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Review

A down-home diva

By SEAN DALY
Published November 29, 2005

	[Times photo: Scott Keeler]
	Dolly Parton does double duty, singing and playing her fiddle during Those Were The Days at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Monday night.

CLEARWATER - For all of Dolly Parton's self-effacing cracks about her big hair, dangerous curves and showgirl attire - "It costs a lot to make a person look this cheap," she joked during her sold-out show at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Monday - she has become an icon primarily because of how natural she really is. Her charm, her voice, her heart: They all come XXL, as well.

Parton is your pal, your confidante, your neighbor with the hot gossip. And because the 59-year-old Smoky Mountain blonde is all things to all people - including a country legend, a pop pro, a bluegrass revivalist, etc. - her Clearwater gig touched on all chapters of her epic career, from her teenage years working the Opry to her brand-new album of cover songs, Those Were the Days, which gives '60s- and '70s-born classics the ol' twang treatment.

Packed into a low-cut pink dress snug enough to make Pamela Anderson wince, Parton first appeared onstage striking a pose at the top of a staircase. Oh, how the 2,155 fans screamed for their glittery down-home diva!

Then, after tottering down the steps on perilously high heels, Parton launched into the song Those Were the Days, a hit for Mary Hopkin back in the 1960s. Heck, Dolly even played a little fiddle on that first number, one of several instruments the whiz-bang talent would bust out during the show.

"But this isn't Dollywoodstock," she joked about playing the "old" cuts from her "new" album. Indeed, she kept her own arsenal of hits coming early and often.

9 to 5 is 25 years old now, but Dolly sold that sucker as if she were a rookie performer desperate for love. (By the way, Parton said she's currently writing songs for an upcoming Broadway version of the movie 9 to 5.) Proving that her pipes can still be peerless, she let that vintage soprano loose on a fiery Jolene, that true story about a knockout woman trying to steal her man. For a faithful rendition of Tommy James and the Shondells' Crimson and Clover, Parton played a wicked-looking electric guitar, a NASCAR fan's dream axe. "This was made out of the fender of a car I used to spend a lot of time in the backseat of," she giggled.

Although the show veered toward a dinner-theater vibe at times - Parton's 11-piece band was capable at best, and the singer-songwriter's reliance on whispering chunks of songs grew tedious - Dolly casts such an enormous, good-natured glow, it's hard to be too critical.

In fact, the night's highlight was when Parton shushed her band, tugged a dulcimer onto her lap, and played a solo acoustic set of My Tennessee Mountain Home, These Old Bones and Coat of Many Colors. Before a whispery encore of John Lennon's Imagine, Parton closed her first set with Here You Come Again, a song I found absolutely impossible not to sing along to, much to the dismay of people around me.

Then, in a yowza "Whitney who?" moment, Parton reclaimed I Will Always Love You, hitting all the high notes and doling out the goosebumps in the process. Parton joked that the royalties from that ballad have bought her a lot of big wigs. Maybe so, but there was nothing fake about that showstopper.

[Last modified November 29, 2005, 10:36:18]