Like all cultural institutions, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has been under pressure to diversify its honorees, given the preponderance of old white guy rockers on its roster. So it turned to one of the few American figures left who is beloved by both red- and blue-state America: Dolly Parton.
Thus the 76-year-old singer-songwriter-actress-humanitarian, the pride of Sevier County, Tennessee, and the business-savvy icon of the Dollywood theme park, found herself on the ballot for membership, even though she is, of course, known as a country music singer. That genre has its own Nashville-based Hall of Fame, which elected Parton to membership in 1999.
Parton did not care for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame plan, respectfully declining the nomination on the grounds that she had never made what she considered to be a rock ’n’ roll album. “Even though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don’t feel that I have earned that right,” she wrote. “So I must respectfully bow out.”
This is not the first honor Parton has declined. In 2021, she politely asked the Tennessee General Assembly to nix a bill that would have started the process for commissioning a statue of her on the grounds of Tennessee’s state Capitol, part of what panicked legislators thought was a bipartisan solution to a controversy over the potential removal of a bust there of a Confederate general. Maybe when I am dead, she said, in essence. Not now.
Good for Parton. She’s well aware of the dangers of being used by others with agendas under the guise of being honored. She’s a humble person, well aware of the downside to overexposure and the ensuing backlash, and both old and powerful enough to state her own mind.
That statue idea went away fast. Nobody messes with Dolly’s wishes in Tennessee. But the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame unaccountably kept Parton’s name on the ballot.
It put out a weaselly, defensive statement last week, defending its nomination of her by saying that rock ’n’ roll is “not defined by any one genre, rather a sound that moves youth culture,” which is ridiculous corporate babble. And then it whined defensively that it had already sent out 1,200 ballots.
Listen up, Hall of Fame people. Did you not hear that Parton does not want to be nominated? What you should have said was: “We respect Dolly’s wishes.” Period.
Membership in a hall of fame should not be compulsory with a process continued despite the clearly stated wishes of the honoree. And for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to be charting this course is especially egregious; rock ’n’ roll is founded on freedom.
Parton must be free to bow out.
