Dolly Parton Recalls Her Most Embarrassing Moment on Stage

Dolly Parton might be a seasoned professional, but even she has had a few embarrassing moments on stage, especially early in her career. The 72-year-old recalled one moment that will forever, unfortunately, be etched in her mind.

“I hate being embarrassed,” Parton conceded on the Ty, Kelly and Chuck show. “Times on stage in the early days; I remember I was working with Porter Wagoner, and it was before I wore the full wigs. I had a little hairpiece on top. I always sprayed my hair a lot.”

Unfortunately, the band included a “hyper fiddle player” who moved around all over the stage, including perilously close to Parton.

“He was playing a thing and he was jumping around, and he got his fiddle bow stuck underneath my hair, and lifted it up. There were just enough strands and hair spray to keep it in place, but you could see through it, I’m sure. But it stayed, thank God for that! It was kind of embarrassing.”

Parton is lending her musical talents to the upcoming Netflix film, Dumplin’, starring Jennifer Aniston, based on a book of the same name, about a young girl who draws inspiration from Parton. Although Parton is already one of the busiest people in entertainment, including her music career, her Dollywood theme park and working on the 9 to 5 sequel with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, she didn’t hesitate to write new music for the upcoming film.

“Jennifer Aniston called and said, ‘Would you be interested in writing some new music for this movie that I’m doing?’” Parton recounted. “And I said, ‘Well, absolutely.’ They wanted me to be in it, they wanted me to be in producing, but I said, ‘No, I think that would be too self-serving, because it’s about me. I’d feel weird about that. But I think doing the music would make sense.”

The Tennessee native doesn’t have much free time, but she isn’t going to complain about that fact.

“People ask, ‘How do you work all the time?’ Because I dreamed myself into a corner and I have to be responsible to those dreams,” Parton explained. “And I couldn’t be happier, because every dream I have brings on a new dream, like a tree with deep roots and branches and a lot of leaves, and every time something happens it makes something else happens. I like being there, but it is a big responsibility.”

A track list for the Dumplin’ soundtrack has yet to be released, but Aniston previously hinted that she might try to sing a duet with the country music icon for the film. Parton also sang with Sia on a song, “Here I Am” from the upcoming film, which is available for download on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Jason LaVeris