COAT OF MANY COLORS
(The Autobiography of Dolly Parton)
Let the Lyrics Form the Introduction
Back through the years she goes wondering once again.
Back to the seasons of her youth.
She recalls a box of rags that someone gave them.
And how her mama put the rags to use.
There were rags of many colors
Every piece was small.
And she didn't have a coat.
And it was way down in the fall.
Mama sewed the rags together.
Sewin' every piece with love.
She made her coat of many colors.
That she was so proud of.
As she sewed, she told a story.
From the Bible, she had read.
About a coat of many colors.
Joseph wore and then she said.
"Perhaps this coat will bring you.
Good luck and happiness".
And she just couldn't wait to wear it.
And mama blessed it with a kiss.
CHAPTER ONE: THE LITTLE PIGEON RIVER CHILD
January 19, 1946 – Locust Ridge, Tennessee
Dolly Rebecca Parton entered this world not with a silver spoon in her mouth, but with a song in her heart and the sound of the Little Pigeon River rushing past her family's humble cabin. She was born on a cold winter's day in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains, the fourth of twelve children born to Robert Lee and Avie Lee Parton. The doctor who delivered her was paid not with cash, but with a sack of cornmeal a transaction that told everything about the family's circumstances and the love that would define Dolly's childhood.
The Parton cabin was a one-room structure, barely more than a shelter, nestled in the hills of Sevier County, Tennessee. In the winter, the wind whistled through the cracks in the walls, and the family huddled together for warmth. In the summer, the cabin was stifling, but the children played outside, exploring the woods and swimming in the river. To Dolly, it was paradise. She never felt poor because she was rich in the things that truly mattered: love, music, and the unbreakable bonds of family.
Her mother, Avie Lee Parton, was a woman of extraordinary strength and grace. She had a voice that could make you cry or make you dance, and she sang those old British and Irish folk ballads that had been passed down through generations. The songs told stories of love and loss, of heroes and villains, of a world far beyond the mountains. Dolly would sit at her mother's feet, mesmerized by the melodies and the words, soaking in the music like sunshine. Avie Lee's voice was haunting, ethereal, and it planted the seeds of Dolly's own musical destiny.
Her father, Robert Lee Parton, was a tobacco farmer who worked from dawn until dusk to provide for his growing family. He was a man of few words but immense integrity. He never learned to read properly because he had to quit school to work the farm and help feed his family. This broke Dolly's heart. She saw how smart her father was how he could calculate numbers in his head, how he could fix anything with his hands and she knew that his illiteracy was not a failure of intelligence but a failure of opportunity. This realization would later inspire her to create the Imagination Library, a program that would send millions of free books to children around the world.
From the moment she could talk, Dolly was singing. She would sing to the chickens in the yard, imagining they were her audience, applauding with their clucks and squawks. She would sing to the trees and the river, to the mountains that surrounded her home. Music wasn't just entertainment in the Parton household it was their language, their comfort, their way of making sense of the world. When times were hard, they sang. When times were good, they sang even louder.
The Parton family may have lacked material wealth, but they possessed something far more valuable: an unshakeable bond that would sustain Dolly through all the trials and triumphs of her extraordinary life. Her parents taught her that hard work, faith, and love could overcome any obstacle. They taught her that dreams were not frivolous they were the seeds of a better future. And they taught her that no matter how far she traveled, she would always carry the Smoky Mountains in her heart.
Dolly's childhood was not without hardship. There were times when food was scarce, when the winter cold seemed unbearable, when the weight of poverty pressed down on the family. But through it all, her parents remained steadfast. Her mother would sew and mend clothes until they were threadbare. Her father would work multiple jobs to make ends meet. And the children would help in any way they could, gathering firewood, tending the garden, caring for the younger ones.
Despite the challenges, Dolly's childhood was filled with joy. The mountains were her playground, and her siblings were her best friends. They would explore the woods, swim in the river, and listen to their mother's stories. They would sing together, pray together, and dream together. It was a simple life, but it was a good life.
Dolly's earliest memories were of music. She remembered her mother singing while she worked, her voice filling the cabin with warmth and light. She remembered her father humming hymns as he plowed the fields. She remembered the sound of the congregation singing in the little Pentecostal church, their voices rising in praise and supplication. Music was everywhere, and Dolly absorbed it all.
By the age of three, Dolly was already singing in church. She would stand on a stool, her little voice clear and strong, and sing the hymns she had learned from her mother. The congregation would smile and nod, their hearts lifted by the child's pure and joyful singing. Dolly felt a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose that she had never experienced before. She knew, even then, that she was meant to sing.
Lessons from Chapter One
1. Wealth is not measured in money but in love and family.
2. Our beginnings do not determine our endings.
3. Music has the power to transform hardship into beauty.
Questions
1. How did Dolly's upbringing in poverty shape her perspective on success?
2. In what ways did her mother's singing influence Dolly's musical development?
3. Why was her father's inability to read so significant to Dolly's later philanthropy?
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