Dolly Parton Shares How Her Mom's Words Shaped Her Perspective on Growing Up in Poverty: 'We Are Rich'
- - Dolly Parton Shares How Her Mom's Words Shaped Her Perspective on Growing Up in Poverty: 'We Are Rich'
Angela AndaloroJanuary 21, 2026 at 3:21 AM
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Dolly Parton -
In celebration of Dolly Parton's 80th birthday, Rolling Stone shared a never-before-published interview with her about her 1971 album, Coat of Many Colors
Parton opened up about the titular track and what it was like growing up in a one-bedroom cabin in Sevierville, Tennessee
Parton explains how her mother's perspective on poverty changed the way she viewed her upbringing
Dolly Parton is proud of her roots, though they brought her some hard times.
The singer, who celebrated her 80th birthday on Jan. 19, talked about her upbringing in a never-before-released interview with Rolling Stone about her 1971 autobiographical hit, "Coat of Many Colors," from the album of the same name.
The song reflected growing up with little in Sevierville, Tennessee and life in the Appalachian area, something that was important to Parton to incorporate into her story as her star rose.
“I was always trying to progress and try to do more, try to grow, and try to express myself musically as much as I could in every album that we did, but still stay true to myself,” Parton told the outlet. “I always take myself more seriously as a songwriter than I even do as a singer.”
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Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Dolly Parton in 1972
Looking back at her upbringing in a one-bedroom cabin, Parton told the outlet, "We didn’t have anything."
"Mama used to sew all of our quilts and curtains for the windows, remake our clothes, and make clothes out of feed sacks or scraps," she said.
When a young Parton felt self-conscious about her homemade clothes, her mother would remind her of the Biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors.
“I went to school thinking I looked like Joseph,” she said, noting that she was met with teasing there.
She would then go home and feel “upset" about how her mom had told the story.
"I was crying because I felt she had told me a fib. Mama said, ‘I don’t want to ever hear you say that we’re poor. We are rich in kindness and love and understanding.’
It was that perspective that Parton would carry into the rest of her life and career.
“I think people just loved the song, and then there’s a lot of fun, good little songs in the album,” Parton said. “And it’s my early days. A lot of my newfound fans like to go back and see who I am, who I was. And that little coat, people relate to it for many different reasons.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
