Recap Dolly Parton at Riverside Theater

Being an American institution and all, Dolly Parton is difficult to assess. It would be easy to be snarky about her concert Monday at Riverside Theater, and point out the obvious product placements—look out for the 9 To 5 Broadway musical this spring!—the endless rhinestones, and, yes, the boob jokes. But Parton is so endearing that even the most egregiously cheesy moments of the night were overlooked by the mostly packed house. Parton, in full on “aw shucks” mood, exuded humility and self-deprecating humor. Was it completely authentic? Probably not. Was it effective anyway? Most definitely.

Parton needed her mega-watt personality to compensate for her occasionally problematic performance. “Jolene,” one of Parton’s most heartbreaking and complex narratives, was stripped of its pathos and presented as a light-hearted, briskly paced number. This song about a woman knowing that her man is in love with another woman—and still staying with him—was followed by an anecdote in which Parton imagined running into Jolene and now begging the hussy to take her lazy man off of her hands. (Rim shot!) There were plenty of other cringe-worthy moments, like when a shirtless male dancer in tattered overalls joined Dolly on stage during a less-than-memorable version of “Thank God I’m a Country Girl.”

Still, the majority of Parton’s material more or less hit the mark. Most surprising was how good the songs from this year’s Backwoods Barbie sounded in a live setting. A cover of Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy” started off rather pedestrian, but quickly transformed into a surprisingly effective hoedown. The solid title track sounded like the Parton of old while stressing that the singer is definitely in on the joke. “I know I look trashy,” Parton remarked with a laugh after finishing the song, “but it takes a whole lot of money to look this cheap.” Yet it was “Only Dreamin,’” a song that Parton described as an “old-timey, Old World song” inspired by her mother that proved to be the evening’s best number. Much like “Coat of Many Colors”—another highlight of the night—the song focused on the themes of family and loss. Here, the grin plastered on Parton’s face for much of the evening disappeared as she showed she was still capable of displaying both depth and emotional resonance.

Yet Parton was quick to balance such moments with more upbeat material. Towards the end of the evening Parton delivered her knockout punches: “Islands In The Stream,” followed by “9 To 5”-—two guilty pleasures that are actually solid pop songs. The sequence thrilled the audience, as people of all ages quickly jumped to their feet to sing along. It was a comfortable and completely inclusive moment, and the enduring appeal of such songs shows why Parton still has a place in popular music.