Gaudy goddess
Self-described backwoods Barbie, Dolly Parton, chats with Matt Thomas about boobs, Broadway and battling hate.

“Fans are always holding up signs saying dirty sexy things like ‘Would you like to blank after the show’ and I get tickled right in the middle of a song,” says 63-year-old country music superstar Dolly Parton, laughing as she discusses her bawdy fan base. With countless global tours and 25 number one singles to her name, Parton has seen and done almost everything on the road to becoming the queen of country music and, unlike most stars, she loves her imitators especially the ones who have to tuck.

“When we play cities like San Francisco there are definitely more Dollys out there than there are on stage,” says Parton of the many drag doppelgangers she sees when she plays. “I’m very tiny and little so it’s always funny for me to see these six-foot-tall guys dressed up like me all big and decked out. I get a kick out of watching them interpret how I look. The gaudier you are the more you look like me. The cheaper and the more outrageous the better.”

If her exultation by drag queens isn’t proof enough that Parton is a gay icon, one need only look to her politics. She’s been a vocal advocate for the gay community since early on in her career. She wrote the song “Travelin’ Thru” for the queer film Transamerica and her production company produced the Academy Awardwinning AIDS documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt and the gay-friendly cult TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Parton, who employs many openly gay and transgender people, says she has always felt a kinship with the gay community and the outsider narrative that runs through it. “People thought I looked too outrageous, too whorey, too this, too that. I wore too much makeup, my hair was too big, my tits were too big, and I had to work, work, work to prove myself,” explains Parton. “The gay community accepted me before other people did. I always wanted to be understood and I always wanted to be accepted for being me, so I completely understand when gay people talk about just wanting to be accepted for who they are without having someone assign a description to them that doesn’t really fit.”

Parton was one of the first popular country music artists to openly acknowledge her gay fan base. Recently contemporaries of Parton including Willie Nelson, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire and The Dixie Chicks have all followed suit by reaching out to their gay fans, taking firm public stances on issues surrounding gay rights and even recording songs with gay subject matter. When the changing nature of the country music industry is credited to Parton she is humble about her influence. “It’s not a crusade for me, I just think everybody should stand up and I think it’s really sad when people get crucified for standing up for what they believe in,” she insists. When asked if the industry has changed enough to allow for a successful, openly gay country star, Parton is unsure. “I don’t know. There are a lot of people who have a long way to go before they’ll accept gay people. I mean it’s like how race is still an issue,” she laments.

Dollywood, her eponymous theme park, sits just outside Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Despite the park’s rural location and conservative costumers, Parton refuses to stop encouraging an annual Gay Day even after protests from the Ku Klux Klan. “It’s still tricky for me some places. You’ve got to understand I’m from down in the deep south and I get death threats and all kinds of things said to me because of where I stand. But Dollywood is open to the public and gay people have as much a right to be here as anyone else, end of story,” insists Parton adding, “All these fine Christian-type people that seem to think they know what God wants for all of us, that’s certainly more of a sin then anything they would claim about us. To judge people is one of the greatest sins.”

Parton recently took her flair for dramatics to Broadway, writing the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical 9 to 5 based on her 1980 hit movie that featured her classic Oscarwinning song. Despite a stellar cast headed by Allison Janney and four Tony nominations, 9 to 5 ran for only six months but is set for a national tour beginning in September 2010. “I’m working on my own life story as a musical and I’ve got some other thoughts in mind for some musicals so, maybe one of these days I’ll go to the stage again,” says Parton. Whichever actress ends up playing Parton in a bio-musical would have big shoes to fill. “Big shoes? Big shoes? More like a big bra,” she corrects with a laugh. “But really Kristin Chenoweth is somebody that I’ve talked to about it and she’s really excited by the possibility. I’ve mentioned it to her through the years and she’s definitely someone that I think would be great because she’s such a great singer.”

If her Broadway ambitions and southern sass aren’t enough to excite gay fans, Parton also hints at the release of a dance record she’s been working on. “I’ve combined some country elements, some banjos and some fiddles along with that hard-driving dance sound,” says Parton. Highlights for the yet-to-betitled album include a dance remix of “Travelin’ Thru,” the potential first single, “Dance With Me Darling” and “Just A Wee Bit Gay,” a song Parton feels gay audiences will adore. “It’s about a guy and a gal that are married and she comes home always finding him with his frilly apron on and he’s like, ‘You shoulda known I was gay, why did ya marry me?’” explains Parton. “It was based on a true story about a friend of mine who was married with children and finally came out of the closet. It’s just a fun little story and I think ya’ll will get a kick out of it.”

Parton takes enjoyment in the gossip and mud slinging that’s often directed her way because of her style, politics and opinions. “I love the story they keep running all the time about the fact that my boobs are so big that they’ve broken my back and I can’t walk and that it’s going to cripple me. That my family are begging and pleading with me to get the implants taken out ’cause it’s destroying my life and all that,” says Parton. “They go on and on like I’m going to be dying because my tits are so big. They act like I’m paralyzed one week but then the next week I’m running around with some 15-year-old or 12-year-old or whatever. You just laugh ’cause you have to. I get my best material on stage from it.”

Parton’s final words to fab are to encourage gay country singers, fans and Toronto’s visiting rodeo boys: “Ride ‘em cowboys.”

Dolly Parton’s new two-disc CD/DVD, Live from London, is available in stores now. Info: dollyparton.com

Matt Thomas is a fab associate editor who would gladly work 9 to 5 for a coat of many colours so he can impress his Blue Ridge Mountain boy.