The Book Lady of Sevierville

by Tamara Saviano

Dolly Parton has earned a lot of titles in her enduring career: international star, singer, actress, songwriter. But to Olivia Bouknight, 6, of Sevierville, Tenn., Dolly simply is “the book lady.”

That’s because every month, Olivia, her brother Robert, 2, and each Sevier County preschooler get a new hardback book in their mailbox, courtesy of Dolly. Her “Imagination Library,” a program created to encourage reading at an early age, is a 60-volume library that begins with the birth of every child and continues until they’re 5. Olivia’s infant brother, Ryan, recently received his first book, The Little Engine That Could, along with a bookcase to hold his expanding library.

“It was so much fun to watch Olivia get her books each month. It really changed her,” her mother, Jennifer Bouknight, says. “The funniest thing was, when we saw Dolly in person one time, Olivia said, ‘Is that the book lady?’ She has no concept of Dolly being a superstar. She just knows that it’s been her who has sent her a book every month of her life.”

The “book lady” long ago left Sevierville, nestled in the foothills of east Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, to capture fame and fortune. But, the caring, nurturing spirit instilled in her by her large, loving family reaches into nearly every Sevier County household each time a young child picks up one of her books.

“Most of my family is still there,” Dolly says. “It never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t stay close to my family and my home. I didn’t leave home because I wanted to get away from it; I left because I wanted to do everything I could do to bring honor to my family and to be able to help them and the people in my home area. I’m proud of my home and my people.”

Dolly left her mountain home just days after she graduated from high school in 1964 and headed for Nashville, dreaming of the Grand Ole Opry. While Dolly’s dreams of stardom were coming true, she kept the promise to herself—always to remember where she came from and the people who loved her.

Three decades of giving

Shortly after beginning her show business career, Dolly began giving back to her community. “I’ve always been involved in trying to help the kids in my hometown,” Dolly says. “We started the scholarship foundation in 1970. I would do benefit shows in Sevierville and the proceeds would be used for scholarships. Then we felt like we should do more, so we got more involved in medical stuff at the hospital, and then we started the buddy program to try to get kids to stay in school because we had a very high dropout rate.” That program, whereby students encouraged each other, helped reduce the county’s dropout rate from 35 percent to 14.6 percent.

Dolly’s Imagination Library, begun in November 1995, targets younger children. “We started concentrating on the smaller kids when they are most impressionable,” Dolly says. “In that part of the country, some of the parents can’t even read. My own father couldn’t read. He was so proud of me for working with the education in that area. A lot of parents are learning to read by working with their children. It’s good to be able to help.”

Dolly’s help extends far beyond the educational. When she opened her theme park, Dollywood, in nearby Pigeon Forge 16 years ago, it brought an economic blessing to the area that even Dolly didn’t expect.

“Dollywood has been a good business for me, but it’s also helped that area and provided many, many jobs for my family and my people. It’s something I did for my neighbors, and I’m thrilled that it’s worked out this way.”

Everybody helped everybody

On this particular afternoon, Dolly is sitting comfortably in her office complex near Music Row in Nashville. Her showbiz look—glamorous makeup, blond hair, signature micro-mini skirt, and high heels—contradict the unassuming, earthy Dolly the people closest to her know and love, and her warmth is as sincere and natural as the mountains she calls home.

Dolly Rebecca Parton is the fourth child born to Robert Lee Parton and Avie Lee Owens on Jan. 19, 1946. Her natural talent came from her great-grandmother, her family says. “Everybody called her Mammy. She smoked a cob pipe, played the dulcimer, and she made up stories about things that was goin’ on in the family and turned ’em into songs,” Dolly says. “My family says I’m a lot like her in the way that I use the old mountain melodies—even a song that’s brand new sounds like it’s old. Mammy created a lot of her own music. She would take her feelings, her own heartbreak, and write it up, and I’m able to do that, too. I’ve always been grateful for that gift.”

