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Billy Dean Joined Preston To Talk About His Friend Dolly Parton · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You know, we mentioned earlier that when you look at
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the life of Dolly Parton and you look from beginning
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to end, what you see is a life well lived.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: And joining us is a friend of the program. It's
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: been a while since we've chatted, but Billy Dean, how
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: are you, sir?
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Preston, I'm doing pretty good, man. It's been a. you know,
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: kind of a downer the last couple of days, because
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: none of us really expected this, you know, with Dolly passing.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: In fact, we just heard from her office a couple
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: of months ago, you know, she was opening a hotel
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: and a museum there in Nashville in the next couple
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: of months, and I was going up to kind of
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: reconnect with her, you know, and hadn't seen her in
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: a while, and they were showing some clips of this
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: movie we did in the museum, and And and so
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: I was going to go up there for the for
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: the opening of that hotel and see her. And so
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: we but it doesn't surprise me that that she kept
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: this private and in a secret, you know, and until
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: after her death. And I know she had a little short.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: battle with cancer. But I'll tell you, Preston, I guarantee you,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know this for sure at all, but my
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: guess is she probably got diagnosed with that and then
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: just said, you know, I'm not going to do the chemo.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to lose my hair. I'm not going
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: to go without makeup. You know, she was probably, she's
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: just that tough, you know, facing it with some dignity.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Where did your paths first cross?
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Well, I was working a lot with Kenny Rogers. You know,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: when I got to Nashville, everybody kind of saw me
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: as a As a crossover country artist, you know, like
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I was a balladeer and I reminded a lot of
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: people of Kenny Rogers. And Kenny and I got to
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: be really good friends. It took a lot of years
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: of working Christmas shows together. We would, you know, do
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: about 20, 25 shows around Christmas season in like 26 days.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: It was a grueling experience. schedule, and I got to
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: know Dolly through Kenny, and she calls me up one
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: day and says, Billy Dean, I'm doing a movie in Nashville.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: It's about my life, a little TV movie, and I
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: see you and Kenny are off the road. And it'd
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: take about three weeks, and I would love for you
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: to be in my movie. And I said, well, Dolly,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I've never done any acting. I've done some country music videos.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: I don't know a thing about acting. And she said, well,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: let me just put it to you this way. Your
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: character and my character have a love scene. And I said, well,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: I'll see you on Monday. I think how much how
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: much acting experience do you need to to have a
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: love scene with Dolly Parton? No acting involved. Right.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I love the story. I'd seen that and I was
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: just curious. So that's where you first crossed paths was
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: through Kenny Rogers. And and and yet this friendship sort
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of continued throughout both of your lives.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: It did because I think, you know, Preston, I think
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: both Dolly and Kenny, you know, they had had, you know,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: two or three lives in their careers, you know, where
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: there were opportunities to kind of go to the next
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: level and they kind of, you know, there were obstacles
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: in the way, you know, Porter Wagner didn't want, you know,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Dolly to leave that Porter Wagner show and her, you know,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: her career was taken off and, Kenny Rogers had that
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: first edition and thought everything was going well with those
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: three or four hits that they had. Then it just
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: all stopped. I think people like myself, they really tried
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: to help get to the next level. I've had about
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: 10 years of radio airplay and everything. And I wanted
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: to try my hand at acting, you know, and one
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: of the hardest things to do is to land that
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: first role. You know, people don't want to hire you
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: unless you've done something. Well, you can't, you can't get
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: hired unless you've done something, you know, it was what
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: catch 22 and Dolly gave me that role. in Blue
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Valley Songbird. It was a really good role. And she
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: knew it wasn't a stretch because I'll play the songwriter
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: in there and trying to get started. And we both identified,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: I believe, as songwriters first. And she gave me that
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: opportunity to get on film and do that with her
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: and hopes that maybe, you know, it would turn into
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: some other things. And it did. But I just fell
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: in love with storytelling and songwriting. I felt, you know,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I'm really a singer-songwriter more than I'm an actor. But
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: I did get a chance to do that because of her.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: You know, one of the great things about music, a
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: skill that I do not possess, is that it lasts
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: literally forever. And when you think of Dolly Parton, she
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: had one of the singular most unique voices ever. Not
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: just in country music, in any type of music. Billie,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: as someone that sang with Dolly Parton, how challenging was
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: it to sing with her, to harmonize with her because
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: of the unique quality of her voice?
