Dolly Parton's White Limozeen

by Steacy Easton

A discussion of White Limozeen, from Dolly's self-fashioning to a rigorous critique of her genre.

White Limozeen (1989) was a commercial recovery after Dolly Parton's first major failure two years previously with the release of Rainbow. This book is a case study in how an album is sold and a persona constructed. The album had a complex relationship to the country music genre at a time when the genre was in the middle of major sonic and cultural shifts, and it represents how country music saw itself. This question of identity was especially relevant since White Limozeen was produced by Ricky Skaggs, the bluegrass prodigy who was in the middle of his own genre-widening experiments. The album reflects dense and complex production, shredding ideas of purity, studio craft, slickness, and authenticity. In it, Dolly seems to be imagining the limits of her own personae - the country girl, the blonde burlesque, the pop legend, the gospel singer.

To study this album is to investigate Dolly's calculated role in fashioning her image into the icon she is today.

Genres: Music

160 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2024

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This recent 33 1/3 publication about a Dolly Parton record I've never heard and rarely even seen is terrific. I had read an interview with Easton on the excellent No Fences review Substack, and ordered the book immediately.

While there is much excellent discussion about the actual music on this record, the book does a much bigger job of talking about Parton's construction of persona, of her ability to win over various groups of followers without making her personal political opinions known, of her escape from poverty into riches while holding on to the myth of poorness and playing with myths of Appalachia, of her nearly complete lack of acknowledgement of race, and other aspects of what makes Parton such an interesting subject.

The book suffers from a lack of editing, or probably more likely, a cutting down from the original without careful editing thereafter. There are sentences which simply don't follow grammatical rules, which seem as though two sentences were chopped apart and connected together with little care. There are also multiple instances where other artists - Charlie Rich, Ricky Skaggs, and a couple more - are referenced only by their last names, as if a previous reference had been removed and the second (now first) reference not updated.

But these are common problems with 33 1/3 books, and no reflection on Easton, whose intelligent probing of Parton, her image, her career, and her music is always prevalent and always engaging.

[Olga · Rating 3 out of 5]

як давній фанат Доллі Партон, я читала декілька книг про неї, включаючи її авторства, але це сама незвична з них усіх. авторка має доволі нестандартний погляд на Доллі як на капіталістку та підприємицю, а також розбирає факти її біографії та ту персону, яку співачка презентує публіці. від репрезентації кантрі як жанру для бідних жителів півдня до імперії самої Доллі, тут також розглядається і її творчість, і стосунки з фанатами та іншими виконавцями.

але десь на середині цей текст почав мене втрачати та остаточно втратив до кінця розповіді, бо тут багато і повторів, і хаотичного викладу матеріалу, і перестрибування з теми на тему. під кінець зачепили ще релігійну складову, яка відключила мені всяку цікавість і дослуховувала вже чисто на автоматі.

загалом тема має багато потенціалу для дослідження, з радістю почитаю ще щось схоже.

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this might be one from the series that I think I'd escape if I could go back, despite the solid subject matter at hand. Perhaps one problem is that Easton approaches the writing with lofty ambitions, and while they skirt around the aim, they never quite get where they wanted. For instance, there's a lot of nods towards Parton's role in the queer community and commercial aims, yet they never really come to the forefront of the argument...perhaps just too many ideas...leading to a book that felt weighed down by its goals from the get-go.

[Hillery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great topic to write about. However, the writing style of the author was sometimes hard to follow. Sentence structure was more complicated than it needed to be in some places, which left me not sure what they were actually trying to convey. The book also seemed to repeat itself on topics like authenticity, geographic location, person vs. personae, etc. Make the point and move on. After reading the book, I wasn't quite sure what the author wanted the reader to take from the book.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read a bunch of books on Dolly and this one was wonderfully unique. Appreciated it all and sent a copy to my friend…

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. In my opinion, the Introduction was the best part, one the book didn't much expound upon.

[Nate · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are a few interesting observations about Dolly Parton and country music here, but the whole book is very unfocused. Easton jumps around from point to point, sometimes leaving thoughts unfinished (at least it seems that way). Also, it was off-putting how Easton rarely uses full names of artists when introducing them. The result is a book that feels simultaneously academic and like an extended blog post, resulting in a strange reading experience. A very poor book overall.