“Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.”

—Judy Garland

Story from Dolly Parton’s autobiography, ‘My Life and Other Unfinished Business.’

That silly preacher picked the wrong day to bother Lee Parton. His daughter remembers it well. Lee was “sweatin’ and a’groanin’ tryin’ to get a stump out of the ground.”

Parton’s first self-produced album

That snooty ol’ preacher? There he was in his starched collar, grinning at Lee over the fence. “This particular preacher wasn’t much of a help to anybody. And he seemed to show up only when he was out beatin’ the bushes for money,” Lee’s daughter, Dolly, recalls. (Yes, that Dolly Parton. This is a story from Dolly’s autobiography about her very smart dad.)

At the time, Dolly was around five, and the Partons were poor as dirt, but rich in pride. They were coming up, too. Dolly’s dad worked hard to provide. READ MORE