Speaker 1: Hey guys, Bobby here. And so we were going to
Speaker 1: have a couple episodes up at this point of the
Speaker 1: Bobby cast, and it just felt weird to not put
Speaker 1: something out about Dolly. And we had talked on the
Speaker 1: Bobby Bowen show a lot about her and our memories,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to play something. And so what I
Speaker 1: want to play for you guys is the final time
Speaker 1: that Dolly and I were together. This is about a
Speaker 1: half hour podcast. plus interview that we did that I loved.
Speaker 1: And she dedicated so much time, went out to her place.
Speaker 1: We did this. I don't know. It's just so cool.
Speaker 1: She was so cool. Was able to spend, I was
Speaker 1: counting last night, I think seven different occasions with her,
Speaker 1: some for relatively long. Some were show appearances. Some, I
Speaker 1: know one specifically was when the fires hit East Tennessee,
Speaker 1: the Smoky Mountain area. And she did the telethon. I
Speaker 1: went up and helped with that. And I was just
Speaker 1: able to be around her a lot as far as
Speaker 1: I was around her enough that she never wasn't that
Speaker 1: same person, which is kind of crazy because I think
Speaker 1: we all get in good moods and bad moods and,
Speaker 1: you know, hasty moods. But Dolly was always the same.
Speaker 1: She was so kind to everybody. And to me, she
Speaker 1: was always so generous. So I wanted to play this.
Speaker 1: This is the last time that Dolly and I hung out.
Speaker 1: Rest in peace to Dolly Parton, the great Dolly Parton.
Speaker 1: Country music's going to miss her. 80 years old. I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy the last interview that I did with Dolly. Dolly,
Speaker 1: I love you. I want to leave with that.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I just want to set that there.
Speaker 2: Well, I love you back. Would that be fair to say?
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially now. I think we've been there.
Speaker 2: We all love you.
Speaker 1: So a question. I want to set it up first.
Speaker 1: I have a story that I do on my act
Speaker 1: where I talk about people that show up whenever you
Speaker 1: really can't. They're there to offer you something. But nothing
Speaker 1: in return. And I talk about Lionel Richie and how
Speaker 1: I was freaking out one day because Ryan Seacrest, he
Speaker 1: got sick and had to miss Idol. So I had
Speaker 1: to go host it with like four minutes before the
Speaker 1: show starts. He's never missed an episode. And here I am.
Speaker 1: And it's not that I can't host a show, but
Speaker 1: the stage direction is such a big part about it.
Speaker 1: And I talk about how Lionel gets up, walks all
Speaker 1: the way across the arena. He's got to get back
Speaker 1: to his seat too and just gives me this real,
Speaker 1: hey man, hands on the shoulders. You can do this.
Speaker 1: The Commodores did this. He didn't have to do that.
Speaker 1: Like Lionel Richie's as famous, as nice, as cool as
Speaker 1: could be. Didn't have to do that. And so I
Speaker 1: talk about how amazing it is when people will give
Speaker 1: to you when they want nothing in return. And so
Speaker 1: when I say a story like that to you, who
Speaker 1: comes to mind that did not have to be there
Speaker 1: for you, but was there?
Speaker 2: Well, so many people actually have more than one. In
Speaker 2: my early days, my Uncle Bill, who's the one that
Speaker 2: took me around because he saw my great potential. And
Speaker 2: he would take me around to shows and things. And
Speaker 2: even when my daddy didn't even want me to go,
Speaker 2: you know, getting out in the world, like my Uncle
Speaker 2: Bill used to bring me down to Nashville in the
Speaker 2: early days. So he was definitely one of the people
Speaker 2: that didn't have to do it. He just saw that
Speaker 2: that was my dream and my desire. But there are
Speaker 2: many people, like in the business, many Pearl, when I
Speaker 2: first came to Nashville, she called me over one day
Speaker 2: and she said, Dolly, you're a right pretty girl. And
Speaker 2: you seem like you've got you know, a lot of
Speaker 2: talent because I've heard some of your songs. She said,
Speaker 2: but don't let anybody ever tell you that you need
Speaker 2: to be this way or you need to be that way.
