Saskatchewan musicians remember the late Dolly Parton through stories

Dolly Parton’s death has left fans and colleagues reminiscing about the beloved legend, including those whose encounters date back decades.

Back in the summer of 1977, local musician Brian Sklar opened for Dolly Parton.

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“You should sometimes never meet your heroes. I’ve done that on a few occasions and been bitterly disappointed. With Dolly, it went the other way. I became such a fan,” he said.

Looking back nearly 50 years, Sklar feels privileged to have worked with Parton.

“I wish there were more people in the music business like her. She was genuine. She was honest,” he said, sometimes brutally so.

Although Parton never made any major political statements, Sklar said it wasn’t hard to tell where she stood.

If she didn’t like what you were doing, or didn’t like you as a person, Sklar said Parton let you know.

For those she liked, Sklar said, “the sky was the limit,” and she’d do anything to help.

His favourite memory of Parton came a year earlier, in 1976, at the Country Music DJ Convention in Nashville.

Sklar recalled how Parton and Porter Wagoner came out from either side of the stage to perform.

The duo sang “Daddy Was an Old Time Preacher Man.”

“You had to be there. It was amazing,” Sklar said, getting emotional on the phone.

“I’m a little distraught now,” he added, thinking about the memory.

For Sklar, Parton wasn’t simply a singer. She was also an entertainer and a savvy businesswoman.

Don Young, another local musician who met the icon in 1975, echoed that view of Parton as smart in business.

Young recalled how Parton refused to give up half the publishing rights of her song “I Will Always Love You” when Elvis Presley’s manager pushed her for them.

“She said, ‘No, I won’t do it. That’s my song, and that’s the way it’s going to be,’” Young said.

Even with Parton’s passing, Young and Sklar both expect her memory will live on.

“I don’t think we really will ever lose her because her music will live on forever, and that’s the goal. When you’re an entertainer, you’d like to be remembered for what you did and what you left the world. And I think she always tried to make it a better place,” Young said.

Speaking about whether Dollywood, Parton’s theme park in Tennessee, will remain open, Sklar said he thinks it’ll stick around for “a whole lot longer because her music is going to be around a whole lot longer.”

-with files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick