My first encounter with her music, however, came in the 1990's, when I, like every other pre pubescent school girl became a fan of Australian band Frente, thanks to their catchy pop number Accidentally Kelly Street.
While I can't remember a single thing I learnt for my Year 12 Human Biology exam, I can still sing that song word for word.
Anyway I was given the single for Christmas that year, or perhaps it was my birthday? It was a tape of course in those days, and on the B side was a song called Here You Come Again. I loved that song even more than Accidentally Kelly Street and it got a fair amount of air time that summer at our holiday house.
While I explained to my parents how talented this Australian band Frente was, Dad did his usual job of raining on the parade. "They didn't write that song, Dolly Parton did. And she sung it well too, not like that woman with the nose ring."
(I think he would have like the cover better if Angie Hart didn't have a nose ring.)
This was a little bit of deja vu. A couple of years earlier I'd had a similar infatuation with Whitney Houston and what I thought was her song, I Will Always Love You.
On that occassion, Dad had been quick to point me in the right direction. "Dolly Parton wrote this and her version is far, far better."
After rifling through Mum and Dad's record collection, I realised he was in fact right. Dolly wasn't just all about the boobs.
And so begun my love affair with Dolly.
An affair helped along of course by statements Ms Parton made, like "Dumb blonde jokes don't offend me, because I know I'm not dumb. I also know I'm not blonde."
My kind of lady.
P.S Look how beautiful she was.
love Dolly. That is all.
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