i love dolly parton.

unashamedly.

i LOVE dolly parton.

let's back up.

there is a lot to this story.

it begins in my history tutorial this morning.

of the 12 people in the tutorial, only 5 showed up. only 2 had done the reading.

(alice, i was one of the two. for the record)

so i sit down for class a little early and the professor starts trying to guess my name from the roster.

he goes through all of the girls names

so i tell him it's a boy's name and he guesses josh...

so we establish that my name is christian

and he asks "whereabouts in america are you from"

so i gear up to explain where nashville, tennessee is

but he starts laughing.

he's heard of it.

"the grand ole opry, right??"

yes sir.

the grand ole opry. 

so i take the opportunity to tell him about the nashville flood and all the damage to the opry,

and he declares

"you know, i love dolly parton. her old stuff from the 70's is fantastic"

i agree.

and we get on the subject of miss parton 

and all the work she has done in east tennessee

and her upbringing... so we get to talking about appalachia.

my favorite subject.

so we end up having a 30 minute class forum/ conversation with me and the professor while the classes listens in about appalachia as a unique cultural entity within the united states

and the similarities between the people of appalachia and the maori.

it really was fascinating, 

even if you are not a history major or a member of mountain justice.

we talked about the scotch-irish ancestry

and how the coal companies talked people out of mineral rights to their lands

and are now disrupting homes and communities

and no one can stop them.

and we talked about how i want to work in that region, 

and how difficult it is to get in with the locals.

he was telling me (slash the rest of the class) about certain rural maori tribes that will give you no time of day (and will be openly hostile) if you aren't a member.

he suggested i take food.

so then we start talking about southern food

and somehow snake-handling came up 

so we discussed the religious aspects of each of these groups.

we went on and on comparing the two situations.

and now...

i keep thinking- what an interesting PhD topic.

hmm. 

grad school in new zealand?

probably not, but still, a very very interesting class.

so when i got home, 

i dug up some dolly parton that was buried in my itunes.

and then... 

i did a little more reading about her.

she is from sevierville, tennessee... right on my route from nashville to greenville.

she was one of 12 children

and describes her family as "dirt poor".

but she went on to become one of country musics most successful performers

and has done a ton to give back to east tennessee.

please listen to this song:

it's my favorite....

15 Jolene

and i know i recently heard this in a movie.

and i cannot for the life of me remember what movie,

but i know it was a young girl singing several dolly parton songs...

and i am so so frustrated i can figure out what movie.

so if you have any ideas, please let me know!

but here is the real kicker.

two of my favorite current musicians covered this song.

here's laura marling and mumford & sons covering jolene.

my heart

can barely 

contain itself.

so so so so so wonderful.

i hope you love this as much as i do. 

ah.

and i can easily understand,

how you can easily take my man.

but you don't know what he means to me jolene.

love in good old bluegrass music.

christian 

edit:

i just found this video of justin vernon (bon iver) and st. vincent also covering jolene.

this one is a little bit slower, and less bluegrassy.

but it still goes to show how wonderful the song is that four of my favorites would cover it!

Comments

[Alice Christian]

Alice is very proud of you for doing the reading. Also, what an incredible conversation. See, writing those research papers at Furman do come in handy in the most extraordinary ways!

[Account Deleted]

I love reading these posts. Seriously I do. because I literally picture and hear you saying the things that you write down. It is surreal and it is like you are here. Which I wish you were, but I'm also glad that you are learning/growing/missing us/experiencing/loving everything about it. When we move in on Sunday, I will be thinking of you and how great our Harry Potter themed side of the apartment is going to look.