Tag Archives: Tennessee

Ain’t Nobody’s Fool, by Martha Ackmann****

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“People don’t come to see me be me. They come to see me be them.”

Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: the Life and Times of Dolly Parton, by Martha Ackman, is a fine biography of one of America’s most iconic musicians. My thanks go to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Dolly began singing as a child, first informally, as children do, but she also understood very early on that this would be her life’s work. Most of her family was musically inclined, but she had a greater talent and a greater need to use it. She also had the right personality for the job; though her early years were filled with deprivation—the song “Coat of Many Colors” does actually describe an early childhood experience that marked her—she was also born with a sunny outlook and determination. For example, when she met the love of her life, Carl Dean, just as she was beginning to be heard on the local radio, she told him that though she loved him, she could not become a traditional wife to him. She would not have supper waiting when he finished work. She would not produce a houseful of children. These are the things that would prevent her from realizing her burning ambition. They were a trap. And happily, Carl—a private man that didn’t listen to country music so much as Led Zeppelin—told her that was just fine with him. He wasn’t going to tag along everywhere and be Mr. Dolly Parton, but they would make it work. And they did.

Fans of Dolly’s might have wondered, as I did, whether we would learn more about the rather mysterious Carl when reading this biography. We will not, apart from seeing Dolly’s philosophy where her marriage was concerned. Though in every other respect she has been open and accessible to the public, Dolly has followed her mother’s advice, that she should find just one thing about her life that she would not share with others, but keep for herself. For Dolly, that’s Carl. The man died last year, but she still keeps Carl, and her memories of their sixty years of marriage, to herself. And I don’t see how we can complain.

Whenever I read a galley, I highlight passages that I think might be suitable to include as quotes in my review. In this case, I highlighted 60! I can’t use them all, but this should give the reader a clue as to how readable this lovely biography is, and how saturated with quotes from Dolly, and from those that know and love her. From her early, sometimes tumultuous years working for and with Porter Wagoner, to the actors that she worked with in movies such as 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias, to her own family members, it’s rich. Another fun fact: by doing some of her recordings in Tennessee, and by creating the massive theme park, Dollywood, she has come close to doubling the GDP of the state of Tennessee!

Many people may not be aware of Dolly’s intellect and savvy business skills. I have read so many musical memoirs and biographies of hugely talented, successful musicians that trusted others to take care of their business matters and accounting, only to discover too late that they’d been robbed. Perhaps my favorite anecdote in this biography is where early on, when she was only starting to be recognized, Colonel Parker, the man that ran Elvis’s career and gutted his finances, came to Dolly to express interest in one of her songs. Elvis wanted to sing “Islands in the Stream.” But he told her sweetly, Elvis is accustomed to receiving the publishing rights to any song he performs. And Dolly, also responding sweetly, told him how sorry she was, but she just didn’t believe in parting with her catalog. Many years later, after she and Kenny Rogers had gone more than platinum with that same song, she said that that song alone made her more than enough money to buy Graceland, at least hypothetically!

Serious fans and researchers will do well to augment their knowledge by reading at least one other biography, or Dolly’s own autobiography, My Life. Though author Ackman has a congenial writing style and has read a great deal about her subject, she has apparently never interviewed Parton herself. I combed through the documentation at the end of the book and found that out of the hundreds of end notes, there are just five references to a couple of interviews by the author with friends and family of Dolly’s. Sources for the book’s early chapters are sparse and not well integrated, relying almost exclusively on the autobiography.

Nevertheless, this is a greatly enjoyable read. I played Dolly’s music as I read, and though I am finished with it and am reading other things now, I still carry Dolly around with me.

Over Yonder, by Sean Dietrich*****

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Sean Dietrich has written another fine novel, Over Yonder, one full of quirky characters, weird yet oddly credible situations, and a whole lot of heart. My thanks go to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Books for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Dietrich has been writing for a long while, but this is just the third of his books that I’ve read. As I begin this one, I develop a niggling suspicion, wondering whether this author uses a formula. This would be a sad discovery, because till this point, I have greatly loved his work. And so the question I have to answer before I can do much else is whether that’s true, or whether he is writing unique stories using a signature style. Here is what I am seeing: each story focuses on a girl—teen or child—who’s down on her luck, possibly facing a crisis, with no adult that will help her or advocate for her; an older man dealing with misfortune of his own such as a fatal or serious illness, and who is otherwise isolated and in need of redemption; and a chance meeting of the two in a small town in the deep South.

