Comments on: 100 Greatest Women, #1: Dolly Parton

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:39:42 +0000

I’m in complete agreement with Dolly Parton’s ranking as #1. I’ve been a huge fan of hers ever since the release of “Jolene”, but even if I weren’t particularly a fan, when contemplating all that she encompasses, her top ranking would still make sense. She is, IMO, the most dizzingly talented women in counry music. As a songwriter, I’d rank her right up with Bob Dylan, just in terms of the sheer number of songs she’s written, and how effortlessly they seem to pour out of her. As a singer, her voice is like no one else’s who comes to mind. As an entertainer, her fame is parallel to that of the anyone to have emerged during the last five decades — including the Beatles and Elvis (she is known all over the world, even by persons who don’t know anything else about country music) — and from a historical perspecitve, she is like a bridge between the era of Kitty Wells and the modern era of Taylor Swift. It’s pretty astonishing to think that she emgerged during the mid-1960s, and is still a major force in 2011 (even despite her almost non-existent radio airplay). Of all of the women who rose to fame at the time Parton did, very few are still even recording and touring (Lynn Anderson and Loretta Lynn are the only other two who come to mind), and certainly not at the level that Parton is. And then, as others have also mentioned already, while there are countless other talented women who’ve emerged over the past fifty-odd years, no one has combined ALL of Parton’s many talents. There have been gifted, prolific songwriters (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Rosanne Cash), talented singers (Patsy Cline, Trisha Yearwood), women who, through their lives and onstage personas, connected with their audiences (Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire), and true artistic vionaries (Emmylou Harris). But no one else comes to mind who combines all of these talents, or who’s been doing it for as long and as successfully as Dolly Parton has.

By: Country Heritage: Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton « My Kind Of Country

Country Heritage: Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton « My Kind Of Country — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:04:45 +0000

[...] both good singers and dynamic personalities, and yes, Kevin over at County Universe ranked Dolly #1 on his list of the 100 Greatest Female Singers, but Kevin was considering her career in its [...]

By: Wayne

Wayne — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:00:30 +0000

June 6, 2011 at 9:59 am
Dolly could walk out on stage and talk all night without singing a song people would not leave. She just steps on stage and the house lights up. She gave Reba some very good advice in 1977 and she said that very precious night at the Opry when the stage manager told her Dolly just walked in the back door and Dolly is going to sing she would have given up both her songs just to be in the same building with Dolly and that after Dolly did sing everyone could have left the Opry then and there as there was nothing that anyone else could have done that night that could top Dolly’s performance. Influential wise the list is endless: we have Reba, Womack, lovelace, Krauss, Vincent, Pickler, Twain Julie Roberts, Brad, Gill Cyrus we coudl go on forever and still don’t have a complete list as he is the super power in entertainment. She has remain a contemporary for more than 40 years. I don’t think anyone else has.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:59:39 +0000

Dolly could walk out on stage and talk all night without singing a song people would not leave. leave just steps on stage and the house lights up. She gave Reba some very good advice in 1977 and she said that very precious night at the Opry when the stage manager told her Dolly just walked in the back door and Dolly is going to sing she would have given up both her songs just to be in the same building with Dolly and that after Dolly did sing everyone could have left the Opry then and there as there was nothing that anyone else could have done that night that could top Dolly’s performance. Influential wise the list is endless: we have Reba, Womack, lovelace, Krauss, Vincent, Pickler, Twain Julie Roberts, Brad, Gill Cyrus we coudl go on forever and still don’t have a complete list as he is the super power in entertainment. She has remain a contemporary for more than 40 years. I don’t think anyone else has.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:13:00 +0000

Dolly would be nbr 1 in any book b/c she has holds more records on the chart than any other artiste. most top 10 singles, nbr 1 and top 40 by a female. Most top full album by any artiste and has charted records in 5 decades. So hands down she is #1 ask billboard.

By: Paul Dennis

Paul Dennis — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 01:05:09 +0000

Tom

Patti Page wasn’t a country singer, although she recorded a number of good country songs. She would be in my top five as far as female pop singers are concerned

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:52:58 +0000

Great call on the top three! I can’t see how anyone could feel Dolly, Loretta, and the Carters don’t belong there.

