Review – “Dolly Parton: 50 Years at the Grand Ole Opry” TV Special
With Black Friday in the offing and the National Broadcasting Company looking to capitalize off of optimal advertising time right before the shopping holiday, a two-hour television special named Dolly Parton: 50 Years at the Grand Ole Opry was aired Tuesday night (11-26) on NBC featuring footage taped back in October as the Opry spent a week celebrating Dolly’s 50th Anniversary as a member. The special also included vignettes captured at the Ryman Auditorium with Dolly talking about her life in country music, and rolls of file footage spliced in here and there spanning Dolly’s Hall of Fame career.
At first it felt like the evening might be if for a bit of a bumpy ride as it appeared Dolly and/or the producers had decided to use a different audio track of her song “9 to 5” than the one Dolly Parton sang live from the Opry stage during the taping. It brought back memories of of the controversy at the Glastonbury Festival in 2014 when Dolly was accused of lip syncing, which she of course denied. But even though some moments may have been slightly doctored in some capacity (“Jolene” and “Coat of Many Colors” also seemed a little circumspect), other performances were definitely sung live as Dolly ran through a litany of her hits, including “Joshua” and “Tennessee Mountain Home.”
Some of Dolly Parton’s best-known songs were also performed by others. So many of today’s newest “country” stars are so immediately off-putting, you almost didn’t mind seeing mid-career Lady Antebellum doing a pretty good rendition of “Islands In The Stream.” Hillary Scott is no Dolly, and Charles Kelley is no Kenny Rogers, but they did a fine job. Toby Keith has so much respect for Dolly Parton, he actually showed up to a performance sober for once, singing “Kentucky Gambler.” Written by Dolly, the song later became a #1 hit for Merle Haggard.
Emmylou Harris came out looking as ravishing as ever, with her hair the color of woven silver, and her warble in her rendition of “To Daddy” as warm as ever. Chris Janson’s version “Muleskinner Blues” was downright killer. Though this Geico caveman look-alike has some of the worst radio singles imaginable, he regularly shows how talented and respectful to country music he is when he takes the Opry stage. This is one of the reasons the Opry recently made Janson a permanent member.
Hank Williams Jr. showed up to deliver a blistering medley of “Mind Your Own Business” and “Move It On Over.” Though he was as boisterous as always at now 70 years of age, the performance felt like it was a little too much Hank, and not enough Dolly. Nonetheless, it afforded even more moments for classic country to be showcased in primetime. Banjo player Buck Trent who was part of Porter Wagoner’s original band came out to perform “The Carroll County Accident” with Dolly. The Mother Church of Country Music—The Ryman Auditorium—got plenty of screen time during the special as well, and so did other country music greats in mentions and photos and film clips played throughout the special.
Dierks Bentley also made an appearance, as did some newer artists who benefited from the primetime airing. Margo Price has performed on Saturday Night Live and most of the late night broadcast shows, but this was the first time she was able to perform on TV before the kids are put to bed. Ohio-native Candi Carpenter also performed.
And of course Dolly Parton ran though all of her classic jokes, told some of her most iconic stories, and soaked up the spotlight after spending 50 years in the service of both the Opry and country music. Her 50th Anniversary was also a bit of a reconciliation with the Opry after a failed theme park venture with the Opry’s parent company a few years back resulted in some bad blood between the Opry and Dolly.
But all of that was resolved and water under the bridge by the time the cameras were rolling for the special. Some of the slickness and stuffiness of overproduced broadcast primetime television (including the doctored audio tracks) left a little to be desired for distinguishing listeners and viewers. But it was a worthy celebration of Dolly, and we won’t ever complain about two hours celebrating Dolly on television.
It’s been said before, and it will be said again: We can’t agree on much these days. But we all agree on Dolly Parton. Dolly Parton: 50 Years at the Grand Ole Opry reminded us of why, and hopefully brought fans of music in country and beyond together at the commencement of the Holiday season.
November 26, 2019 @ 9:41 pm
This was two hours — on broadcast television no less — of actual country music. The performance of “The Carroll County Accident” with Buck Trent was the highlight for me. Given that they were aiming for a wide audience, namely the casual Dolly fan who knows “9-5” and “Islands in the Stream,” I was very pleasantly surprised.
November 26, 2019 @ 9:43 pm
I’m not really much of a fan of female country singers, but Dolly is a national treasure. She never had to scream in the mic to get your attention. Her talent and personality always shines through, and I cant help but think how much we will miss her when shes gone.
November 27, 2019 @ 6:25 pm
Finally, actual true clean entertainment we’ve been lacking that in TV for a long time
November 26, 2019 @ 10:47 pm
Have you been following the Dolly Parton’s America podcast? Between that, the CMAs, the Granmys tribute, the Netflix series, the licensing deals, and the Opry celebration, she is having one hell of a year.
