Welcome to PhDolly! PhDolly is what I’m using to refer to my PhD and a range of activities connected with it. I have recently started my PhD at Newcastle University in their Music Department about Dolly Parton. PhDolly covers this blog where I hope to showcase great Dolly Parton songs as well as celebrate great country music outside of Dolly; my Twitter and Instagram profiles; and my radio show on Newcastle Student Radio Saturdays 5-6pm. If you love or are curious about country music tune in, and if you have any requests message any of the social media accounts below!
So where did PhDolly come from? I have always loved popular music and particularly how it connects with ideas of identity. As a teenager I discovered the music of stereotypical gay icons: Madonna, Cher and Celine Dion. I also discovered Dolly Parton, who although resonated with me in a similar way to the other singers, but there were ways in which Dolly Parton differed.
Whilst the counter-cultural appeal of Madonna and the euphoric style of Cher and Celine made me look ahead to a better time, Dolly Parton made me reflect and work on things closer to my own home, with a mix of nostalgia and brave realism it helped me negotiate my school life, home life and family dynamics. When I was 17/18 and preparing to move away from home for the first time, it was then that country music really made an impression on me as a genre. In particular, the 90s feminist country: with artists like Mary Chapin Carpenter; Dixie Chicks and Faith Hill (just to name a few). These singers interrogated what home means, whilst also feeling restricted and wanting to move away from it. With strong emphasis on narrative and a vocal style focused on accent, character, and expression, my experiences of coming out and finding my place in the world found no better home than in country music.
I ended up studying English Literature at Sheffield University, not Music as I did not and still do not possess any musical talent, and did not really contemplate the possibility of being able to study Popular Music; however I was able to engage with writing around gender and sexuality. By the time I was doing my Masters, and I was fortunate that the Sexual Dissidence MA at Sussex University was incredibly open to texts of any kind, I decided to write many of my essays on Popular Music: Tori Amos, Madonna and Dixie Chicks.
Three years, a full time job and a trip to Nashville and Dollywood later I am now embarking on my PhD(olly). At the heart of this is exploring how country music and Dolly Parton in particular has queer potential. Country music is often dismissed as inherently homophobic and bigoted, and I am acutely aware of a number of these issues related to the development of country music as a genre and the current industry, however I believe country music is a more complex picture. Much of this I hope to explore throughout the next three years in this blog, my thesis and my radio show. I don’t have all the answers yet, but I will provide two opening thoughts for now:
1. Social class:
It is worth bearing in mind the way in which class and particularly the figure of the white working class is figured as a way for middle class listeners and listeners of other genres to scapegoat their own homophobia, racism and bigotry that exists in society at large.
2. Country’s actual audiences
Dolly Parton clearly has a large LGBT+ fanbase and indeed there are studies that indicate country music’s popularity worldwide across different groups of people.
So country music and Dolly Parton herself offer a useful way to engage with and offer constructive challenge to ongoing social, academic and political debates. Most notably the master narrative around LGBT+ lives that in order to be happy LGBT+ people must leave their family home and move to a large metropolitan city (London, Brighton, San Francisco, New York to name a few). Further, with Brexit and Donald Trump we see people caricature and misrepresent the white working class and former industrial and ‘left behind’ areas of these countries, and by extension misunderstand country music as well. Most importantly of all, the quality and variety of Dolly Parton’s music itself, makes it worthy of study. From bluegrass ballads, to disco; folk-inspired country to country-pop anthems, Dolly Parton’s material is socially conscious; has a powerful knack for telling stories; and sung with a voice that can fill you with warmth one minute and leave your heart aching the next. (Listen to Dolly Parton’s I will Always Love You and you’ll hear just that!)
I aim to produce a new blog each month, and PhDolly radio show will air every Saturday at 5pm on Newcastle Student Radio, and my PhD will be at least three years away (but I hope that my studies should inform my content on here!) So if nothing else, I hope you will give Dolly Parton and country music another listen, and engage in dialogue with me along the way!
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