(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Fri 20 February 2026 21:15, UK
There are usually two schools of thought when it comes to Dolly Parton: either she’s one of the most lovable icons in music history, or you’re the problem.
As much as country music might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s hard to think of too many flaws in Parton’s character, seeing how she has become one of the most wholesome figures in American history to this day. But she wouldn’t have reached that position in the world without having some badass moments up her sleeve as well.
Make no mistake, Parton was willing to play by the rules every now and again, but she was never one to let people walk all over her. In a perfect world, she and Porter Wagoner would have been one of the greatest duos in the history of country music, but Parton would have rather gone down in history doing what she wanted to do than having to take orders from someone every time she got onstage.
That also extended into her songs as well. The audience that she was reaching wasn’t usually the kind to be that well-off, and ‘Coat of Many Colours’ were the kind of tunes that spoke to the everyday people a lot better than the traditional cowboy tunes. But even if she could tone things down with tunes like ‘I Will Always Love You’, some of the legends of country music practically had their names etched in stone from the moment that they set foot on the Grand Ole Opry stage.
George Jones was a titan of the genre when Parton first started singing, and she had more than her fair share of female company like Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline, but Johnny Cash belonged in a completely different genre half the time. ‘The Man in Black’ was country to his core, but if everyone else was bringing across a wholesome image when they played, Cash was shrouded in darkness that made him fit in more with the rock and roll crowd than anything else.
He was willing to live a wilder lifestyle than most, and while he could still rein it in when it came time to sing with June Carter, there was always a brewing intensity in everything he played. And while Parton admitted that she first understood what sex appeal was when listening to Cash sing, it was the stoic side of him that made him look like a figure out of an old Western every time he came on television.
Some of those moves may have had a bit of chemical assistance, but Parton still felt that Cash would have been the most high-profile badasses of country even if he didn’t have any junk in his system, saying, “Johnny was not a great singer as far as a voice but I always think of Johnny as the John Wayne of country music. He just had a presence, had an authority. He just had a way about him that was just so different.”
And it’s that presence that made him such a lovable character throughout every era of his career. Even during the final years of his recording career when he started working with Rubin, the reason why his version of ‘Hurt’ still resonates so well is because you can tell that he has lived through his fair share of serious mistakes and is willing to face his final hours with the same kind of bravery that he had when he walked into Folsom Prison for the first time.
Cash and Wayne are definitely in the same league when it comes to popularity in American culture, but when putting them next to each other, Cash seemed to go even further with his guitar than Wayne did in front of the camera. Wayne was only selling the dream of what being a gun-toting badass was, but Cash was the one living on the edge every single day.