At 80, Dolly Parton remains our most unlikely national unifier

Dolly Parton turns 80 today (January 19, 2026). It’s a milestone birthday for the music icon who has been in the public eye for well over 60 years. Her birth was not auspicious. Born into crushing poverty in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, her father paid the doctor who delivered her with a sack of cornmeal. Her family said she started singing before she could talk and within a few years, she composed a song about a corncob doll that her proud mother transcribed and tucked into a shoebox for safekeeping.