Dolly Parton‘s recent death at 80 (8/25) marked an irreplaceable loss for the world of music and popular culture. Her legacy as a songwriter, performer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist stands in a rarified class of its own. TALKERS founder Michael Harrison experienced what he describes as the “pleasure and honor” of meeting Dolly Parton one time… but their encounter played a historic role in a pivotal turn in her career. Harrison recalls, “It was almost 50 years ago. I was the managing editor of the industry trade publication Radio & Records and an influencer in the world of Album Oriented Rock radio as a personality on AOR giant KMET, Los Angeles. At the time, Dolly was the undisputed queen of country music… but she had not yet crossed over to the broader world of pop, let alone rock.”
In early 1977, RCA Records released a new country-ISH album by Parton titled New Harvest First Gathering with the hope of expanding her media footprint from exclusively country to pop and even rock radio without damaging her established base. In a promotional effort to achieve that goal, RCA recruited Harrison to interview her about her life, career, and the new album, track by track, and sent it out to hundreds of rock and pop stations. Harrison states, “She was absolutely fantastic!” Needless to say, the strategy was successful, and the promotional interview, pressed on 33 1/3 vinyl, got tons of airplay on scores of stations that never would have even thought about playing Dolly Parton. It set the stage for the title track of her next album titled “Here You Come Again,” released later in 1977, to become her first crossover hit.
Harrison recalls, “I had recorded several promotional interview albums for record companies at that time with rock artists such as George Harrison to accompany the hoopla surrounding the release of their new albums without them having to do hundreds of live interviews across the nation. But the idea of doing this kind of thing with an established country music figure as Dolly Parton outside that format was somewhat daunting to say the least. Regardless, all’s well that ends well. My interview with Dolly was well-received by even some of the most ardent rockers on the FM dial.”