Dolly Parton is portrayed as having challenged restrictive expectations of women in country music by combining glamour, commercial ambition, songwriting and control over her public image. Commentators said her career mattered because it widened ideas about what female performers could be without abandoning femininity, regional identity or personal authority.

The article says Parton, one of 12 children raised in rural Tennessee, drew on poverty and family values in songs such as “Coat of Many Colors”. Psychologist Tracy King argued that Parton turned traits others might have dismissed—her accent, appearance and background—into strengths, using humour and a deliberately crafted image while retaining ownership of her story.