WHEELING, W.Va. — Long before Dolly Parton‘s name began arriving on packages of children’s books in West Virginia homes, the young country singer was coming to the Mountain State to perform.
Parton’s documented associations with West Virginia span 57 years, beginning with appearances alongside Porter Wagoner at Wheeling‘s WWVA Jamboree in 1969 and continuing through a statewide literacy program that was serving about 50,000 West Virginia children at the time of her death Tuesday at age 80.
Her family announced her death Tuesday, prompting remembrances around the world and in West Virginia. The West Virginia governor ordered flags at state facilities lowered to half-staff and said West Virginia held “a special place” in Parton’s legacy because of the children reached through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, in which about 50,000 children in the state were participating.
Parton’s relationship with West Virginia, however, began decades before the library existed.
Dolly Parton came to Wheeling with Porter Wagoner in 1969
Parton performed twice at the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling in 1969, according to an official WWVA publication from that year preserved by the World Radio History archive. Its roster of Jamboree guests lists both Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton for performances on April 12 and July 12.
The same WWVA publication provides additional evidence of the significance of their first appearance. It reports that the April 12 Jamboree, featuring the Porter Wagoner Show, sold out both performances within 10 days of tickets going on sale and produced the Jamboree’s largest gross since WWVA had adopted an all-country daytime radio format.
Parton had joined The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967, and their professional partnership helped expose her to a much larger country-music audience. By the time Parton and Wagoner arrived in Wheeling in 1969, the WWVA Jamboree had itself become a major country-music institution, drawing performers and audiences to West Virginia from well beyond the state’s borders.
The 1969 WWVA publication reported that a 1967 audience survey found Jamboree patrons had traveled from 22 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Finland. It also listed Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Connie Smith, Tex Ritter and other nationally known performers among artists who had recently appeared on the program.
Parton’s connection with WWVA did not end with those 1969 performances. An academic history of WWVA identifies her maternal aunt, Dorothy Jo Hope, as a member of the Walter Bailes Singers who worked at the Wheeling station in 1973 and 1974.
The same history identifies Hope as a writer of “Daddy Was an Old Time Preacher Man,” which Parton and Hope wrote about Parton’s maternal grandfather, the Rev. Jake Owens. Contemporary music-industry coverage in Cash Box also identified Hope as Parton’s aunt and co-writer of the song, while Parton’s official website continues to credit Dolly Parton and Dorothy Jo Hope Owens Parton as its writers.
Threats against Parton disrupted a 1976 Wheeling appearance
Dolly Parton’s association with the Jamboree took a more serious turn in March 1976, when repeated telephone threats led her to cancel a scheduled Wheeling appearance.
The April 17, 1976, issue of the music-industry publication Record World reported that Parton had been scheduled to appear at the Jamboree on Saturday, March 27, when WWVA personality Buddy Ray received more than half a dozen calls threatening Parton’s life. The caller also threatened Ray, according to the contemporary account.
Parton canceled the appearance, but Ray hosted the two Saturday night Jamboree shows as scheduled, Record World reported. The publication said Wheeling police subsequently caught the person responsible for the calls.
United Press International recounted the incident independently seven years later, after Parton received threats before performances elsewhere in the country. UPI reported in January 1983 that, on the night before the 1976 Wheeling engagement, Ray had received telephone calls threatening both himself and Parton if she appeared at the WWVA Jamboree.
UPI quoted Cathy Gurley, who had worked at WWVA at the time, as saying police arrested a Wheeling man on March 29, 1976, and charged him with making threatening telephone calls. Gurley told UPI that the man was subsequently sent to a mental institution following a psychiatric evaluation.
Historical accounts of the Wheeling Jamboree indicate Parton later returned to perform there, although the primary records reviewed by West Virginia Explorer have not established an exact date for that return. A photograph from the Wheeling Jamboree historical collection published by The Intelligencer shows Parton performing at Jamboree USA in Wheeling in 1976.
