Americans don’t agree on much these days. Dolly Parton was the rare exception.
Country bumpkins and city drag queens. God-fearing Christians and queer people. Conservatives and progressives. Younger fans who discovered her decades after her rise to fame and generations who grew up alongside her. Parton’s reach was seemingly boundless, her audience a study in contradiction. Yet, she possessed the unique magic to welcome people on opposite ends of the cultural spectrum into the same space — not by erasing their differences, but by giving them something more fundamental to share.
In the days following her passing, Parton’s universal resonance
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