Dolly Parton has one of those instantly recognizable voices. She's one of the most wholly distinct and recognizable artists in all of country music. The soul of the southern belle stands alone when hearing records like "9 to 5" or "Jolene." Frankly, it would be absurd if anyone attempted to take digs at her vocal quality. However, apparently, there is one person that wasn't especially fond of Parton's brand of singing: Dolly herself.
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In an old Playboy interview captured by the Internet Archive, she tells the magazine that she's never felt like the best singer. This is something Dolly differentiates from the unique voice. There may be something idiosyncratic about her voice but to pair her with the great vocalists of her generation, she couldn't agree with it. Still, Parton sings anyway out of pure love of singing alone.
Dolly Parton Swears Her Voice Isn't That Great and Her Manager Can't Stand By It
"I don't think so. My manager just hates me to say that, because he says it's not true. I don't have a great voice. I have a different voice and I can do things with it that a lot of people can't. But it's so delicate in other ways, there's no way I can do some of the things other singers can do," Dolly says.
"I just love to sing. It is joyful, it's something I can scream, it's a release for me. I used to have a lot of vibrato in my voice. It could almost be real irritating to a lot of people's ears. It was a natural thing for me but some people say, 'you sound like you been eating billy goat,'" Dolly continues. "I guess I overdone it, so I tried taking some of the vibrato out. I would like to improve my voice to be able to hit better notes. My notes are not always true. But my heart is always true. And the emotion I put in is always true."
The perfect powerhouse singers are hardly ever that interesting anyway. It's much more interesting to have depth of emotion and Dolly always succeeded there.