Speaker 2: You just be you. And she said, don't let none
Speaker 2: of these old hairy-legged boys try to make you believe
Speaker 2: that you're not as good as they are because you
Speaker 2: can be whatever you want to be. And she didn't
Speaker 2: have to do that, but she saw that I was
Speaker 2: about to to do my number and she did not
Speaker 2: want me to get caught up. And like some of
Speaker 2: the girls would just kind of do whatever they needed
Speaker 2: to do to get a break. But she saw something
Speaker 2: else in me, but she just said, don't do it.
Speaker 2: You just be you and believe in your talent and
Speaker 2: believe in yourself.
Speaker 1: Why do you think she did that?
Speaker 2: Because she's a good person. Like you said, people that
Speaker 2: are good tend to do good things. And I think
Speaker 2: that was probably Lionel's good heart that saw that he'd
Speaker 2: been in that spot before. And she probably had in
Speaker 2: her own time and in her own way been in
Speaker 2: that spot.
Speaker 1: We went to Italy, my wife and I, and I'm
Speaker 1: from a rural town in Arkansas. I never went out
Speaker 1: of the country until I started to have some success.
Speaker 1: So now that we're older, get to do some cool
Speaker 1: stuff and we go and they would have Italian music
Speaker 1: on in these places. But I ate so early because
Speaker 1: my schedule is pretty early. And they would turn on
Speaker 1: American music everywhere we went. In three of the four places,
Speaker 1: they turned on your music when we walked in. They
Speaker 1: assume every American, and it's probably right, loves Dolly Parton.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure every American don't. Yeah, I'm sure there's
Speaker 2: a lot of people that slap me upside the head,
Speaker 2: but I don't want to hear about them. It's a
Speaker 2: great compliment. But see, I've been at this a long time.
Speaker 2: And I've been famous in Europe for years and years
Speaker 2: and years because... of the songs that I used to
Speaker 2: sing and write, like Code of Many Colors, and people
Speaker 2: related to that. They knew that I was brought up
Speaker 2: in a family of 12 children, kind of a mountain
Speaker 2: Cinderella story, and people related to my music, and so
Speaker 2: therefore they related to me. And then when I got
Speaker 2: to being on TV and stuff, people felt like they
Speaker 2: knew me. So it wasn't uncommon. A lot of my
Speaker 2: music was playing more overseas than it did here for
Speaker 2: a long time, from my early records. But it's nice
Speaker 2: to be loved by anybody, anywhere.
Speaker 1: I was eating pasta to your music, though. Most places
Speaker 1: we went, it was you playing over the top or
Speaker 1: eating our pasta in Italy.
Speaker 2: Oh, did that make you happy or was you trying
Speaker 2: to get out of the country?
Speaker 1: No, it made me feel like I was at home,
Speaker 1: which is great. My set on my show, I have
Speaker 1: a couch and a couple lamps. And really, that's it
Speaker 1: because when I grew up in this, we grew up
Speaker 1: in a 900-square-foot house in Arkansas. I never had a bedroom.
Speaker 1: My whole life, I slept on the couch. And so
Speaker 1: my closet was underneath my couch and It was literally...
Speaker 1: Everything was on the couch. Never had a bedroom. And
Speaker 1: so that was what it was like, though, for me
Speaker 1: growing up in a small house with a lot of
Speaker 1: people around. Your story... similar-ish. You're from a small town
Speaker 1: in Tennessee. What was home like for you growing up?
Speaker 2: Well, home was like full. There was a lot of kids.
Speaker 2: Mama had one kid on her and one kid in her,
Speaker 2: as long as I can remember. One on her hip
Speaker 2: and one growing in. But we lived in the house,
Speaker 2: and we didn't have running water unless we'd run and
Speaker 2: get it. And you know, we just kind of washed
Speaker 2: in a wash pan. And people say, how in the
Speaker 2: world did you take a bath? That many people in
Speaker 2: the house, because there were six boys and six girls
Speaker 2: in my family, ultimately. I mean, after we were all
Speaker 2: there and after mom had had them all. But people say,
Speaker 2: how did you take a bath? How'd you have any privacy?
Speaker 2: I said, well, we had a little screen, you know,
Speaker 2: a little sheet. Mom would tie a little string over there.
Speaker 2: And then We'd wash up as far as possible, and
Speaker 2: then we'd wash down as far as possible. And when
Speaker 2: the boys cleared the room, we washed possible.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I did.
