HOUSTON – Dolly Parton is being remembered not only for the songs that made her a country music icon, but also for the lives she touched along the way.
For Houston area-raised country singer Mary Sarah, that impact began when she was just a teenager.
“I had the honor of meeting Miss Dolly Parton at the age of 15,” Mary Sarah said.
The young singer was working on what would eventually become her album Bridges, featuring collaborations with some of country music’s biggest names. Parton was the first artist to agree to participate, joining Mary Sarah for a duet of one of her most recognizable songs, “Jolene.”
Mary Sarah said there was something particularly meaningful about Parton’s decision to help an unknown teenage artist.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but she didn’t even get paid to do it,” Mary Sarah said. “I think it speaks so much into who she is.”
At the time, Mary Sarah did not have a record deal or the name recognition she would later develop.
“There was really no reason as to why Dolly would be like, ‘This will help me,’” Mary Sarah said. “She just saw an artist who was striving to do something in country music and recognized the talent and said, ‘I want to help this girl.’”
A last-minute trip to meet Dolly
Mary Sarah still remembers exactly where she was when she learned Parton had said yes.
She was 15 and on a family vacation visiting her grandfather in Florida when her family got the call: Parton was available, and they needed to get to Nashville.
“I was like, ‘Let’s go, let’s get some boots on,’” Sarah recalled.
Mary Sarah and her parents flew to Nashville, where she remembers waiting nervously before meeting one of the biggest stars in country music.
“I was on the other room just shaking in my boots,” she said. “At 15, I was like, ‘What do you even say to Dolly Parton?’”
Those nerves quickly disappeared.
“Immediately she made me feel like I had known her for my entire life,” Mary Sarah said. “All the worries and all the nerves and all of it just flushed away.”
Instead of keeping the conversation focused on music or her career, Mary Sarah said Parton talked about her family and encouraged the young singer.
It was an experience that would continue to influence Mary Sarah well into adulthood.
‘She really never forgot who she was’
One of Mary Sarah’s favorite memories from their time together involved a small gift.
Mary Sarah’s family gave each artist who participated in Bridges a Swarovski crystal duck chosen to match their personality.
When Parton opened hers, Mary Sarah said the superstar immediately made a duck face and told her that her nieces and nephews loved when she did it.
For Mary Sarah, the silly moment revealed something much bigger about Parton.
“Even at that level, she really never forgot who she was,” Mary Sarah said. “That to me was one of the biggest things walking away — leaning into who you are and being unapologetic about that.”
Sixteen years after that meeting, Mary Sarah said Parton’s influence has now reached another generation of her own family.
Her 5-year-old daughter learned “Jolene” as one of her first songs.
Dolly Parton’s legacy reaches thousands of Houston children
Parton’s influence in Houston also extends far beyond country music.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which she founded in 1995, provides books to children from birth through age 5.
Dave Agerton helped launch the program locally six years ago and co-founded the independent nonprofit that operates the Greater Houston effort.
“Dolly Parton started it 30 years ago, and they send three million books a month to children,” Agerton said.
The Houston-area program currently serves about 8,000 children, according to Agerton, and hopes to reach 10,000 this year.
Parton created the Imagination Library in honor of her father, who could not read or write.
“She wants every child in the country to be literate, to have a book, to have books in the home,” Agerton said.
The Greater Houston program works with community organizations including BakerRipley Early Head Start, United Way’s Bright Beginnings, the Children’s Learning Institute’s Texas School Ready program and the Harris County Public Library to reach families.
Children enrolled in the program receive books in the mail, with families able to select English or bilingual English-Spanish options.
Agerton said the goal is particularly important for children growing up in households where books may be difficult to access.
“We try to serve children whose families are facing poverty, and they don’t have books in the home,” Agerton said. “People call them book deserts.”
If you would like to register your child for the program, you can click HERE.
Dolly Parton’s music coming to Jones Hall
Parton’s music is also set to take center stage in Houston this fall.
Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony is scheduled to come to Jones Hall, bringing Parton’s songs and the story of her life to the concert hall.
For Mary Sarah, performances like it are another way Parton’s work will continue reaching generations of listeners.
She believes those influenced by Parton now have a role in keeping that legacy alive.
“Her artistry, her creativity, her writing, her passion for songwriting — these songs are gonna live on forever,” Mary Sarah said.
Parton opened a door for Mary Sarah when she was a teenage singer with no record deal and little name recognition.
More than a decade later, she hasn’t forgotten it.
“She opened doors in my life,” Mary Sarah said. “And I cannot thank her enough for it.”
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