November 26, 2019 @ 11:36 pm
I think it’s great that Dolly is getting this much attention, but I’m afraid there is too much Dolly stuff going on in a short period, and all these things could be overshadowing each other, or could result in Dolly burnout. I have been keeping up with the podcasts via recaps and summations, but any podcast I listen to is one less spin through an album that needs reviewing, and the rest of the press has been all over the podcasts. I may have a review of the series once they’re all released. Same with the Netflix movies.
November 27, 2019 @ 7:18 am
I couldn’t agree more. A friend texted me last night “watching Dolly?” I thought he was talking about the Netflix shows that just dropped and I didn’t know he was talking about this special until I saw your post this morning.
November 27, 2019 @ 4:20 am
Love Dolly!
She is so cool
November 27, 2019 @ 5:55 am
Good show and a good night for country music Margo Price was excellent! God bless Dolly!
November 27, 2019 @ 6:01 am
Dolly’s still got it, the voice and such a great entertainer. This was the perfect antidote to the CMA awards show. Still waiting for the SCM awards show announcement!
November 27, 2019 @ 6:42 am
“Still waiting for the SCM awards show announcement!”
I’d watch that!
November 27, 2019 @ 7:28 am
All the complaining at the beginning of this article makes me sick.
The show was excellent, more like this one, is needed.
November 27, 2019 @ 8:05 am
I noticed the doctored vocals. Disappointed for a minute, but ultimately didn’t care. I was crying by then. All the feels. And then Emmylou came out… and seeing her hand shake as she played the guitar gutted me. Dolly is a national treasure..so is Emmylou. Linda has Parkinson’s. I hope Emmylou was just nervous, although I can’t quite imagine that.
November 27, 2019 @ 9:06 am
I agree that ultimately the doctored vocals didn’t appreciably take away from overall quality of a great special. But I also felt like I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t at least mention that something had been done on the production side, especially with the first performance, since it felt pretty obvious.
November 27, 2019 @ 9:19 am
Oh, I totally agree. It needed to be brought up. But it was overridden by the emotions the songs triggered (see what I did there) for me. I just kind of ignored it and got caught up.
November 27, 2019 @ 12:29 pm
I noticed the hand shaking as well…she was having a difficult time holding chords. ????
November 27, 2019 @ 8:49 am
I can’t imagine a photo of Kitty Wells being shown on national television without the participation of Dolly Parton.
This was quite different than a documentary on PBS. This was NBC. Made every country fan just feel great.
November 27, 2019 @ 10:49 am
My question: Set aside the idea of Dolly as a performer. Regardless of whether she ever sang a note, does Dolly belong in the top tier of country songwriters, alongside Harlan Howard, Bob McDill, Hank Cochran, Hank Williams Sr, Cindy Walker, Kris, and Bill Anderson? I think yes.
November 27, 2019 @ 10:55 am
Yes, no doubt. She would be in the Hall of Fame as a songwriter even if she wasn’t a performer, just for “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” and “Coat Of Many Colors.”
November 27, 2019 @ 11:49 am
Dolly is a ray of sunshine with one wicked sense of humor. Her beautiful spirit is so full of life, I wish when I’m her age I’m half as awesome as she is. As for ‘doctored vocals’ sorry but I couldn’t care less, she’s Dolly, she’s worked & played her ass for a very long time, she’s not 20 something anymore. If she lip syncs or whatever I really don’t care, she’s done more than enough for people to know she’s talented, she aint got nothing to prove to nobody. She’s earned the respect she deserves and I am so happy that she’s still out there making waves at 73. She’s an icon & an inspiration who deserves nothing but love & support & so it’s good to see the Opry showing that love.
November 27, 2019 @ 2:31 pm
I love dolly and always will. I guess she has been on tv so much lately promoting her new show, and with the CMAs just airing, (which was great!!!) I lost interest. It seemed to me that Dolly showed her age a little bit when she moved on the stage. That a side she will always be number 1.
November 27, 2019 @ 3:22 pm
Margo Price was on CBS this morning a few years ago.
November 27, 2019 @ 3:26 pm
And GMA
November 27, 2019 @ 3:30 pm
Margo Price has been on television quite a bit, including Saturday Night Live. But this was her first opportunity in primetime. 7 million people were watching Margo Price.
November 27, 2019 @ 3:27 pm
Regarding the audio doctoring, I wonder if perhaps it was related to Dolly feeling her performance had been compromised by using earphone monitors rather than stage monitors. I was at one of the shows and Dolly commented at least twice — graciously but with genuine frustration — about the earphone monitors.