Speaker 2: Well, it basically is like that because it was about
Speaker 2: your privacy because you knew when you could, you know,
Speaker 2: the girls had to do their thing, the boys had
Speaker 2: to do their things, make sure, you know, that we
Speaker 2: cared about such things as privacy and decency. and all that.
Speaker 2: But when you're growing up, it's just natural. Growing up
Speaker 2: like we did, you learn the rules and you go
Speaker 2: by them.
Speaker 1: When you have all those brothers and sisters, you have
Speaker 1: to somehow get attention for yourself. I mean, you're born
Speaker 1: into an environment of everybody. even indirectly seeking attention. You
Speaker 1: got a couple of parents, 12 kids. I mean, is
Speaker 1: that where this performance gene came from? Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, my mother's people were all very musical. So music
Speaker 2: was always a part of our family. My grandpa was
Speaker 2: a preacher. He also played piano and played guitar. So
Speaker 2: my people were the ones that sang at funerals and
Speaker 2: weddings and shindigs and anything around locally. Some of my relatives,
Speaker 2: somebody was always playing. But when I was young, my
Speaker 2: Uncle Bill and my Uncle Louis were both, you know,
Speaker 2: they paid attention to me. My Uncle Louis gave me
Speaker 2: my first little baby Martin guitar because he saw how
Speaker 2: serious I was. When everybody would come bring their instruments,
Speaker 2: we'd sit on the porch and sing. Well, I learned
Speaker 2: to play that little guitar, and that's when my Uncle
Speaker 2: Bill saw the great potential. But I learned to play
Speaker 2: when I was like seven. So I started writing some
Speaker 2: serious songs. And then mama was fascinated with how I
Speaker 2: could rhyme and write songs about stuff I'd never lived.
Speaker 2: But I'd hear them talk about people in the war,
Speaker 2: somebody sick, somebody this, just those old world songs they
Speaker 2: used to sing. So I would write all these songs.
Speaker 2: And when people would come to the house, mama would say, Ronnie,
Speaker 2: get your guitar. I want you to hear what this
Speaker 2: little thing has wrote. And so I would get my
Speaker 2: guitar and I would sing those songs. And so I
Speaker 2: saw right away that I was getting more attention. Because
Speaker 2: I have a sister and two brothers older, so I
Speaker 2: was fourth one down, and then there's eight younger. So
Speaker 2: I didn't get a lot of attention, but I saw
Speaker 2: I could get it. And I was one of those
Speaker 2: kids that needed a lot of attention. And I knew
Speaker 2: Mom and Daddy loved us all the same, but we
Speaker 2: didn't get picked up unless we was getting our butt
Speaker 2: busted or sick or something. So that guitar and my
Speaker 2: music was my first entrance into music. getting the attention
Speaker 2: that I needed, and I'm still at it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask, do you still crave it?
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: I think that's, but I crave it now because it
Speaker 2: fulfills what I feel is my true gift. You know,
Speaker 2: I love to write songs, and I've written tons and
Speaker 2: tons of songs through the years. But I don't know
Speaker 2: that it's—well, I guess it is about attention. I just
Speaker 2: love doing it, and I want people to see that
Speaker 2: I can do it. I want them to appreciate what
Speaker 2: I am doing, that I have written these songs that
Speaker 2: I hope are good, I think are good, but that's
Speaker 2: for somebody else to judge. But then when they do
Speaker 2: judge me, you know, and I get the accolades from
Speaker 2: all that, then I feel like I've done something great.
Speaker 2: And so, and I do crave that. So I guess
Speaker 2: attention is the best word for it. Don't you guess?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I just was seeking love. Like, I
Speaker 1: think that was it for me where I would go, okay, well,
Speaker 1: I didn't get a lot of love growing up because
Speaker 1: I didn't have parents, really. And so I would go
Speaker 1: and perform or be funny and people would go, I
Speaker 1: like that. I would be like, wow, I'm liked. And
Speaker 1: so it didn't start working with me forever. with girls
Speaker 1: until probably my twenties. Oh yeah. And then I just
Speaker 1: got married a couple of years ago. I've been married
Speaker 1: two years, so thank you. Never been married two years in.
Speaker 1: So what's, but it's difficult cause I already kind of
Speaker 1: had my ways wired. I was 40 when I got married. Well, yeah.
Speaker 2: Did she have her ways wired?