I suppose, after reading this third one I am inclined—as you can see from my rating—to say this is a signature style rather than a formula. I hate to be played. If I felt this was a formula, I would feel annoyed and my review would not be generous, but that’s not what happens.

Caroline is 17 and pregnant. Her boyfriend, Tater Bunson, is at the wheel of his ’93 Honda.

“Caroline stared out the lace-like cracks of the passenger window’s single bullet hole at downtown Knoxville…her hair was the color of a carrot. She was ninety-four percent freckles. Her small, upturned nose, full cheeks, and cherub face brought to mind a character from the highly successful Cabbage Patch Kids product line…Tater spun the wheel right. The car made a sound not unlike a Folgers can of rocks falling down a public stairwell. The spiderweb crack on the passenger window came from a .22 caliber bullet that had passed through the glass during Tater’s last heated disagreement with his mom.”

Woody Barker used to be a priest. He has a houseboat and a bad heart, and not much else. He can qualify for a heart transplant, but only after he quits smoking, and it’s not going well. He’s lonely; he had hoped to pick up with his ex-wife once he got out of prison, but now that he’s out, he sees that she has a boyfriend, and it looks like he’s out of luck. Then an old girlfriend summons him to her deathbed. She wants him to meet his 17-year-old daughter. Who? What??

Dietrich’s wry humor and visceral figurative language are out in force here. Highly recommended to those that enjoy strong Southern fiction with deeply developed characters.

Now Is Not the Time to Panic! by Kevin Wilson****-*****

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Now is Not the Time to Panic is, according to its author, Kevin Wilson, “a book about friendship, about memory, and about what it means to hold on to the person who we were, even as we become someone else. It’s about the ways in which art is the door that lets us walk into a new life, one that never seemed possible.”

Frankie is kind of a quirky kid, friendless and grieving her parents’ divorce and her father’s abandonment of his kids. She has nothing but time this summer, and so when Zeke, an even quirkier new kid, moves into the tiny town of Coalfield, Tennessee, the two are drawn together.

My thanks go to Net Galley and Ecco Publishing for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Frankie invites Zeke over one day; her dad has flown the coop, and her mom is at work, so in order to make it clear that she hasn’t invited him over for carnal purposes, Frankie talks to him about her love of writing. Zeke says that he likes to draw, and so together, they make a poster. The words are Frankie’s, and they are indeed well written for a kid of sixteen years: “The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.” Zeke fills in the rest of the page with his artwork, and for good measure, they prick their fingers and comingle their blood on the poster. Then they dig out an old photocopy machine in Frankie’s garage, and make copies with which to furtively festoon the whole town. (After all, Coalfield isn’t a big place.) They don’t tell anyone it’s theirs, and enjoy the reactions to their guerilla art as sly observers.

The two teens share a lot in common. Both are outsiders; both are creatives; and both are living through the implosions of their families, with fathers that cheat and then leave, and mothers that are beside themselves with anger and shame.

Once the posters become noticed around town, rumors begin, and then copycats come along and make improvements, sometimes. There’s a hysterical piece in the local paper suggesting that their work is Satanic. Frankie and Zeke don’t say one word to anyone. They watch and they listen; they talk about it only with each other.

The crafting of these two characters, and their relationship, is well done, and I ache for both of these kids. The only time I see character slip is with regard to Frankie’s attitude toward sex. Her dispassionate take on it—she isn’t sure she really wants to, but maybe she should just do it and get it over with? Is not a mindset I’ve ever seen in a teenage girl, and believe me, I’ve known plenty of quirky ones. No, that’s a male attitude, and I suspect that Wilson would do better to use male protagonists, or else run his female ones by several very honest females in his chosen field, prior to publication.

As the summer goes on, I keep expecting the two to launch another joint project, but they don’t. She does some writing, and he draws, but there is no sequel, no follow-up. The poster is the poster. Shantytown, gold seekers, fugitives, hunger. Boom. That’s it. But years into the future, Frankie is still putting these damn things up. The heck…? I believe this of her; she is one strange person. Zeke’s mental health deteriorates that summer, and where that goes is completely credible. Those that work in the field will recognize Zeke, who is by far the better drawn of the two main characters.

This fascinating novel can be enjoyed by young adult audiences, because both of the protagonists are teenagers; however, this is also fiction that can be enjoyed by anybody. If you don’t read YA—and the truth is, I don’t, not anymore—you can still appreciate this one, and I recommend it to you.