Her father worked hard farming and doing odd jobs to put food on the table, and though the Partons were poor, Dolly recalls a happy childhood filled with love.

“We were mountain people; we didn’t live in town,” Dolly says. “It was very much like what you see on old movies. Our homes were scattered around, and everyone walked to church and school. We banded together as a community to help each other. If someone needed help, they would ring the bell at the church and everybody would meet at the church to see how they could help. People were glad to help. There were 12 of us kids, and we were very poor—proud but poor.

“There was this old woman named Evie Barnes who would sometimes have extra milk and butter, and she’d say to my mama, ‘If you want some of that milk and butter, send them younguns over to get it.’ There were people that would give us extra vegetables out of their gardens. The neighbors would get together for a barn raisin’. Everybody helped everybody. The people are so sweet and kind and so deep and gentle. It’s kept me sane through the years, staying in touch with my home.

“I’m proud of my home,” Dolly continues, her voice soft but emphatic. “I was never ashamed of my people when I was with them, and I would never be ashamed of them now. It’s the one thing that has kept me down-home, kept me honest, kept me fair, kept me having a good time in my life. No matter where I am in the world, all I have to do is close my eyes and think about home and it takes me back there. When I pick up my guitar to write, the first natural thing I do is start humming one of those old mountain songs and think about home. I’ve traveled all over the world, and my home is still the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. I really believe it’s one of the greatest places in the world.”

With the recent death of her father, Dolly’s connection to her hometown has been especially sweet.

“When my daddy died, I can’t begin to tell you what a strange, unusual, rewarding time it was,” Dolly says with tears in her eyes. “It was such a shock when he died, and everyone loved Daddy. He was one of those people who could borrow money at the bank strictly on his name. He could put things on credit at the grocery store. Everyone knew Lee Parton would definitely keep his word.

“The night at the funeral home, the place was full. Everyone had come to see Daddy and pay their respects to Daddy’s family; everybody I ever knew—the kids and grandchildren of the families I knew. It was like Daddy’s passing had so much magic in it—a spiritual thing that brought all these people together that we needed to see. The sweetness of that really touched us. I cried as much over that as I did over Daddy. It was just amazing. The stories they told about Daddy … my daddy was really quiet and those stories are treasures to me. I’ve already written some things from them. One of the lines in one of my songs is ‘They say that you’re dead, but to me you’ve never been more alive.’ When you have a great spirit like my daddy did, well, I can still feel him.”

Back-home music

After recording more than 70 albums and acting in feature films such as 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias, Dolly says she’s finally able to record the music that means the most to her—mountain music. Her latest record, Little Sparrow, is a tribute to her home on Locust Ridge and is dedicated to her father’s memory.

“It’s just great to be able to sing from the heart without a bunch of record people and managers telling me what to do,” Dolly says passionately. “This is the music I love. It comes straight from my heart, straight from my gut, and straight from my psyche—it’s imbedded in my Smoky Mountain DNA.”

The music is reminiscent of her life in Sevierville. “It takes me back to standing there when I was a little girl in front of the mike at the old radio stations when I used to go around singing songs,” she says. “It’s good to stay in touch with your roots. Sometimes you just run so fast you almost meet yourself coming back. It’s good to just be still for awhile, and it restores my soul. It makes me feel like I’ve done an honest day’s singing.”

At 55, Dolly Parton shows no signs of slowing down. She’s as committed to her craft, her business, and her home as she’s ever been—perhaps even more so.

“I love life,” she says. “It ain’t as glamorous as it looks and it ain’t always been easy, but it’s a good life, and I hope to have a lot more of it.”

As do all the pre-schoolers in Sevier County—who every month get a book in the mail that helps enable them to lead a more educated life

To Dolly Parton, fame and fortune don’t separate you from your hometown and home people; they give you tools with which to reach back and help them.

Tamara Saviano is a freelance country music journalist in Nashville, Tenn.

first appeared: 3/25/2001