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Man, it was like the difference between, you know, a
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: high school athlete and a pro athlete. You know, it
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: was very acrobatical what she would do, and it was
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: very natural. And I realized, trying to sing in the studio,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: all those little curls, follow all her little harmony lines,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: that she was an absolute genius at recording. And she
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: was a genius, period. I don't think a lot of people,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: a lot of people maybe underestimated her, you know, because
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: This little country girl from the Appalachian, you know, but
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: she was a musical genius and a musical genius at communicating.
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  Speaker 2: And to me, what that takes is someone who's willing
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  Speaker 2: to completely communicate. be vulnerable and expose themselves. You know,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: a lot of artists, to me, that's what I learned
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: from working with people like that is that you had
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: to absolutely be, you know, exposed to really get to
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: the emotion and the heart of what you were singing about.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: And it came so naturally for her because she was,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: you know, she led with her heart. She was just
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: walking sunshine, as they say, you know. But now you
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: put her in a boardroom. I heard, you know, you
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: put her in a boardroom with a business suit, and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: she's tough as nails, you know. And she transformed the
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: entire Appalachian, you know, that impoverished area over there in
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: East Tennessee, which actually my great-grandfather, that's where our family
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: was from, was Sevierville. uh, in that area before they
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: ever moved to Florida. So I really identified with that
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: area and to be able to play Dollywood so many
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: times and, and see her over there and, and see
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: what she had done for that community. That was really her,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I think her, her pinnacle of her dream was to
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: help her people.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: You know, we talked earlier in the program today, Billy,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: about your appearance and those of you just tuning in
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Billy Dean with us for just a couple more minutes.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: about her business acumen, but her philanthropic giving, her ability
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: to transform other people's lives. She was a multifaceted person
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: across the board.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: She was. And let me tell you about the thing
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: that I've observed watching her throughout her life, giving back
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: and teaching us young kids, you know, this is important.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: You get to, you know, much is given, much is expected.
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  Speaker 2: But you didn't– she tried to keep that very quiet.
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  Speaker 2: She didn't want the credit, right? She didn't want anybody
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: patting her on the back for what she was doing.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: She wanted the attention focused on the results of what
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: she was doing, and she felt like it– Too much
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: attention for the philanthropy would take the blessing away. We
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: all know her faith was what got her through everything.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: And that's another thing. I always felt like if we
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: ever did things for charity, to just kind of keep
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: it on the hush-hush. Or it might just take the
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: blessing away. I really admired her for that. It was
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: about the result of the work and not who was
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: doing it.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned her faith. She kind of enjoyed a
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: renaissance in her career from a recording standpoint, doing some
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Christian music with Zach Williams and others. It became another, well,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: there's Dolly back singing in the studio.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Boy, I heard that cut the other day that Zach
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Williams and her, someone played that for me. And I, man,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: I teared up. That was one of the most incredible
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: pieces I've heard. And what was really great to me
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: was even at the age that she was, she still
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: sounded like she was 20 years old. I don't know how,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: you know, I know the body wears out, but Dolly's voice,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: was from another world. It didn't sound aged or old,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: and none of her chops went away that I could tell.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: And that's just from a work ethic. It's a muscle.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: If you don't keep exercising it, it goes away, and
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: it just shows you that she worked right up until
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  Speaker 2: the end.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I think it's safe to say there will never be
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: another one like her.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: You said it when you said it was one-of-a-kind, unique.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: And I was thinking, where did she get that sound from?
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: And I'm guessing this, but it might be a Mother Maybell,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: you know, that Mother Maybell, the Carter family. That's what
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking. She played the auto harp, and so did Dolly,
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: and it was very Appalachian. But she was one-of-a-kind, and
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: there will never be another one like her.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Billy, thanks for making a little time for us this morning.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Good to hear your voice again. Friend,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: take care.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: You are my friend. Thank you, Preston. Keep rocking on, buddy.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Thank you, sir. Billy Dean with us this morning on
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: The Morning Show with Preston Scott. The intersection where I'm at, Billy,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: is through Marvin Goldstein. Interesting. Totally different styles of music,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: and they've recorded a lot. of music together over the
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: years and done some special events together. And I've gotten
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: to know Billy through Marvin and just a wonderful guy.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: And he is not aged. He still looks really good
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: and he sounds terrific. And so good to have Billy
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: with us on the program.