As someone who grew up with Dolly’s music as a backdrop to my childhood (I was born in Tallahassee, Florida), interviewing the superstar in late 2023 was the opportunity of a lifetime.
With an early morning chat locked in and a note reminding me to be ready at least 10 minutes beforehand because “we wouldn’t want Dolly to wait now, would we?”, I was sitting at my computer more than an hour early, face made up and in my best clothes because I knew Dolly wore make up to bed and liked to be “ambulance-ready at all times”.
It was lucky I was, too. She appeared on screen with her hair and makeup done to perfection and that big smile on her face. We only had 20 minutes together, but she was as charming, smart and thoughtful as you’d imagine.
We were there to chat about her new album. The lead single was World on Fire, written, she told me, because of the state of the world which “troubled my heart”.
She knew I was a New Zealander and told me she’d visited many times. “We loved the people, we loved the food, we loved everything about it,” she said. She even considered buying a home here before realising how far away we were.
At one point, she paused to ask me to repeat a question. “You know you have an accent, don’t you?” she asked in her Southern drawl. “I don’t, but you do.”
There were many Dolly-isms, including, “I think it’s important that people are comfortable in their own skin and in their own clothes, and in their own house and in their own mind.”
She also spoke about the importance of her faith.
“I’ve always said that I live on creative and spiritual energy. That’s what keeps me happy and rising above a lot of things,” adding that it’s helped her a great deal.
I believe the world became a little dimmer with Dolly’s passing, but I also know she lit the way for others. She was a true icon and one of a kind, but thankfully we’ll always have her music.
Read our tribute to Dolly and find out about her love of New Zealand in our next issue, on sale Monday 30 August.
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