Paul Sexton’s Live Archive #3: Celebrating Dolly Parton, featuring Hannah White

We’re excited to announce the third edition of music journalist and author Paul Sexton’s series featuring audio from his vast archive of interviews, together with unique live performances. After last year’s instalments on Bonnie Raitt and Robbie Robertson, this time we’re celebrating one of the most beloved stars of all, Dolly Parton. 

Paul has interviewed Dolly on numerous occasions over the past 20 years, and this evening is based around a playback of the best of the 2014 documentary he presented and produced for BBC Radio 2, ‘Dolly’s Jukebox,’ from a delightful meeting with the country legend in Nashville. 

He’ll be joined by our very own, multiple AMA UK Award-winning Hannah White, who’ll perform some of her own favourites from Dolly’s huge catalogue. Entry will be pay what you can afford, starting from free admission but with the option to help our running costs with tickets from £5-£20. A high-quality printed summary of interview highlights, with a personal introduction written by Paul, will also be available.

The interview took place ahead of the release of Dolly’s ‘Blue Smoke’ album, before the world tour that featured her famous performance in the Legends slot at Glastonbury Festival. In the show, she and Paul play and discuss her favourite tracks and artists, both in country music and far beyond. To quote the original publicity for the Radio 2 special:  

“When I get a chance to sit down and listen to music, I just love to pick out some of those old albums,” she says in the programme. “Music is still No. 1 with me. I love that I can make a living, but it’s not the money. I love to work.” 

During the show, Dolly will talk about the heroes and heroines that inspired her own extraordinary path to superstardom, such as George Jones and Kitty Wells. Along the way, she’ll tell us what she makes of her goddaughter Miley Cyrus and how she writes songs herself (“I wouldn’t know a hit if it jumped up and bit me in the butt, I just know what I like”), and there are some surprising revelations among her record choices. Listeners will find out what she thought of the recent country duet in which her name was part of the lyric, and she’ll talk about her longtime friendship with fellow country figurehead Kenny Rogers.

We’ll also hear songs by her favourite new British artist; the 1960s soul legend she loves; the UK singer-songwriter of the ’70s that she loves; and the current country star that reminds Dolly of herself.