee. Okay.
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But and Dolly was born in 1946. And, you know,
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even there, you know, an area that was shaped by
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religious fervor and cultural isolation and that kind of harshness
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of life that either beat folks down or or gave
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them a kind of steely resilience. She stood out even
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as a kid, as a child. People recognize the specialness
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about her. And the way she struck me at 31,
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that's how she was when we did our interview. She
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had just turned 31. She had a kind of calling,
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not just to be the best entertainer she could be,
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but to do good, as she said. She said, I
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want to do good. And part of the doing good
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was to raise up that area of East Tennessee, which
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had been so impoverished, certainly when my mother was growing
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up there. My mother was born in 1930. But my
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mother's family was about as poor as the Partons. So
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Dolly really had this calling and this mission to make
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life better for what she called her people. And wow,
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did she make good on that pledge and that mission.
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So you wrote this interview, or you delivered this interview
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for this magazine, but ultimately you wrote a book, a
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biography of Dolly, correct?
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Yes. Yes. The magazine came out in the spring of 77,
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and there was a small publisher in New Hampshire called
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Read Books, and the wife of the publisher read that
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story and absolutely loved Dolly Parton and she said to
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her husband, I want a book on Dolly Parton. So
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they came to the magazine and partnered with them in
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publishing it. And since I'd done the magazine piece, I
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got plugged in as the writer of the book.
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And now you told me a few days ago that
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you were just putting together like an update of And
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this is prior to her death. So now, obviously, you
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have to reshape that.
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Yes. I was working on a new edition of it.
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And I finished the long prologue on August 19th. And
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she died on the 25th. Nobody knew her.
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Yeah.
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So I have to redo some of it. And I've
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added a lot of photographs and another section of captions
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that has a lot of quotes and new information. I've
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expanded it a little bit, but I'm still actually working
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on it. But I think I'll have books by Christmas.
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Okay, that's what I was wondering. So people will be
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able to look for, is the name of the book
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just Dolly Parton?
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Just Dolly.
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Dolly, of course.
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Dolly.
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That makes sense. Alana Nash, it is always a pleasure
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to spend a few minutes with you.
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Terry Miners, I send that right back to you. Thank
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you for having me.
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Well, thanks for your... Thanks for your brilliant work, because
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you've met a lot of astounding people that are known
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around the world, and they always open up to you.
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I just think that's such a great gift, so congratulations.
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Oh, thank you so much. That means a lot. Thank you.
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All right, my friend. I'll see you down the road.
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I hope so. Thank you.
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There you go. Alanna Nash, who has written a book
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about Dolly, and the photo I'm going to attach with
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this on social media will just crack you up. But she,
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as you just heard, she's sort of having now to
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update things and we'll reissue, they'll reissue that book around
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the holiday season. So we'll learn more. But she's a
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Louisville treasure right there. Alanna Nash, known in all writing
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circles for her brilliant work. And she's got a master's
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from Columbia University in New York. And I think it shows. She's,
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I mean, a lot of people look at Hunter Thompson.
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I'm like, yeah, he's second. So that one right there,
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Atlanta Nash. Back in a minute on News Radio 840 WHAS.