Drawing from her own childhood within the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, Dolly Parton has constructed an empire. Celebrating her eightieth birthday earlier this yr, the buoyant blonde singer-songwriter has gained quite a few awards for each music and performing, constructed an estimated internet price of $500 million, and spearheaded many philanthropic efforts. And that illustrious profession formally kicked off 67 years in the past (April 20), when a file label primarily based in Lake Charles, Louisiana, launched her first single, “Puppy Love”.
Dolly Parton Released Her First Song at 13 Years Old
A candy homage to the complexities of younger love, Dolly Parton co-wrote “Puppy Love” with her uncle, Bill Owens, when she was simply 11 years outdated.
In March 1959, a 13-year-old Parton headed to southwestern Louisiana along with her grandmother, Rena Owens, to file the music at Goldband Records. Of the 30-hour bus trip, she later recalled, “I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way the inside of that bus smelled. It was a combination of diesel fuel, Naugahyde, and people who were going places.”
You can see glimpses of Parton’s storytelling acumen even then. Sometimes you gained’t even carry my books / The subsequent time you see me, rag on my seems / You’re meaner to me than a imply ol’ criminal / But I have to confess I’m actually hooked.
[RELATED: 3 Times Dolly Parton Got Experimental With Her Music (And Succeeded Flawlessly)]
The First Time She Heard Herself on the Radio
Despite receiving minor airplay, “Puppy Love” didn’t attain the charts.
Still, for a teenager rising up in a one-room log cabin, nothing beats your first time listening to your individual voice coming over the airwaves. In her 2020 e book Songteller, Dolly Parton wrote she “about killed myself.”
“I was sitting up on the counter, and the radio was on,” she recalled. “I jumped off the counter and slid and fell trying to get to the radio to turn it up.”
However, Donny Osmond would later record a version that hit No. 1 on the UK charts in July 1972.
The 10-time CMA Award winner would carry out “Puppy Love” dwell throughout her canine style present, Dolly Parton’s Pet Gala, in February 2024. She later uploaded a new model of the music—dubbed “Billy’s Version” in honor of her god canine—to her official YouTube.
Featured picture by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
