50 years old? That's right! Decades later, Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' is still empowering

Had Dolly Parton's "Jolene" not hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in the first week of February 50 years ago, it's an easy-to-argue point that the superstardom that found the Country Music and Rock & Roll hall of famer with a 2023 rock album that debuted at No. 1 on six different Billboard charts would not have been possible.

Five decades later, contextualizing the success that "Jolene" spurred for Parton in 1974 against both history and the genre's modern era is stunning.

It's vital to frame the song's empowerment from a songwriting and hit-making perspective because 2023 closed with the number of country radio chart-toppers halved from three years prior dovetailing with the country music industry now servicing a male-driven and aspirational youth movement defined by artists like Morgan Wallen and Bailey Zimmerman.

Songs written by women for women are more important now than ever.

Thus, a conversation with Renee Blair — a singer-songwriter whose work with HARDY, Hunter Phelps and Jordan Schmidt yielded double-platinum-selling and multiple-time award-winning success for HARDY and his collaborator Lainey Wilson — and Laura Veltz, herself a multiple-time chart-topping, award-winning and Grammy-nominated songwriter, is essential.

Parton, Musgraves maintain a voice for women at the pinnacle of male-dominated country music

Eight women — Lynn Anderson, Donna Fargo, Loretta Lynn, Melba Montgomery, Anne Murray, Parton, Tanya Tucker and Tammy Wynette — had No. 1 country hits in 1974.

Parton achieving four No. 1 hits in 1974 — "Jolene" as well as "I Will Always Love You," "Please Don't Stop Loving Me" (with Porter Wagoner) and "Love Is Like a Butterfly" — ensured that a female voice was at country music's pinnacle once every four weeks.

It was a critical moment in the genre for women that Parton replicated with the success of "Here You Come Again," "Heartbreaker" and "Islands in the Stream" (with Kenny Rogers) in the three times in the decade that followed where female voices played a larger-than-average role in defining country music's governing culture.

In 2023, Kacey Musgraves' appearance on Zach Bryan's duet "I Remember Everything" spurred country sales appeal similar to Parton's "Jolene" era of success. Gabby Barrett, Lady A (which includes Hillary Scott), Mackenzie Porter (alongside Dustin Lynch), Carrie Underwood (paired with Jason Aldean) and Lainey Wilson achieved No. 1 status on country radio in 2021.

Veltz offers a matter-of-fact answer when presented with the notion that generational history in country music's mainstream cites firmly controlling the aesthetic and culture of the genre for, at maximum, 23% of the time, as a dominant expectation.

"Women are so seldom heard that we are forced to take risks to consistently go above and beyond the call of duty," she says.

Navigating for power of "Jolene" and Parton's continuing influence amid a rising tide of women counteracting a perpetual tide of male-dominated art in country music feels imperative.

Parton's persistence yields acclaim

Parton's success expanding from "Jolene" to "Rockstar" is fascinating when considering that, as she told the Austin American-Statesman in 1975, in Nashville, her "small, country and high-pitched" voice was considered more attuned to "rockabilly" than the contemporary fare for which she became best-regarded.

"I knew they thought I was dumb," Parton added. "I wrote, the same as I do now, country, but they arranged it different. They laughed at the way I talked. I took it personal; it bothered me."

Said Village Voice critic Robert Christgau: "'Jolene' proves that sometimes (Parton is) a great singer-songwriter. 'I Will Always Love You' proves that sometimes she's a good one."

He characterized the sweet spot of Parton's pen as existing between "mawkish melodramas" and "psychological complexities."

"If you write them down, then even the hurtin' things don't hurt anymore," Parton told The New York Times in 1976.

In one statement, the strength of living to tell the tale, which has guided women in country music's mainstream for 50 years, becomes apparent.

A 'hyperbolized, yet everyday, shockwave'

Veltz speaks of the power of Parton songs like "Jolene" to make vulnerability into a "hyperbolized, yet everyday, shockwave."

To the co-writer of Maren Morris' "The Bones," the ability to work with and through dynamic emotions is a "tool belt" skill required to excel at the songwriting craft.

"Jolene" starts by lamenting that Parton is not as beautiful as her paramour. Then the perspective boomerangs to being not about physical appeal but about the fundamental life disruption, to the point of destruction, caused by heartbreak.

Veltz says "Jolene" is timeless because it is a story told as a compilation of feelings driven by fitting the "distilled, essential bits" of her unique story into "universal realities."

The specificity of the unattainable beauty of "flaming locks of auburn hair" and "ivory skin and eyes of emerald green" causing panicked pleading to solve someone else's unresolved emotional state is profound.

Blair feels "Jolene" "transcends pop trends of the era it was created, or any era in history," because it delves into "honest insecurity and unparalleled fear."

"I don't know what Dolly was going through (when she wrote 'Jolene'), but removing the appearance of brave confidence (only happens) when you're really going through it.

"I can't think of anyone who has named their daughter Jolene since 1974," Blair jokes.

States Veltz: "Being not good enough for a stealable man is the (antithesis) of flexing about how amazing you are. Taking seeing two women — a bank teller and a grocery store checkout clerk — to that level of a jealous, emotional place is remarkable."

How does 'Jolene' still impact Nashville's songwriter community?

Veltz says that, especially for women, Parton's ability to access her most profound emotions and make them appealing to demographics not acutely defined by age or social background has become part of the job of being a top-tier Nashville songwriter.

"Every day, we must be empathetic enough to connect with (anyone's) core emotions," Veltz says.

To Blair, "Jolene" is impressive on multiple levels as an emotion-driven endeavor.

"Dolly made a powerhouse move because she was among a class of singer-songwriters who likely created a really competitive environment," Blair says. "The motivation to want to work past your fears and be more emotionally present definitely feels necessary."

In the years before "Jolene" was released, Parton consistently ranked in the top 20 on country music albums and singles charts.

"Jolene" was Parton's second chart-topper and keyed the album into the genre's top 10.

Veltz cites Ingrid Andress of "More Hearts Than Mine" fame as a chart-topping country singer-songwriter who discovered new angles for Parton-style aggressive self-exploration.

She believes Andress' success with her COVID-19 quarantine-era single "reset the bar" by expanding narratives and examining how heartbreak impacts family and friend dynamics.

Dig deeper and she cites the ability of Megan Moroney's "Tennessee Orange" to examine the same notion from a different scope as "kicking the can further down the road" that Parton set upon five decades prior.

"In Nashville, there's absolutely money in writing the same thing over and over again. However, when we ask more of our craft as songwriters, we (instead) create wild moments in history" like "Jolene."

Blair punctuates that point.

"Songs that resonate forever do so because you've trusted yourself and the universe to touch, inside your soul, something bigger than yourself."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Decades later, Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' highlights songwriting prowess