She explained that she preferred to use stage monitors, for reasons including that she likes to be able to hear the audience, but that for the TV special, the production team had suggested she use earphone monitors. She told the crowd that she hoped she sounded OK, because she couldn’t hear herself very well and that she hoped the monitors could be “fixed” before her second show that night.
I felt bad for her because it seemed her enjoyment of that special night, and the opportunity to fully display her still stellar talent, were being diminished by technical issues.
Regardless, to me she still sounded great, and I was genuinely impressed at how well preserved her voice is.
November 27, 2019 @ 6:56 pm
I loved the show, but could not believe that Kenny Rogers was not included…I kept expecting him to show up as a “surprise”….he wasn’t even mentioned in any way and they were singing partners for a long time, so why not?
November 27, 2019 @ 7:46 pm
There was a picture of Kenny shown, as well as Lady A singing “Islands in the Stream.”
November 27, 2019 @ 11:00 pm
The “All in for the Gambler” tribute / Kenny Rogers concert at the Bridgestone in 2017 was billed as Kenny and Dolly’s last time performing together.
I was a bit skeptical, as there seem to always be exceptions to announcements like that. But, seeing him sing in person, I wouldn’t be surprised if that one was for real.
November 28, 2019 @ 2:55 am
Despite Dolly “overload” this past month, the ratings for the special were strong:
NBC’s Dolly Parton: 50 Years At The Opry special Tuesday night brought the network its best 9 p.m.-11 p.m. ratings of the 2019-2020 television season with 7 million viewers, preliminary ratings on Wednesday revealed. The numbers bested the average 6 million viewers the regular Tuesday programs on the network in that time slot see and came in second to CBS’ FBI with 8.8 million (followed by NCIS: New Orleans and 6.8 million) but ahead of ABC’s Mixed-ish (2.7 million), Emergence (2.3 million) and Black-ish (2.6 million). Dolly only lost a few hundred thousand viewers from lead-in The Voice at 8 p.m.
Add that to the solid CMA ratings, which she (and Reba & Carrie) hosted, it’s clear that Dolly Parton is always welcome in America’s living rooms.
November 28, 2019 @ 4:05 am
The best Family entertainment I have seen in Years. Ms Parton , at 73, shows Class n Stamina unlike most entertainers half her age. The USA is blessed to have such a loyal Songwriter/ Entertainer born on her continent. Parton has continuously demonstrated showmanship n true American pride thru her optimism and love of her gift of music. Amazing how she holds the most diverse Fan base of any entertainer worldwide. Non descriminating and giving thru a True Spiritual vibe. Nothing Fake about this Entertainer. The ability to unify thru song n ability to unite all thru a thing called Love. I truly wish more Americans would learn thru her example.
November 29, 2019 @ 6:54 pm
I totally enjoyed this two hour walk down memory lane with Dolly, 50 years as a member of the Grand Ole Opry and still going strong at 73…..not many people can say that, what an accomplishment! It sure would be nice to come to this comment section and only read positive comments and or memories instead of nitpicking about the sound,”I also felt like I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t at least mention that something had been done on the production side”, or that “Dolly showed her age a little bit when she moved on the stage” or ” I’m afraid there is too much Dolly stuff going on in a short period, and all these things could be overshadowing each other, or could result in Dolly burnout.” HELLO? There can never be too much Dolly, she is an older woman in country music, do you know how hard it is for women in country music to get ANY coverage or air play?……”Only 16% of all artists were female across 500 of the top country songs from 2014-2018.” Dolly Parton is a pioneer, a trail blazer for women and for country music, there wont ever be enough of her on tv or radio, she’s having a great year, at 73, imagine that! Enjoy it! She’s 73, she’s allowed to show her age, its called life! Dolly Parton is a living legend, a one of a kind, a GREAT entertainer and song writer…..I only wish there could be 50 more years!
December 1, 2019 @ 10:44 am
If you have not listen yet this podcast is OUTSTANDING… because Dolly unifer that is can still get raw and real without alienating any side or person. And it already has me going back to her earliest albums that feature some of her rawest and saddest songs she ever wrote.
Also at her show you see all kinds of people cowboys, punks, grag queens, gay couples, kids, Asians, Altinos… she cross so many borders. And while she is not the most famous celebrity on the planet in a recent poll she came #1 with people having the least negative this to say about her. Gaga was like 47 and Beyonce WAY down the list/ Nobody has anything bad to say about Dolly it seems. And I notice this on her YouTube videos as well you really have to hunt for bad press.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america
April 29, 2020 @ 1:31 pm
I finally watched this, good stuff mostly… but whoever mixed the sound should never be allowed near a mixing board again.