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I feel, I feel like I'm way
Speaker 1: more wired though. Oh, are you? Yeah. I'm, I'm almost
Speaker 1: 12 years older than her. So it's not a crazy difference,
Speaker 1: but it's enough of a difference to where like, she
Speaker 1: still got some landing room to where I'm, I am
Speaker 1: who I am. I'm trying to not be that way.
Speaker 2: No, don't you not be. Let her change. Don't you change.
Speaker 1: I've never heard anyone advise that. Okay.
Speaker 2: Well, you can't change.
Speaker 1: This is the greatest segment. Give me more advice like that.
Speaker 1: You know what?
Speaker 2: I've been with my husband for 59 years. He knew
Speaker 2: who I was when he met me, and I knew
Speaker 2: who he was. But I was only 18 when we met,
Speaker 2: and he was 21. So we kind of grew up.
Speaker 2: You know, we kind of learned each other as we went.
Speaker 2: But I saw who he was early on. He saw
Speaker 2: who I was. And he saw right away that I
Speaker 2: wasn't going to change much. But I was able to adapt.
Speaker 2: I think that word is better about adapting than it
Speaker 2: is change. You got to adapt to certain things because
Speaker 2: you can't just have it all your way.
Speaker 1: I'm going to take her to that clip, though, of
Speaker 1: you saying she needs to change and cut the rest
Speaker 1: of it out except for that.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think you need to change. I don't
Speaker 2: know what it's like at home. I ain't her, but
Speaker 2: I'd like to be. But don't change.
Speaker 1: A similarity that I think your husband, not known for
Speaker 1: being a super public guy. My wife does not like
Speaker 1: to be in the spotlight.
Speaker 2: Oh, my husband hates it.
Speaker 1: He don't.
Speaker 2: He never was.
Speaker 1: So how do you, what was that balance? Because we
Speaker 1: struggle with that now because I, again, I need it
Speaker 1: to be successful. She does not want it at all.
Speaker 1: How did you guys do that?
Speaker 2: Well, my husband was a homebody and he's very, he's
Speaker 2: very quiet and he didn't want to do anything but
Speaker 2: be at home. He's a homebody. He's a cancer. You know,
Speaker 2: if you go by the signs, I'm Capricorn, he's cancer.
Speaker 2: Those are compatible signs. If you put any faith in that.
Speaker 2: But if you don't, and I don't to that degree,
Speaker 2: but he loved being who he was and loved being
Speaker 2: left alone to do it. And I loved being who
Speaker 2: I was and being left alone to do it. And
Speaker 2: so we just found ways, things that we did like
Speaker 2: together and things that we enjoyed doing that was us.
Speaker 2: So maybe you be you and let her be her
Speaker 2: and then you, Got to find some new things so
Speaker 2: you can be us. You can be, you know, who
Speaker 2: you are. Because that's the key of just trying to
Speaker 2: find that. You can't just make somebody be what you
Speaker 2: want them to be. They are who they are.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make her be what I want to be.
Speaker 1: But she's also very strong herself.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. You can't make anybody change. You've
Speaker 2: just got to make them want to do some things different.
Speaker 2: I'd be willing to. And if not, it won't last forever.
Speaker 2: and you can come live with me and my husband.
Speaker 1: Well, you wanna know. I will, I'll use this in
Speaker 1: court when I show up at your house and you
Speaker 1: guys try to kick me out. I said, yeah.
Speaker 2: But it's not easy. We've been together all these years,
Speaker 2: but like I say, somebody says, what do you attribute
Speaker 2: your long marriage to? I say, well, I stay gone.
Speaker 2: So maybe that's your answer.
Speaker 1: Do you guys have– just an example about my wife
Speaker 1: and I. I usually don't work three weekends in a row,
Speaker 1: meaning I'll work all week doing the radio show or
Speaker 1: shooting TV and I'll tour. But I really try hard
Speaker 1: not to do three in a row to for sure
Speaker 1: carve out that weekend. Like we try to set these
Speaker 1: little benchmarks and pillars. Did you guys have any of
Speaker 1: that in your relationship early on so you didn't get lost?
Speaker 1: Because my time management skills are not great to do
Speaker 1: personal and– Private.
Speaker 2: Well, I hadn't become a star when I met my husband.
Speaker 2: I just came here to be one. And he knew that.
Speaker 2: And so he went with it. But did she not
Speaker 2: know that about you?