Books brought Dolly Parton’s name back into West Virginia homes
Decades after her Jamboree appearances, Parton expanded her relationship with West Virginia through a program created for children rather than concert audiences.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library began operating in West Virginia in 2007, according to the W.Va. Department of Education. The department reported that Parton established the original program in Tennessee in 1995 in honor of her father.
The program mails participating children an age-appropriate book each month from birth until age five at no cost to their families. In West Virginia, the Department of Education and Marshall University’s June Harless Center administer it through a partnership.
The program grew substantially in West Virginia. On July 14, 2021, the department announced that all 55 counties had become active participants, making West Virginia one of 11 states and the District of Columbia at the time with statewide availability.
More than 3 million Imagination Library books had been delivered to West Virginia children since 2007 when the statewide milestone was announced, according to the department.
“I am thrilled to share that every child from zero to five in West Virginia is eligible to register for my Imagination Library,” Parton said in a recorded message released with the announcement. She said she hoped the books would inspire children to “Dream More, Care More, Learn More and Be More.”
Parton returned to West Virginia in 2022
After West Virginia achieved statewide participation, Parton traveled to Charleston on Aug. 9, 2022, for “An Evening with Dolly: Celebrating Imagination Library in West Virginia” at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences.
The West Virginia Department of Education said the visit celebrated the program’s successful statewide coverage. The event included a conversation between Parton and Marshall University President Brad D. Smith, as well as performances by Parton and the Appalachian Children’s Chorus.
Parton performed “Coat of Many Colors” and “Try,” the department said. Then-Gov. Jim Justice proclaimed Aug. 9 Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Day in West Virginia, while students at the Nicholas County Technical Center presented Parton with a wooden representation of the state bearing the Imagination Library seal.
Parton also discussed the program’s connection to her father during the Charleston appearance and said her father was one of the smartest people she knew but had never had an opportunity to attend school and could not read or write. She told the audience that her father lived long enough to see the library begin to grow and said he took particular pride in the program and its work with children.
“The things that matter to me,” Parton said of her philanthropic work during the event. “The things where I feel like I can make a difference.”
The West Virginia literacy partnership reached older children, too
In 2020, the education department partnered with the Dollywood Foundation and Marshall University’s June Harless Center to create the West Virginia Blue Ribbon Book Club. The department reported distributing approximately 200,000 books to children in the program’s first year.
The partnership expanded in 2021, when the education department announced it would provide 258,000 books to rising first-, second-, and third-grade public school students throughout West Virginia. Nora Briggs, then executive director of the Dollywood Foundation, said the books were intended to give children reading opportunities during summer vacation and support literacy and learning following disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dolly Parton eventually recorded ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’
Late in her career, Parton also recorded one of the songs most closely associated with West Virginia.
In 2024, bluegrass performer Rhonda Vincent released a recording of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” featuring Parton and country singer Cody Johnson, according to the recording’s official release information. The recording appeared on Vincent’s album Destinations and Fun Places.
It was not Parton’s first involvement with the song. She was among the country performers featured on the Country Music Association’s 2016 “Forever Country,” a medley combining “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”
The 2024 Vincent recording, however, placed Parton directly on a recording of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” nearly 55 years after WWVA records first documented her performing in West Virginia.
Imagination Library continued reaching West Virginia children
A 2025 report from Marshall University’s June Harless Center said 612,000 Imagination Library books were mailed to West Virginia children in 2024, and about 51,000 children were actively enrolled. The center said it was working with the Dollywood Foundation to manage the statewide program and develop funding partnerships to sustain it.
Following Parton’s death Tuesday, West Virginia officials again focused on Parton’s literacy work. The Governor said the program had helped West Virginia families build home libraries and encouraged children to read.
Following Parton’s death Tuesday, West Virginia officials again focused on Parton’s literacy work. The Governor said the program had helped West Virginia families build home libraries and encouraged children to read. The Imagination Library continues to mail books each month to participating West Virginia children from birth until age five.