Dolly Parton
Greek Theater
Tuesday, August 5

Better than: 9 to 5, Rhinestone, and the Hanna Montana show

The best songwriters are usually the best storytellers as well. But watching Dolly Parton perform live, you realize how poor the stories are that most hacks tell from the stage -- because no one gives you their life story like Mrs. Parton.

Last night at the Greek, Dolly was a master entertainer, weaving tales from her family life into the introductions of her songs. Over the course of two hours (with a mid-show intermission) we got a mini biography of the Tennessee star. Dolly told us about her upbringing in the Smoky Mountains, where she was one of 12 kids. She told us about the literary program she started to give kids "a book a month," created in honor of her dad, a man who never went to school. She told us about her mom, a woman "who knew how to make you feel good about anything, who could cook anything, and who could sew anything" (which lead into her old hit, "Coat of Many Colors"). And she told us how she tried to buy her mom a new coat in the late '60s, after that song became a hit. Dolly wanted to buy her mama a mink ("Back when it was still ok to wear mink," she added with a laugh), but her mom wanted the money instead of "wanting something someone else already wore."

Dolly was full of wisecracks, both about her relatives and about herself. Joking about the title of her new record, Backwoods Barbie, Parton quipped that you know you're that sort of woman when "your pink Corvette's on blocks and your dream house is on wheels." She went from a story about getting felt up by customs in Scotland to a slam about the male agent's skirt to praise for all the drag queens in the crowd ("When I was in Los Angles there were more people dressed like me than me," she laughed.)

There was no dead air between hits, but when it came to the songs, she also sounded incredible. From "Jolene" to "9 to 5" and "Islands in the Stream" to newer numbers off Backwoods Barbie and a cappella versions of her favorite songs to a cover of Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy," Dolly and her backing band of a dozen players played every song as perfectly as if we were taping it for television.

She also sparkled with the reflection of all her rhinestones, diamonds, and gold-flecked dresses -- not to mention almost all her instruments. Dolly is skilled at playing everything from the guitar to the banjo to the dulcimer, the harmonica, and the recorder, and nearly everything she played gleamed with rhinestone bedazzlement.

In the end, Dolly live is the crossroads of star power and staunch humility. She thanked the lighting and sound guys for helping put on her show. She made self-effacing jokes. She sang about being strong in the face of adversity. And she stood in front of video montages of all her giant 80s weaves.

She could do no wrong with this crowd, which danced and clapped and bounced along to her hits, and everyone from the little girls to grown gay men had bouquets that the singer graciously took time to accept (before saying that whatever she couldn't fit on the tour bus went to "children's hospitals and old folks homes").

I don't think they get more genuine and simultaneously polished as Dolly. Between her easy giggle, her obvious enthusiasm for banter other musicians take for granted, and her ability to hit those high notes in ways that still make American Idols cry, Mrs. Parton gives a performance to be remembered, adding to her legacy with a history lesson that you don't forget.

By the way: You can read more about Dolly Parton in a recent article by Kurt B. Reighley here.