Speaker 1: She did. I think, though, when we we dated pre-COVID
Speaker 1: for six, eight months or so long distance, then COVID
Speaker 1: and COVID, I'm home all the time.
Speaker 2: Well, that's when you get to know somebody.
Speaker 1: You know that old saying? We got to know each other.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 2: You don't know somebody until you have to live with them.
Speaker 1: Until you get to poop real close to them. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Well, that's when you know who you really are.
Speaker 1: And that's how I knew I loved her. But then
Speaker 1: once work opened up, I'm gone again. And so I
Speaker 1: kind of tricked her. I kind of hit her with
Speaker 1: the rope-a-dope. I tricked her. I was like, look how
Speaker 1: home I am. And then I'm gone all the time.
Speaker 2: Don't you blame her false on COVID. So both of
Speaker 2: you have to take the blame.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's all me. I've also learned that.
Speaker 2: So she said, right?
Speaker 1: Yes, I've learned it's all me.
Speaker 2: It's not all you.
Speaker 1: I have to apologize for what I do in her dreams.
Speaker 1: That's a thing now. Like if she has a bad
Speaker 1: dream and I do something bad in her dream, then
Speaker 1: I have to.
Speaker 2: I better tickle her or I will say too much.
Speaker 1: Well, you talk about fame. Like what is it?
Speaker 2: Fame.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, I guess the word fame is after you. I
Speaker 2: think that word must have been invented after people were
Speaker 2: already stars, had to be. Because I think fame and
Speaker 2: success are not necessarily the same words. And successful and
Speaker 2: success are not the same words. You can be a success,
Speaker 2: but not successful enough. If you're not, if you don't
Speaker 2: know how to enjoy it, if you can't enjoy it,
Speaker 2: if you don't appreciate it, if it doesn't work for
Speaker 2: you and make you happy, because that's, that is, you know,
Speaker 2: money as that, whoever said it, money can make a man,
Speaker 2: but you know, I mean, man can make money, but
Speaker 2: money cannot make a man. It's the same, you know,
Speaker 2: it's like you've got to. But fame, I guess that
Speaker 2: just means you've made it, and there you are, just
Speaker 2: like a star. But it's like that movie, Rhinestone, there
Speaker 2: was a line in it that I always laughed at.
Speaker 2: A star is just a big ball of gas, you know.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of what it is if you look
Speaker 2: at it like that. So it's what, I guess, what
Speaker 2: you tag it to. I feel like I'm famous, meaning everybody.
Speaker 2: I think fame means that everybody knows who you are.
Speaker 2: You know, you're famous because everybody knows your name. And you,
Speaker 2: you know, they'll see you on TV. But that still doesn't,
Speaker 2: should not make you a different person.
Speaker 3: Hang tight. The Bobbycast will be right back. And we're
Speaker 3: back on The Bobbycast.
Speaker 1: Or does it make you more of who you kind
Speaker 1: of are? really are? Since you have access and since
Speaker 1: you have resources, does fame, success make you more of
Speaker 1: who you originally are and what do you think?
Speaker 2: I think so. I'd like to think so. In my case,
Speaker 2: it does because I've never been a diva. I'm thankful
Speaker 2: that I'm successful. I always wanted to have money. I
Speaker 2: wrote a song called Sacrificing and it says, I was
Speaker 2: going to be rich no matter how much it took.
Speaker 2: I was going to be rich no matter... how much
Speaker 2: it costs, and I was going to win no matter
Speaker 2: how much I lost, you know, and that to me,
Speaker 2: those two lines, you know, it's like if you're willing
Speaker 2: to sacrifice all through the years, I kept my eye
Speaker 2: on the prize, you know, and you ask if it's
Speaker 2: worth the sacrifice, but you don't, you know, it's like
Speaker 2: empty or full, you know, I've carried my pail, but
Speaker 2: you don't drink the water if you don't dig the well,
Speaker 2: you know, it's like all those things you, I think
Speaker 2: that I'm the same person I always was. I'm just
Speaker 2: more relaxed now. I'm more comfortable because I can afford
Speaker 2: to be. That's what you were saying. I can afford
Speaker 2: to be myself. Just like when I started cutting, I
Speaker 2: had to wait. I never could make money, big money,
Speaker 2: singing bluegrass.
Speaker 1: And I love bluegrass.
