Known for her big hair and her bigger voice, Dolly Parton has left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry thanks to her philanthropy, charisma, business sense, and, of course, her penchant for writing and singing unstoppably catchy country songs.
Parton may be best known for hits like “Jolene” and “9 to 5,” but she has written over 3,000 songs over the course of her seven-decade career. In 2015, she even wrote a song that was sealed in a time capsule that won’t be opened until 2046—but fortunately, most of her other songs are available for us to listen to at any time.
Parton wrote many hits for other artists throughout her career. One early example was “Put It Off Until Tomorrow,” which she co-wrote with her uncle Bill Owens. The song was recorded by the artist Bill Phillips and hit No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1966. It was the first of many times Parton would help other artists top the charts with her songs.
In part, this was a savvy business endeavor. “I love to write songs for men,” Parton wrote in her 2020 book, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, recalling her early forays into songwriting. “And it’s a good thing I do because back then, there weren’t that many women in the country-music business to write songs for. Especially ones who weren’t writing their own songs, like Loretta Lynn was,” she added. “I didn’t have a lot of space to write songs for women so I purposefully tried to write songs that men could record. Or songs that could go either way.”
Fortunately, Parton helped pave the way for female songwriters to shine in country music—thanks to her own star power, and also to her formidable songwriting chops.
- “I Will Always Love You” // Whitney Houston
- “There’ll Always Be Music” // Tina Turner
- “Fuel to the Flame” // Skeeter Davis
- “Rainbowland” // Miley Cyrus
- “To Daddy” // Emmylou Harris
- “Circle of Love” // Jennifer Nettles
- “Waltz Me to Heaven” // Waylon Jennings