Almost a week later, the world is still mourning Dolly Parton, who sold more than 100 million records and whose songwriting power and iron-handed approach to her career transformed country music and the larger entertainment industry.

Parton’s life was a female Horatio Alger story. Born into abject poverty in the East Tennessee mountains, at a time when being poor and female was a double disadvantage, she went on to conquer the entertainment industry and the larger world with her talent, charm, authenticity, generosity, and magnetic personality.

The fourth of twelve children, Parton was no stranger to adversity. All aspects of her life, from the songs she sang and her specific social activism to her unvarnished downhome wit, occasional ribald humor and fierce independence, personified her impoverished upbringing. Her music and persona connected with those suffering in silence or solitude, despite the hopeful messages such songs conveyed.

The most sustaining parts of her legacy are the emotions she deftly captured in song. Some of her most popular hits depicted pivotal situations from her life in contemporary era stories.

“Coat of Many Colors” narrates a period in her impoverished youth when her mother assembled rags to make a coat that her classmates teased her about. The sexy bank teller with “flaming locks of auburn hair” who focused her attention on her husband in “Jolene” was revelatory in its gut-wrenching drama and blatant, heart-aching confession of vulnerability and personal insecurity. The realization we have outgrown one another was the unmistakable message in “I Will Always Love You,” as she made it clear to her mentor and business manager, Porter Wagoner. The song sold more than 20 million copies when the late mega-successful singer Whitney Houston recorded it for the 1992 film The Bodyguard, further cementing Parton as an influential, genre-defying artist.

Artists such as Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn had conquered the pop charts earlier. Lynn, largely considered as the first lady of country music, was indeed an indisputable pioneer of the genre. Nonetheless, it would be hard to deny that Dolly Parton helped take country music to a new level. With her massive crossover signature hit “9–5,” also a hit film, and her smash duet “Islands in the Stream” with co-superstar Kenny Rogers, the impact of her presence was undeniable. By the early 1980s, numerous radio stations switched their format to country music and country music artists such as Eddie Rabbit, Juice Newton, and others who were occasionally topping the pop charts. Prior to such a renaissance, the genre had dedicated yet limited appeal outside of rural areas and niche markets. Even today, contemporary artists such as Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Beyoncé, and Chappell Roan recognize Parton’s influence.

Her public stances on social issues were initially often subtle, although one could begin to discern her position as time progressed. While she never referred to herself as a feminist, her actions demonstrated that she embraced the movement’s philosophy.

Her progressive stances were not lost on the Black community. Following Whitney Houston’s death in 2012, Parton invested the royalties she earned from Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You” (an estimated $10 million) into an office complex in a Black neighborhood in Nashville, calling it “the house that Whitney built.”

The LGBTQIA+ community, another marginalized population, adored Dolly Parton, and she returned such admiration by telling people they had the right to be their true selves. She also quietly fostered change using her fortune. In 1986, she opened the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., which became the region’s major job provider.

Despite not being a parent, she was unrelenting in her fabulous efforts to help children. In 1995, she launched Dolly’s Imagination Library. Originating in her native Sevier County and then expanding throughout the nation, the program mails a book each month to children from birth to age five to encourage literacy and a love of reading. Furthering her altruistic spirit, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she donated $1 million to help fund the development of a vaccine. My own institution was the recipient of her kindness.

A savvy and formidable entrepreneur, her imprint was evident everywhere from food and alcohol to wine, desserts, and clothing. She even opened a truck stop. A hotel bearing her name will open in Nashville later this year. During a 60 Minutes interview in 2009, she stated, “By the time they think that I don’t know what’s going on, I’ve done got the money and gone.” As she made it clear, she was no “dumb blonde.”

The world has lost an immensely influential icon. Dolly Parton was an artist, humanitarian, philanthropist, businessperson and all-around Renaissance woman who endeared herself to people from varied walks of life as well as across the political spectrum. Her life was nothing short of extraordinary.