Speaker 2: And so when I did my bluegrass album, I said
Speaker 2: I had to get rich in order to sing like
Speaker 2: I could. You know? It's like you kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: you can look at things like that. But I guess
Speaker 2: everybody has their own. a version of what they think
Speaker 2: fame and stardom is. I'm a celebrity, but all those
Speaker 2: words like celebrity star, you know, and fame, they're just
Speaker 2: words to tag the people that hopefully that have become
Speaker 2: successful at what they're best at. And if you're, like
Speaker 2: I said, if you're a true success, that means you
Speaker 2: should be able to enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Do you enjoy it?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: When did you start being able to enjoy it?
Speaker 2: Well, when I quit being able to enjoy it, I'm
Speaker 2: going to quit altogether. Now, there are times I get
Speaker 2: stressed out because there's so much you have to do
Speaker 2: that you just get, you know, you just burn out.
Speaker 2: You just beat. Then you think all kinds of things. Well,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe it's time. You know, maybe I should
Speaker 2: do this and do that. But, I mean, you're up
Speaker 2: the next morning thinking about something you want to go do.
Speaker 2: You can't help it if that's who you are. You know,
Speaker 2: it's like my song. I wrote a song called Whatever
Speaker 2: You Are, Be That. Whatever you do, do that because
Speaker 2: anything else, is just an act. So whoever you are,
Speaker 2: be that. So if you're a comedian, be that. If
Speaker 2: you're a DJ, be that. Whatever you are, that's true
Speaker 2: to you and that's how you express yourself. We don't
Speaker 2: have to make ourselves over or allow somebody else to
Speaker 2: make us over. We need to be who we are
Speaker 2: and find ways to make that work for us.
Speaker 1: I've found that if I lie or fabricate a story,
Speaker 1: it's not that I'm too good for it. I just
Speaker 1: can't remember it all the time. So I try not to.
Speaker 1: So I don't. I just try to tell the truth
Speaker 1: and be as honest as I can. Not because I'm
Speaker 1: too good to lie, because I would love to lie
Speaker 1: and remember it, because this is more entertaining, but I
Speaker 1: can't remember it. So stay honest with you. I feel
Speaker 1: like that's been a big part of who you are,
Speaker 1: is just honesty at all costs. Was that always the
Speaker 1: idea with you?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think, no, I don't think about it
Speaker 2: like that. I always say, oh, my lies are true. No,
Speaker 2: it's like, I think sometimes you have to make excuses
Speaker 2: that might turn out, like a lot of people might
Speaker 2: say that that's a lie. But usually it's an excuse
Speaker 2: you have to make. You have to be in the
Speaker 2: truth mostly to spare someone else's feelings.
Speaker 1: So white lies are okay.
Speaker 2: But for myself. Well, I'm not saying a lie is okay.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying sometimes..
Speaker 1: When you say I come to your house, that's a lie.
Speaker 2: When I what?
Speaker 1: When you say I can come to your house and
Speaker 1: live with you and your husband, that's a little..
Speaker 2: That's a lie.
Speaker 1: Right, that's my point, yeah. That's what I'm saying here.
Speaker 2: But my good heart would allow you to if you
Speaker 2: needed to.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: If you needed to come. Of course, I was saying
Speaker 2: it to be funny. But my good heart would welcome
Speaker 2: you into my house. So I guess that's when you're successful.
Speaker 2: If you appreciate what you've got and be able to
Speaker 2: help somebody else with it.
Speaker 1: The album, Rockstar... And the book, behind the scenes, they
Speaker 1: are both so new. Meaning, you put new songs on
Speaker 1: an album, you didn't have to do that. You could
Speaker 1: have just done these amazing songs with these amazing artists
Speaker 1: and do your version of it. Same thing with a book.
Speaker 1: It is a book of something you've never released before.
Speaker 1: Your fashion. Fashion. You have created fashion for so many people.
Speaker 1: So why keep on pushing as hard as you do?
Speaker 2: Oh, well, I'm not pushing. That's just, I want to
Speaker 2: leave things, like we were talking earlier before we even
Speaker 2: went on the air about working so hard, but I
Speaker 2: feel like I've got to make hay while the sun shines.
Speaker 2: I'm 77 years old, and I've done a lot in
Speaker 2: my time, and I'm thankful for every bit of it.