My own top 100
1. Dolly Parton 2. Loretta Lynn 3. Sara & Maybelle Carter 4. Tammy Wynette 5. Kitty Wells
6. Patsy Cline 7. Reba McEntire 8. Minnie Pearl 9. Shania Twain 10. Emmylou Harris

11. The Judds/Wynona 12. Tanya Tucker 13. Barbara Mandrell 14. Trisha Yearwood 15. The Dixie Chicks
16. Alison Krauss 17. Lynn Anderson 18. Cindy Walker 19. Faith Hill 20. Dottie West

21. Connie Smith 22. Cindy Walker 23. Mary Chapin Carpenter 24. Jean Shepard 25. Rosanne Cash
26. Crystal Gayle 27. Martina McBride 28. Skeeter Davis 29. Patty Loveless 30. Carrie Underwood

31. Anne Murray 32. Wanda Jackson 33. Lee Ann Womack 34. Donna Fargo 35. K T Oslin 36. June Carter Cash 37. Kathy Mattea 38, Olivia Newton-John 39. Lorrie Morgan 40. Lulu Belle

41. Patsy Montana 42. Linda Ronstadt 43. LeAnn Rimes 44. Patti Page* 45. Jeannie C. Riley 46. Brenda Lee 47. Pam Tillis 48. Maxine & Bonnie Brown* 49. Susan Raye* 50. Miranda Lambert

51. Rose Maddoz 52. Janie Fricke 53. Liz Anderson* 54. Cousin Emmy 55. Dale Evans 56. Jan Howard 57. Felice Bryant 58. Terri Clark 59. Jeannie Kendall (The Kendalls) 60. Lacy J. Dalton

61. Juice Newton 62. Aunt Molly Jackson 63. Jo Dee Messina 64. Anita Carter* 65. Sara Evans
66. Jeannie Seely 67. Billie Jo Spears 68. k.d. lang 69. Bobbie Gentry 70. Norma Jean

71. Carlene Carter 72. Rosalie Allen* 73. Rhonda Vincent 74. Suzy Bogguss 75. Sammi Smith 76. Holly Dunn 77. Jody Miller* 78. Gail Davies 79. Matraca Berg 80. Nanci Griffith

81. SHEdaisy 82. Melba Montgomery 83. Marie Osmond
84. Wilma Lee Cooper 85. Goldie Hill 86. Gretchen Wilson 87. Lucinda Williams 88. Bonnie Guitar
89. Sharon and Cheryl White (The Whites) 90. Margo Smith

91. Jessi Colter 92. Texas Ruby* 93. Paulette Carlson (Highway 101) 94. Deana Carter 95. Charly McClain 96. The Forester Sisters 97. Marijohn Wilkin 98. Sylvia 99. Jeanne Pruett 100. Roba Stanley

* = didn’t make countryuniverse’s top 100

By: Bernice Holland

Bernice Holland — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:54:42 +0000

Dolly was a great singer i was amaze every time a heard her voice. VA Locksmiths

By: Michael A.

Michael A. — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 06:29:37 +0000

We get it, Travis. You like Barbara Mandrell. This is the first time I’ve encountered the rare, Barbara Mandrell crazed superfan. I mean, I’ve heard rumors or their existence, but I never believed them to be true… until now.

Anyway, seeing this post in the recent comments again reminds me of my recent project… beefing up my iTunes library. I’ve been rounding out the collections of my three favorite artists: Reba, Dolly and the Dixie Chicks (and to a lesser extents some others – Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Tanya Tucker, Lorrie Morgan, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, Pam Tillis, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, etc.) with songs that I never bought the full albums for because I didn’t want to contribute shelf space for a CD that only had one or two good songs. For example, I’ve added the Dixie Chicks’ contributions to tribute albums (“Stand By Your Man”) and soundtracks (“You Can’t Hurry Love”).

When it came to Dolly, whose, discography (among other things), is so huge, it’s like I’m falling in love with her all over again. Songs like “Appalachian Memories”, her takes on “House of the Rising Sun” and “How Great Thou Art”, “Travelin’ Thru, “He’s Alive”, “Silver and Gold” and especially “What a Heartache” (of which she’s recorded three versions) are amazing! According to my list, I owned over 20 Dolly compilations and studio albums… and I was still missing out on so much. She is simply incredible.

By: Cory DeStein

Cory DeStein — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:19:26 +0000

Yea…Mandrell does not have anywhere near the vocal chops as Parton…nor the songwriting skill that has made Parton a legend.

I agree with Kevin, the only other reasonable #1 would be Loretta Lynn