Ain’t Nobody’s Fool

The Life and Times of Dolly Parton

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Published by: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: December 30, 2025
Pages: 304
ISBN13: 978-1250286857

 

Overview

In Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton, Martha Ackmann chronicles the life of an American Original. From her impoverished childhood in the Smoky Mountains to international stardom as a singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and philanthropist, Dolly Parton has exceeded everyone's expectations except her own.

Ain't Nobody's Fool is a deep dive into the social, historical, and personal forces that made Dolly Parton one of the most beloved and unifying figures in public life and includes interviews with friends, family members, school mates, Nashville neighbors, members of her band, studio musicians, producers, and many others. It also features never before seen photographs and unearthed documents shedding light on her family's hardscrabble life. More than anything, Martha Ackmann's fresh and animated new book proves Dolly Parton knows just who she is and she ain't nobody's fool.

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Praise

"Superbly written biography of country singer Dolly Parton ... Rather than settling for a surface-level celebration of Parton’s catchy songs and rhinestones, Ackmann delves into the complexities that have shaped her career."
—Library Journal

“Illuminating … a well-rounded portrait of Parton that’s firmly grounded in her Smoky Mountain Roots.”
—Publishers Weekly
Full Review

“A wonderful portrait of an extraordinary woman. Inspiring, entertaining, and deeply respectful.”
—Politics and Prose Bookshop
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Excerpt

Chapter One:

If you trace your finger through Dolly Parton’s family tree, chances are you’ll land on someone with a story to tell. Take for example Dolly’s Great-Grandmother Tennessee Parton. Her Smoky Mountain home was open for singing, fiddling, and buck dancing every Sunday night. If you wanted, you could stay for days - as long as you were willing to listen to Tenny’s non-stop oration on why Tennessee was the only state worth living in. Or consider Great-Grandmother Cassie Rayfield, a “granny woman” who delivered babies all over the mountains. When neighbors saw Cassie coming over the hills in her long, dark dress and satchel filled with medicinal herbs, they knew they were in for a visit with “prayingist, singingist, shoutingist woman on Tater Ridge.” Or how about Grandma Bessie Parton, who lay in her bed after giving birth to yet another child? After she heard a teacher had whipped one of her sons bloody, she got up, marched all the way to the schoolhouse, and pummeled the woman. The teacher later took her to court and Bessie ended up losing the family cow – but the settlement was enough to keep her out of jail. Then there was the flood story told every time a preacher mentioned Noah. Grandpa and Grandma Owens had been living in Lockhart, South Carolina in a low-lying section of town called “No Man’s Land.” One summer evening as they sat down to supper, frantic neighbors banged on the door. The dam had cracked. Grandpa Jake grabbed the family Bible and his prized fiddle. Grandma Rena corralled the children and turned the animals loose. By the time the family got to higher ground, they could hear the roar and see a black wall of water beneath them. Pigs squealed, chicken coops bobbed, dog houses rushed by. Down in the current, there was part of a house with an oil lamp sitting on a kitchen table, its wick still lit. The flood was so bad, Grandma and Grandpa Owens said, they saw one woman sitting on the roof of her swirling house, singing “Nearer My God to Thee.” Jake and Rena Owens knew they had to uproot their family and paid a man $25 to help cart their salvaged belongings back across the Great Smoky Mountains to Sevier County, Tennessee. With little money and no place to live, the future looked uncertain at best. But Jake, a deeply religious man, vowed to “step out on faith.” Years later when Dolly Parton’s father, Robert Lee Parton, met his future wife, Avie Lee Owens, it was as though all those stories channeled into one. Dolly Parton would not be born into wealth – “dirt poor,” she always said. But the fortune she received from the “singingest” woman and grandparents who were willing to risk it all was priceless.