Speaker 2: But there's stuff out there that I want to have
Speaker 2: my hands on to be part of my legacy. I
Speaker 2: want to be part of all these things that I
Speaker 2: know somebody's going to cash in on when I'm dead.
Speaker 2: So why not make it right? Why not do it?
Speaker 2: And why not do it great? Well, certainly with the book,
Speaker 2: you know, I had a book called Songteller and it
Speaker 2: was all about my songwriting. Why I wrote songs, how
Speaker 2: I was feeling when I wrote songs, what inspired them,
Speaker 2: what period of, you know, in my life I was in.
Speaker 2: And so this one is the behind the scenes and
Speaker 2: it's about who can tell my story better than me?
Speaker 2: I know those feelings. I know those thoughts. I know
Speaker 2: the pain and the sorrow and the joy and fun
Speaker 2: of all of it and the people and the jerks
Speaker 2: and everything that has to do with my life. Nobody
Speaker 2: can guess that. You might guess at it, but you're
Speaker 2: not going to know. So I'm doing that because I
Speaker 2: want to get as much stuff out as I can
Speaker 2: with as much quality as I can. So it don't
Speaker 2: just get counterfeited when I'm dead and gone. And I've
Speaker 2: got my next.
Speaker 1: Book is going to be called Star of the Show.
Speaker 2: It's like a three, you know, there's a song teller
Speaker 2: behind the scenes and the one I'm calling Star of
Speaker 2: the Show, which is the name of one of my songs.
Speaker 2: And it's about my life on the road. The musicians,
Speaker 2: the travel, the hotels, the craziness and all the stuff.
Speaker 2: So I want to tell those stories. I don't want
Speaker 2: somebody else to tell them. But anyway, getting back to
Speaker 2: what you're saying, I'm the kind of person, I have
Speaker 2: to be busy, and I can tell, and you're the
Speaker 2: same way. I've got a lot of energy, and if
Speaker 2: I didn't use that to be creative, I'd just turn
Speaker 2: that in on myself, and that'd be dangerous. Or I'd
Speaker 2: turn it in on somebody else. That would be worse.
Speaker 2: So I think that if you're creative and you have
Speaker 2: these thoughts, you have to just keep on doing it. And,
Speaker 2: you know, it's like I can't even imagine just quitting.
Speaker 2: That's why I say I'll never retire. I might have
Speaker 2: to quit if my husband got sick and I need
Speaker 2: to be with him. And if I was ill, you know,
Speaker 2: it would have to be a serious illness. You know,
Speaker 2: I'd still be writing if my right arm worked. You know,
Speaker 2: if my arms worked, I could still write. But I
Speaker 2: just want to do everything I can because it won't
Speaker 2: always be this way. I won't always have this opportunity.
Speaker 2: And God's been good to me and people have been
Speaker 2: good to me. And I get scared sometimes when everybody
Speaker 2: tries to put me on some sort of a pedestal.
Speaker 2: I think, God, don't put me up there. All you
Speaker 2: can do is just knock me off. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: not all that. You know, I talk about things like
Speaker 2: I'm not an angel. I just play one on TV
Speaker 2: and that's the truth. So I'm a lot of things.
Speaker 2: But when I try to be mostly is a good
Speaker 2: person and try to be creative and try to be
Speaker 2: good to others.
Speaker 1: Final three questions. I have a lot of people that
Speaker 1: will be watching this. And they're watching because they want
Speaker 1: to laugh and have a good time, but hopefully to
Speaker 1: be inspired to just commit to being better. If it's
Speaker 1: a mom, if it's a dad, or a better fireman,
Speaker 1: or working at a bank. And it's just committing to it.
Speaker 1: And a lot of people have trouble just committing to
Speaker 1: it because of the fear of failure. And I have
Speaker 1: to imagine that someone that has all these successes, as yourself,
Speaker 1: has had a fair share of pretty big failures too.
Speaker 2: Well, we all have failures, but you don't look at
Speaker 2: it like that if you're a smart person. Because even
Speaker 2: just like when I had my variety show years ago,
Speaker 2: it was entitled to be going to be this or that,
Speaker 2: and I got a ton of money for it, which
Speaker 2: they had to pay me for anyway. even though it
Speaker 2: didn't last. But I was disappointed that it didn't work,
Speaker 2: but it didn't work for all the reasons I knew
Speaker 2: it wasn't going to work when we started it. I
Speaker 2: wasn't me. I couldn't be me. They were trying to
Speaker 2: revamp the old variety shows. And I'm just a one
Speaker 2: kind of person. I'm just me. And if we can
Speaker 2: work off of me, I can make it successful. But
Speaker 2: if I try to go outside of my comfort zone,
Speaker 2: I never can make it work. But I learned so
Speaker 2: much about that show. You learn what you should not
Speaker 2: look at it like a failure, but as a stepping stone.
Speaker 2: I learned so much from that of what not to do,
Speaker 2: what not to allow to happen next time, that even
Speaker 2: in other shows I've done since then that I've produced
Speaker 2: or worked in, I've learned from that. So everything is
Speaker 2: something you can learn from. It's just a stepping stone.
Speaker 2: And so I I'm even, you know, I really am
Speaker 2: almost glad that it didn't work because I didn't want
Speaker 2: to continue. I was under stress with it because I
Speaker 2: wasn't happy doing that. So as it was, I could
Speaker 2: have still been on there if they'd have let me,
Speaker 2: you know, do more of who I am. But we
Speaker 2: all have those things in our lives, and we're all,
Speaker 2: you know, it takes a while to overcome it. You know,
Speaker 2: you're embarrassed by certain things and all that. But if
Speaker 2: you're the right kind of talent and the right kind
Speaker 2: of person, you'll just take that as a good lesson. Which,
Speaker 2: by the way, I'm going to do a comedy album
Speaker 2: one of these days since you're having a comedy show.
Speaker 2: That's going to be one of my next things. People
Speaker 2: have always said..
Speaker 1: Your songs are super funny and witty, like even the
Speaker 1: ones you don't mean to be funny. Yeah. What do
Speaker 1: you think is the most clever line, the most clever
Speaker 1: couplet rhyming line that you have in your song? Off
Speaker 1: the top of your head.
Speaker 2: I just think that one I just said, you know,
Speaker 2: I was going to be rich... no matter how much
Speaker 2: it cost. And I was going to win no matter
Speaker 2: how much I lost. Or one of my favorite lines
Speaker 2: in the songs I've written is a cup of ambition.
Speaker 2: You know, I get excited about those kind of things.
Speaker 1: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: I can't think right off the top of my head,
Speaker 2: but a lot of my songs have a lot of comedy.
Speaker 2: But I want to do a stand-up comedy album someday
Speaker 2: because I like being funny.
Speaker 1: Me too. I just wish I was..
Speaker 2: Well, you are funny. I want to say you are
Speaker 2: funny and you are good and you are capable of
Speaker 2: so many things and you are so liked.
Speaker 1: I start crying. This is not even about me. I know.
Speaker 2: Let me just say this.
Speaker 1: Go ahead. I don't like compliments are tough for me.
Speaker 1: But you're a DJ.
Speaker 2: Let me just say, a lot of these people that
Speaker 2: watch this, they'll be all over the world, all over
Speaker 2: the country. But you, we think of you as like
Speaker 2: a local boy. And here in Nashville, I mean, you
Speaker 2: are just fantastic on the radio. Everybody loves the Bobby
Speaker 2: Bowles show. I mean, it's like we get up to
Speaker 2: do it, you know, Amy and all the people you
Speaker 2: have on the show. And then when you go out
Speaker 2: and do some of these shows, like American Idol, and
Speaker 2: you just have a spirit and an energy and a little,
Speaker 2: I don't know, you've just got magic somehow. And I
Speaker 2: think you're good. Thank you in order to just be
Speaker 2: allowed to be good.
Speaker 1: I don't need any more questions after that. I think
Speaker 1: we're going to end on that. And I'm not even
Speaker 1: going to air any other interview, just that last segment
Speaker 1: over and over.
Speaker 2: Well, we like you here. You're a local boy to us.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. You are the best. Thank you
Speaker 1: for the time and the inspiration to so many and
Speaker 1: for letting me fondle your jewelry here.
Speaker 2: On the side.
Speaker 1: Get off of me.
Speaker 2: You've got to come to my and Carl's house, and
Speaker 2: he's got to give you permission.
Speaker 1: You told me at the beginning I had permission. All right.
Speaker 1: Thank you, guys. Back to you guys. There's nobody there.
Speaker 1: I'm just pointing. Okay. All right.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to The Bobbycast. Share this episode with
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